Adanna Elechi: Changing The Civil Service Narrative in Nigeria

So, if you’ve been following my writing journey, you will know I have been on a break. I haven’t written anything except my name since January. First of all, I don’t want to put all my laziness on COVID-19. It is always easier to put all the blame on the bad guy, but remember Akon wasn’t the bad guy and we put all the blame on him. If you didn’t catch that Akon joke, then you are either too old or too young. I digress.

I could blame it on a lot of factors including COVID-19 but that will make me a liar. So let us blame it on my new job, the job is the bad guy but it pays the bills so let’s call it the good bad guy. It is this job I will be writing about.

Dear readers, I want you guys to help me thank God for removing the title of lazy Nigerian youth from me after years of being the coordinator. The God who did it for me will do it for you if you are unemployed and searching. CEO at self-employed, this prayer is not for you. Late last year, I got employed as an Administrative Officer at a Federal College of Education that I don’t want to mention the name because I still want to call out the government with my chest and not be scared of getting called to collect my sack letter. That money is important to my baby girl life.

So back to this job, where I passionately try not to be the kind of administrative staff I encountered in my days in the university. I will never forget how my shoe melted as I stood under the sun during my final clearance while this woman sat inside her office eating rice and ofe akwu with goat meat and a chilled bottle of coke. This life no balance at all. I am trying my best to change the narrative that every admin staff in a higher institution must be wicked to students and ask for recharge cards and lunch. This character trait that is prevalent in many government institutions puts me off. I went to pick up my driver’s license last week, the woman there shaped her mouth like fish and asked me for money for lunch. If she had the power to keep my license, she would have because my face didn’t look like I was going to cooperate.

Schools are my major focus because I have lived through this and I currently work in one and I continue to see people’s hard demeanor melt like ice at the sight of a plate of food or bottle of malt or money. I am still trying to wrap my head around why some people are comfortable being mean to students or demanding money from them for tasks you are being paid to do. Do these miscreants and willy willys derive joy in being wicked or are they so hungry that they can take 100 naira recharge card from poor students?  You may want to make an argument that civil servants don’t get paid enough, but before you do, ask yourself if those things they collect from students actually make any difference. What about the parents and guardians who are not able to afford these extra expenses? My main irritation is that after collecting these monies illegally, they have the effrontery to say “ka anyi kpe Angelus”. Abeg abeg, remove God from your evil ways.

A lot of young people are joining the civil service now, let us do better in cleaning the public image for the future. You don’t have to be given money to move a file, you don’t have to be given money for lunch. Uncle/aunty lunch, how many plates of food can you finish in a day? The fact that you experienced these hungry people in school or other offices doesn’t mean you have to carry on the hunger mentality, they didn’t pass the baton to you. These young people need guidance, it is always better to be known as that person who listens and helps than to be that one that likes malt and achicha. Our forefathers taught us that a good name is better than riches, yet some people are trading theirs for food and recharge cards. Allow your ancestors rest in peace, stop dragging their names in the mud. If you’ve just been employed as a young person, please let us make a difference, don’t stain your white with begging and harassment. Bring your baby boy/slay mama game to this job. Imagine after doing bop daddy or don’t rush challenge, someone will now comment under your post and say “this one that asked me to buy her beans and plantain with my money”.

It is easy to blame the government for all our woes when as citizens, we are doing even worse. Please do better today so that the angels can hear your voice when you say the Angelus or whatever prayer you say by 12pm.

So how has the lockdown life been for you guys? I have been lazy with my writing, I have also lost 3kg through intermittent fasting and I now wake up by 10 am. I wonder how I will even get back to this my job after this corona break. I hope I don’t turn into a willy willy when we resume and I have to wake up at 6 am. If you don’t know who willy willy is, you are not Nigerian enough, blame yourself! I have missed my BN family and I promise you guys for the last time that I am back and I will never ever go on another long break.