YOU’RE LATE AGAIN!

Walking into the hall late as usual, Joke slid into the back row with such relief because everyone was standing. The event went perfectly. The person officiating the event came up and said that there would be a guest speaker, but he had not yet arrived. Joke didn't give it much thought. At the next event, there was a reoccurrence of the issue with the guest speaker. This happened again in three consecutive events.

Okay, you might wonder where I am heading with all of this. I’m getting there.

Joke attended a conference, and the speaker was late. What the heck! She was so annoyed when she got home.

She attended an event recently, and yes, she was late again, but the guest speaker wasn’t. This time around, he wasn’t a Nigerian. And she thought: Why is it that most, if not all, Nigerian guest speakers are always late? Not wanting to jump to conclusions, she decided to watch a couple of foreign events online; surprisingly, the guest speakers were early. So why should her country be any different?

While visiting a few friends, the topic came up, and after little thought, her friends also realized that it's the same issue that has occurred at the various occasions that they have attended at entirely different locations across the country.

So, you might not have really noticed, but you should look out for this.

Why do we have to do this "African-man time" thing? Okay, I know some of us enjoy making a big entrance; you can put me at the top of that list. It got me thinking: If I'm a guest, why should I be late when we've agreed on a time that I'm supposed to be there? Yes, things happen, but being consistently late is just outright wrong.

So, what do you think? Do you mind every single guest you invite being late? I think that when someone agrees to be at a certain place at a certain time, they should honor that agreement. It's understandable that life can throw you a curveball once in a while, but the norm should always be to show up when you say you will. After all, punctuality shows respect and responsibility.

Tarinabo Sounyo