Weekly Column: Africanizing of time
By Omordia, Efe Alexandra – In these parts, it is considered hip for an individual to arrive late for an event. Infact it is fashionable for one to walk into the venue at least two hours behind schedule. Woe betide that individual who makes the mistake of arriving thirty minutes early for a marriage ceremony or something similar, the individual is likely to end up helping the sound man and the event decorator put things in order. Religious gatherings have also become propagators not necessarily of the gospel but of the African Time Syndrome. On the pulpit the man of God would admonish members of the congregation to desist from sin and he would go on in a stern voice to warn them of the dangers of being hedonist but he would hardly hear the time ticking and he would hardly remember his promise to end the sermon in five minutes as he would proceed to go on and on.
How sad it is, that the simple matter of arriving for an event on time has been abused over and over again. What guarantees do we have then that the serious matter of being one brother’s keeper would even be in place in the overall scheme of things?
