One minute the phone was next to my elbow in the space behind the hand brake, the next minute I was looking all over the taxi to find it. The driver asked “When did you last see it?” “I called my mother just before we left the border” I replied in a puzzled voice. (The events described here occurred between 7 and 9p.m yesterday, Monday 3rd February 2014).
(I’d told her I was taking a taxi, and would need some Nigerian naira, since banks had closed, and I could not change the Euros I had with me.)
As I said this and continued searching for my phone, the two young Nigerian girls in the back, whose conversations had revealed they were returning from a university they attended in Benin Republic, giggled repeatedly.
Their male colleague remained silent. I did not look back, but wondered how anyone could find what I’d said funny.
I had my Blackberry in my hand, but the SIM card in it was for my MOOV/Etisalat line in Benin Republic.
Once we’d left the border, the Internet Service on it had stopped, as usual. Normally at this point I would have switched the SIM card for my MTN Nigeria line on which I also subscribe to the Blackberry Internet Service.
But that SIM card was in the missing Nokia double SIM handset – as was the SIM card for my MTN line in Benin Republic. Both lines were the ones listed on my website i.e. my business lines (+229-66-122-136 and +234-803-302-1263).
So, I could not make calls on my Blackberry, as it was not possible to purchase airtime or load it from the Nigerian end (I still struggle to wonder why. Maybe I need some coaching…???). The driver offered me his handset, so I could call the MTN Nigeria line. I tried and was told “The number you’re calling is switched off. Please try again later.” I handed the phone back to him saying “It’s been switched off. I never left the car, and yet it’s gone. This is rather strange.”
The young ladies in the back, whose nauseatingly shallow line of conversations had continued, once again began giggling, just as I made that pronouncement.
I’d been tempted to think they had something to do with the phone’s disappearance. But I’d pushed the thought out of my mind.
However, their continued giggling, as if on queue, made me think back to when I last saw the device. It was about 10 minutes before the girls and their male student friend came in.
I tried remembering how they got into the car. I concentrated and played the scene back in my head.
That was when I recalled that the girl in the middle had found it necessary to pile three sachets of pure water, on the compartment behind the hand brake – just between my seat and the driver’s seat.
That was where I’d placed the phone in order to shut the door, when the driver quickly jumped in to move the car forward in the motor park. It was after that, that the trio got in.
It occurred to me that the water sachets were probably used to cover the phone, so they could withdraw it from beneath, without being noticed.
One thing was certain. I’d never stepped out of the car since getting in. So if the phone was not in the car, there was a very good chance it had been taken by these young people. .
But I kept this thought to myself.
Why?
Because past experience (from observation) has taught me, that people who choose to stoop that low to do things like that, can be quite good at hiding (or disposing of) what they take.
Demanding to search them would create a scene. And if one was unsuccessful in finding it on them (e.g. since it was night, it could be thrown out the window in a flash!) they would turn around to claim they’d been falsely accused.
I’ve been around enough, especially growing up in Nigeria, to have seen this happen. Suddenly, the thief is telling the accuser, who is actually in the right, to apologise to him for the false accusation!
So instead of starting a war, I chose to deliberately engage the driver in a conversation meant to pass a message across to the young people.
Whether or not they chose to take it did not matter to me.
I told him how, on two separate days – just last week – in Cotonou, I’d left my Blackberry smart phone in two difference public places in Benin Republic, and nothing had happened to it. (Don’t get me wrong. Stealing happens there, but much, much, MUCH less readily!)
The first time I forgot the Blackberry, it was in a hotel I stayed in – specifically on the counter at the reception.
This was a very small hotel in Cotonou. I’d checked in for a 24 hour blitz, to churn out some writing that was overdue, and also put finishing touches to the new mini version of my Poultry Farm Manager.
I’d paid the reception, picked up my receipt and gone upstairs to my room.
Matthias, the receptionist, a very warm and friendly chap had wished me a great stay.
I never knew how much he meant that, until one hour later when I searched my trousers, then bag, and was unable to find the phone. That was when I recalled I’d placed it next to me on the counter just as I was filling in the form.
Apparently, I’d left it there!
All sorts of thoughts began running through my mind. I was almost sure it would be gone by the time I got there. When I arrived reception, I asked Mathias if he’d seen my smart phone. He looked me right in the eyes, smiled, and reached down under the counter and gently placed my phone before me!
