The Bedbug, The Driver and The Nigerian Story

A while ago I boarded a commercial bus to the garden city of Port Harcourt. The trip was an urgent one and so I had to leave same night I got the information. After purchasing the ticket and all other formalities, we boarded.

Few minutes into the journey some passengers started grumbling. From grumbling it turned into a mini protest. They complained that insects were making a meal of them. Some thought it was just mosquitoes while others blamed sand flies until someone screamed “bedbugs.” A woman had actually caught one of the culprits and it turned out to be the dreaded vampire bedbug.

Every passenger became agitated knowing the bug for what it is, you will never wish to come in contact with the vampire as it is near impossible to kick them off your environment once they become a part of it.

We had barely reached Ijebu-Ode when the bus broke down. All passengers could not bear the torment from the bugs and rushed down for a supposedly brief reprieve. We all thought it was a minor fault that would be fixed in less than an hour. At least we appreciated it a little because we really needed a break from the bugs. One hour turned to two hours then three and at this point we had started complaining because the night journey which was meant to get us to our destinations by dawn was gradually becoming a regular day time trip.

The driver of the bus got down to meet with the passengers and try to placate us with assurances that the vehicle will be fixed as soon as possible and the journey will proceed. Four hours later and we were still at the same spot. The driver himself obviously frustrated with the turn of events started dishing out stories laced with complaints. He started with sharing his experiences on the road as he claimed to have been a driver for over 30 years. He revealed to us that he has three graduate children and two undergraduates with his last kid preparing for her senior school certificate examination. He was bitter about the fact that in spite of the graduates he had at home he was still endangering his life on the road at his age because none had been able to secure employment. His joy and prayer was that none of them would end up as a driver like him. The roads were more of death traps due to the bad road and insecurity.

Some questions come to mind. Why will a man of that age still be engaged in such a tasking job? A job that requires a tact and agile mind with full concentration. Why will a man have three graduates sitting at home without employment even when they are willing and able to take up employment? Access to loans is a herculean task with so much propaganda surrounding it just for sake of elections.

Employment, security, infrastructural development, social security are a few of the panacea but there has to be a workable plan to achieve these because successive political campaigns have always had these in their manifestoes but no concrete plans on ground to make them a reality. I rest my case at this point as I await your thoughts on this discourse. You can share your thoughts by commenting.

NB: I abandoned the bus and left with another at additional strain to my pocket. The transporters from the south-east need to step up their game and become more passenger-friendly.