Order. Noun. A condition in which everything is in its right place and functioning properly.
Order is, arguably, the distinctive physical feature of an advanced, developed society. Technology, which is equally one of the important hallmarks, is frequently deployed to solve problems and improve the quality of lives of the citizens of such countries. However, technology, once developed and available on the market, can be purchased by anyone, even the undeveloped nations who may not have the necessary infrastructure to support such technologies or the manpower to keep them functioning properly. However, order cannot be purchased.
The disorder in our nation screams at us at every turn, and is most especially manifested in our inability to properly and effectively manage our public spaces. For example, we are unable to designate specific places for waste disposal, so we litter our roads with pure water sachets and turn our bus tops and street corners to garbage dumps, the putrefying odour mingling with the otherwise distinctive smell of our roasted corn and plantain. All across the country, our roads are not left free for passage; rather, mechanics, vulcanizers, market men and women as well as taxis and buses take over sizeable portions of them, ensuring the build-up of traffic and the attendant stress upon the nerves of commuters. We are incapable of regulating movement on our roads: while in other climes large delivery trucks are constrained to bring their goods into neighbourhood shops only at specific hours of the day so as not to hinder the free flow of traffic, we leave our petrol tankers and cement trailers to navigate any and every neighbourhood street at will, competing with commuters trying to get to work on time.
The thing about an orderly society is that it doesn’t just happen; it must be planned through a conscious, deliberate thinking process. Unfortunately, one of the things which one finds terribly frustrating in our environment is the apparent lack of deliberate thought in the conduct of our affairs. Our minds seem to be almost permanently on leave, not actively engaged in constantly wrestling with the issues at hand, seeking the best possible solutions to them. Take the ongoing reconstruction of the Lagos-Ibadan expressway, for example. It is obvious that not sufficient thought has been or is being given to ensuring that the inconvenience to road users would be minimized while the project lasts. Before going on to address the lack of order in the reconstruction work itself, however, let me digress a bit and focus on the status of that road as an expressway.
There are people who maintain that we do not have a single expressway in Nigeria, if the strict sense of the word is taken into consideration. The dictionary definition of an expressway involves “controlled access”, implying that entrances into and exits from it are not the same as that which obtains on regular roads. Here, unfortunately, our disorderliness – and intellectual laziness! – have given us expressways from which one can drive directly into petrol stations, shops, and the camps of a host of religious organisations. We have expressways where petrol tankers and trailers are free to hold up traffic while struggling to park beside the road, as it constantly happens at Ogere. Another feature of our disorderliness is the loose manner in which we use words – we love grandiose sounding words but refuse the discipline which will ensure that the reality matches the appellation. As such, we have a host of “ultra-modern” motor parks and shopping complexes in many of our towns which may not even deserve to be called “modern”. Or what should be said about an “ultra-modern” motor park which lacks something as basic as toilet facilities?
Now, back to the reconstruction work on the Lagos-Ibadan “expressway”. Due to the narrowing down of the lanes traffic frequently builds up, sometimes over several kilometres, especially when there are many trailers, tankers and lorries on the road. At such times, overtaking becomes practically impossible, and all movement may even grind to a halt if one of those heavy duty vehicles suddenly breaks down and takes over more than half of the available space. Meanwhile, the traffic has been hemmed in on both sides by the concrete slabs used for demarcation, and there is no way out for the trapped road users. The question is: Is this the best that the contractors can offer?
I have been trapped several times on that road since the reconstruction work began, and each time I come away feeling unreckoned with and uncared for. The last time this happened was just a few days ago, and the feeling of frustration was aggravated by the fact that one could see that a substantial portion of the road had been completed to the right (I was travelling from Lagos to Ibadan), but it was impossible for the traffic to be diverted to that completed portion. We were therefore condemned to remain and inch our way along for several kilometres on the very rough and bumpy section which was waiting to be repaired. Is it too much to expect that as sections are completed traffic would be diverted there, and that a system for easing up traffic would be put in place to handle situations when there are break downs which cause a major build-up? What about even diverting the heavy vehicles to alternate routes? Or is this kind of order completely out of our reach?
