Time is the measure of duration, it could be of poverty, success, and underdevelopment, present, past or of the future. It is the regulation of rate of movement, and for the students of elementary science, time is equal to speed multiply by distance. Out of all this definition, what is African about time? What is ‘African time?’According to one Ghanaian writer, “one of the main reasons for the continuing underdevelopment of our country is our nonchalant attitude to time and the need for punctuality in all aspects of life. The problem of punctuality has become so endemic that lateness to any function is accepted and explained off as “African time”. This time: ‘African time’ is evidently killing Africa – let’s face it. Time is time world over, it plays the same role and there should be no difference. Does the term ‘African time’ have any xenophobic undertone? Is it rather ‘Black time’? Africa have acquired this name because of our willingness to take everything for granted, it is my opinion the ‘African time’ is degrading and a racist term, whether we take it consciously or unconsciously. There should neither be white, red, yellow, Asian, or American time. Time is always time and should be accorded the same value world wide.
Many Nigerian have a strangely perverted faculty about time, arsing from the poor value they attach to time. Time is treated with levity mostly by everyone, even if you singularly decide otherwise, and be punctual, you will still end-up working with ‘African time’. World economic studies and survey some years back shows that Nigeria is the second highest country in the world with the highest man-hour lost in all government official transaction. What an enormous economic waste! From my experience, the ONLY time ‘African time’ is not applicable in Nigeria is when it’s time to share “some” MONEY! That is when “delay is dangerous”. The first obstacle to the development of Nigeria and Africa is thelow value place on time; we’re blight with lukewarm attitude towards time, we take joy dishonouring appointment, waste other people’s time, negative attitude in fixing appointment. Our comfort with ‘African time’ is now a disease eating the fabric of our development. A stitch in time saves nine, but our stitches only save one, maybe nothing. Opportunity lost cannot be regained; we should make hay while the sun shines as delay is always angerous, not only in sharing money but in working for the money.
Africa is the richest continent on earth. Despite abundance of resources why are things like poverty, inferiority, illiteracy, wickedness and blackness should be associated with us? It is because something is wrong somewhere? It’s simply because of our ‘African time’, are we on God’s time table? The problem is Africans’ ‘African time’, because God said there is time for everything, but we have besmirch our own time. Our time for work is time to play, time sleep is time to wake-up(and rob), time to govern is our time to loot, time to resume work is our time close, time to eat is time to play; time to resign from office is our time to seat-tight. These entire blemishes spoils the beauty of Africa, because of the poor and low value we place on time, even some people take delight in the bad name. We have totally forgotten that time waits for no one. Many developmental projects have been financially revised upwards because of low attitude on value of time. Also, time spent on attendance of official meeting (closed door meetings) are creating barriers to efficiency, such time should be reduced. Where staffs resume official duties by 10am and do special daily prayer for another one hour is waste of the already awful ‘African time’. Time is money says a proverb, but turn it around and you get a precious truth. Money is time.
However, we keep “White(man) Time” when it comes to sharing money or to collect debt without excuse even in bad roads and hold-ups (mostly in Lagos). This mentality should be translated to awaken us about value of time as it affects our collective efforts to make the country great. We need to realise the urgent need to develop our firm consciousness about time in our economic struggle for survival. Time is money, if we cannot spend our time wisely, then how can we spend our money wisely? Punctuality is the soul of business and should therefore be the soul and engine of our development as a country and as individual.
