Orderliness. The word originated in 1470–80 as an adverb; 1570–80 as an adjective; and 1795–1805 as a noun. The word means ‘arranged or disposed of in a neat, tidy manner or in a regular sequence’ It also means ‘characterized by or observant of law, rule, or discipline; well-behaved; law-abiding.’ You see, those before us, know too well the importance of disposing of things/matters in a regular sequence; they know too well that when things are characterised by rules and followed by discipline, then a workable system is established.
In Nigeria today, a tailor saddled with agreed duties, soon leaves the job of customer A, to attend to C, a new customer. A banker ignores all those who queue in line to attend to special customers. Many restaurants no longer honour the code of first order, first serve. You queue at public offices only to be sidetracked by VIPs who come and go at will. You enter into a contract with a company only to notice how disorderly they are. Entering buses is characterised by who is the smartest and strongest. People overtake each other at car fueling stations. Students study so hard only for the unserious students to beat them to the punch. Maybe the only consistent place of orderliness is at the shopping malls.
The other day I went into a public office (by the way, I think there are many sad people there) and the women were attending to us sluggishly, I must say, and then a man walked in, and we were all asked to walk out because of the man’s arrival. Guess what? He wanted to give them a firsthand gist, and that was more important than the duty they were called upon to do. Queues in public offices can give you a heart attack. This is because you will be in the queue without moving forward, while some persons not in the queue are getting things done from the back. You can queue for 10hours and when it gets to your turn, the officer will stand up, pack his or her bag and tell you he or she is done for the day. Imagine the frustration.
Once, a friend told me of how he was on a queue at an ATM, a young-elderly man arrived and after few seconds he laid down on the floor and started acting as if he was going to die. Out of concern, people asked him what was wrong and he said he needed money ASAP to take his drugs and eat as he was dying. Lol. They actually allowed him out-of-turn, and after he withdrew some money, a few miles away from the ATM he was walking normally again. One wonders how far some Nigerians will go just to riggle around orderliness. How about standing on a queue at an ATM for 2hours and when it finally gets to your turn, you are welcomed with “Unable to dispense cash”, kuku kill me.
Have we ever asked ourselves why most countries are complaining about Nigerians (even though some Nigerians are well behaved)? That is because of the gross lack of orderliness. Many of us have a problem with doing things rightly. Most Nigerians are ‘Marlians’ by birth.
The Marlianistic disorderliness of Nigerians is just too much.
Look around you, think about Nigeria from the highest hierarchy of leadership down to the masses, Nigerians are the problem of Nigeria. The law-makers have been alleged to be disorderly i.e not abiding by the law; the President has been accused of perpetrating disorder; the courts are not united in one voice; most public offices are not orderly; many of the citizens continue to make disorderliness part of the system. Why don’t you do your part in rebranding Nigeria by choosing to live an orderly lifestyle?
2 Responses
This is apt. Great read.
👍🏻…Everyone is now marlianistic oo, ‘as the systems and queues no dey work’..I think the only solution is to get yourself a connection as quickly as possible.