Lackadaisical attitude to work: A tale of two petrol filling stations, by Idowu Olayinka

I decided to buy petrol motor spirit (pms) to fill the tank of my vehicle this morning. The first port of call was an NNPC Limited station, directly opposite FOODCO Superstores, Idi Ape Area of Ibadan. Time was 7: 50 am. The station was yet to open to customers as the attendants were yet to resume for work. Yet upon inquiry I was informed that there is fuel in their dump. We are reminded every now and then that PUNCTUALITY IS THE SOUL OF BUSINESS. Conversely, NNPC retail will still pretend to be in serious business, even with their casual approach to business.

We drove about 200 metres ahead along the same stretch of the Iwo Road to a BOVAS and Company Limited Filling Station. Not unexpectedly, they were already open for business and I asked one of the attendants when they open, he told me it’s 6: 00 am. Every day.

This is a business where profitability is driven by the volume of sales. Government work is nobody’s work. The Yoruba will say A kii nsise oba laagun (You need not sweat while doing public work).

Some little things that really matter. It is generally acknowledged that Africans hardly have no respect for time. We typically use the position of the sun to estimate the time of the day. Thankfully we are close to the equator (Tropical and Sub-Tropical regions) and we luckily have sunlight most to the day. This is on a lighter note.

–Olayinka is a Professor and former Vice Chancellor of University of Ibadan