Barely concealing my surprise, I thanked him and left. The next morning I gave him a tip. He responded by saying “C’est rien!”(i.e. it’s nothing), in reference to what he’d done.
This man was NOT even close to being well paid. Yet he carried himself with an unmistakable sense of dignity and pride. I felt honoured to know him!
The second time, it was in a Cyber Café I frequent a lot:
I’d met there with a client who came to pick up a draft Functional Requirements Specification I’d prepared for a Web Marketing System to be developed for his university. In a bid to print the document, I’d removed the memory card from my Blackberry, and placed it in a USB modem, to access it via the printing terminal.
After handing the printout to the client, and seeing him off, I simply rushed back to the inner room where I was working on my laptop…leaving behind the Blackberry smart phone on the window sill!
About 15 minutes later, the young Beninese girl who worked as café operator, (and had helped print out the document) came into the room and simply handed the device to me, without saying a word!
I was shocked beyond words.
For one thing, I was so drawn into my work that I probably would not have remembered to check for the phone till hours later. So, to have her return it to me that way truly touched me. I thanked her, feeling embarrassed for being guilty of such absent mindedness again.
That happened last Saturday.
Yesterday afternoon, just before I left for the border, I visited the café to send out my newsletter for the week.
On my way out, I handed the young girl a bottle of Coke I’d bought from a nearby store on my way in as a gift for her. I said “Merçi pour Samedi”. She took it and nodded in appreciation.
Again, there was no attitude of subservience or patronage. For her, what s/he’d done seemed to be no big deal. Wow!
The students went completely quiet as I narrated these stories…
Not long after, they got off at their stop.
As we continued to my parents’ place, the driver told me he strongly believed the students were the ones who took the phone.
I told him I also considered it a possibility right from the start. “Why did you not tell me, so we could search them?” he exclaimed.
I told him my reasoning that they could have tossed it out and claimed we’d falsely accused them.
He thought about it and said “Okay, maybe you have a point there.”
Reflecting on that experience as we drove on in silence, I wondered why things had to be so different in Nigeria, and with Nigerians!
These young girls who’d taken my phone schooled in the same country – Benin Republic – that I’d had the above positive experiences. But they’d obviously not imbibed those good attributes from being there!
Indeed, from my travels to other African countries (e.g. Ghana, Cameroon, Benin Republic), and interaction with their citizens, I’ve discovered that many of our fellow Africans are much more Emotionally Intelligent than we are.
For instance, they are much more averse to gleeefully doing wrong to (or hurting) one another – be if physically, emotionally or otherwise.
And that’s sad. Very sad.
I know you may be thinking “Why did I keep forgetting my phones?”.
The truth is this has not happened to me in a very long time.
For over 2 years now. I’m always extremely careful when it comes to handling my phones, which I consider very important for my work.
But in the days approaching my father’s 80th birthday celebration, I had a mountain of outstanding work to finish, in order to free myself up to visit Nigeria. This added psychological pressure, is what made me so prone to making this mistake.
The thing is in other societies, people seem willing to “forgive” you for making it. But in Nigeria no such consideration is given you, most times. Slip up, and they’ll “hit you”…HARD!
This is common knowledge. That’s why everyone in Nigeria I’ve told about this experience said they were not surprised.
And that’s without a single exception – including my sister who came in from London.
Amazing isn’t it? That we know ourselves to be so capable of doing wrong/evil so readily!
Yet, just next to us, in a much poorer, but better organised black African society, people still consider fidelity to high moral standards a worthwhile endeavour.
And most of these people lack material wealth, when compared to the average Nigerian!
I honestly believe we have so much work to do on ourselves in Nigeria.
My phone did not get “stolen” by “bad government”.
It was taken by a very emotionally unintelligent group of young Nigerian undergraduates visiting Nigeria from their Beninese University. One day, they’ll complete their studies and return home…in Nigeria.
What does that tell you about this country’s future? Not something good, that’s for sure…:-((
I’m determined to make sure my kids never descend to that level of insanity.
I hope you resolve to do the same thing too…for the sake of OUR country!
PS: I’ wrote this piece at 7.33a.m Tuesday 4th February 2014 (the morning of my father’s birthday). If any persons on my phone contacts lists have received – or receive – strange calls before I’m able to get MTN to disable and recover both lines on that missing phone (i.e. +229-66-122-136 and +234-803-302-1263), you can be sure they did NOT come from me.