Events at the Apapa port over the last month have cast my mind back to an incident that occurred about 18years ago.
It was a hot,sweltering day at the peak of the Lagos summer(for my mind!),Christmas party 1992,primary school.
There I was,all regally decked out in my suit complete with my rope tie savouring the attention from the horde of dotting females.Something happened,somewhere,sometime,somehow(all these "somes" should have made it obvious to me that whatever occurred was surely non of my behinds business).
Needless to say,I got involved and with all the ladies egging me on,i chose to be the hero and confront the aggressor.Needless to say,once again,the beating i received would be reserved for telling at another time!
Okay,we discovered 13 containers of deadly and nefarious looking arms at the Apapa port and after proper investigation,two things came up;1)ship loaded in Iran,2)arms meant for Gambia or Gaza,depending on who you believe.
All of a sudden,the Nigerian Government is blowing hot,vowing to deal with Iran,threatening fire and its cousin brimstone.Here I am,all by myself,deep in thought,mind cast back to all those years ago,wondering silently,if kasala go burst and Iran go vex,ol' boy me i no dey oh!
Why cant we just pretend we never saw it and escort it to whatever destination its destiny was eventually destined for.I mean,wetin concern Beetle with with power steering!
Our custom officials are celebrating the find like the second coming of Shina Peters.
Would this "achievement" erase all the decades of laxity,corruption and plain thieving going on at our ports?
Like a friend once said"The Nigeria Custom Service has made it a custom to steal"
P.S:Good night and God bless.
