The saying that “Every day for the thief and one day for the owner” could well be reversed as my experience is quite different. “Every day for the owner and no day for the thief because he gets caught on his day”.

My name is Paul; here is my Nigerian experience…

Growing up as a Nigerian wasn’t quite easy because you had so many things to put you off and many reasons not to listen to anyone but when you have laws and principles to live by, it gets a little easy at least.

Just as someone once said “Nigerians are like a time bomb waiting for that last piece of jig to explode”… and in other to keep this from happening, laws were put in place to stop anyone from placing that finally jig.

I wasn’t ready to be the finally piece of jig for anyone’s time bomb, so I had my own laws and principles I lived by. It was a little hard to live by them though; I had my good and bad times with these principles. For example, I was always of the opinion that respecting elders is our heritage as Nigerians, my #RULE5, so I respected my elders well enough but you know people will always be people. Some elders took advantage of this and it contradicted my #RULE12: “respect is reciprocal not minding who you are”.

I guess you understand what I mean. When the good deed of keeping social rules and laws actually pays off, you can only be motivated to make more laws. When it backfires, you feel the need to rethink keeping those laws. Like the day I was to go see a friend, I dressed up in my super fly outfit. Getting to the public park I was dumbfounded by the queue, I had to struggle to get a seat. Then when I was about to reap the fruit of my struggle, this very elderly woman came on her way to see her pension officer*please don’t ask me how I knew*. With my sweaty and unstable body, I stood for her to sit #RULE5. The reaction I got after that was hell, especially when I had to explain to my friend what happened. I soon reconsidered keeping these laws again, and then this happened:

My regretful Nigerian experience…

I was very hungry; I had not eaten all through the evening before up till that morning but I had to make it in time for an interview. If I waited to have breakfast, I would be late. My only hope was to buy a snack and drink from roadside hawkers, yet none seemed to be forthcoming.

The devil must have been playing tricks on me; going for an interview looking famished like I actually came to ask for food rather than a job.

My prayers were answered when I finally saw hawkers walking down from behind the cab, I bought my snack & drink and started munching on them quickly and soon had my strength back, at least for the interview.

The cab did not have a waste bin, so I held on to the snack wrapper and drink container till I could find one after I got to my destination. A big frown appeared on my face after walking a distance and I found no waste bin. The devil must have been serious as I was close to my place of interview. I should have just dropped it in that cab, well, “not too late to do so” I thought. I wouldn’t be caught bringing waste to the company.

On second thought, I was about to break #RULE24: “no dropping of waste outside the waste bin”.

Too late, I did already: some rules are made to be broken. Few metres to the gate I felt a tap on my shoulders, turning round I saw this man in uniform. Gosh! The devil finally played his trick. At first glance I thought he was a police officer, well-aware of my offence I felt I could talk my way out of it. Then I looked round and saw this big and bold waste management task force building, I knew I was in trouble. How I didn’t notice the big building before then still baffles me.

“Oga you have to come along with me” the officer said, “I can explain sir” I replied. “Keep your explanation to yourself, you are well-aware what you did is against the law and is punishable by fine” he said. “Yes I know that’s why I’m not going to argue, but I have an interview that is due in the next few minutes”.

After almost half-an-hour of my pleading fell on deaf ears, I got angry and spoke my mind: “what! Why would you blame me for my actions? How would you put a law in place and not make the right resource available? Even in front of your building there is no waste bin”. So I thought, until my screaming attracted other officers from the gate and I saw the waste bin right in front of the gate. No surprise, if I couldn’t notice the building that big, I could be forgiven for not noticing the little waste bin.

The devil finally sealed me in his box of tricks. I missed my interview after being detained at their station for 4 hours and I still had to pay my fine which was a substantial amount I hadn’t planned for, so I had to drop my credentials as “guarantee”.

I learnt from this experience that it is: “Every day for the owner and no day for the thief because he gets caught on his day”. If only I had lived by my #RULE1; “never break any law”.

Originally Posted On: storried.com