Why I am a Lagosian

pharmacy

When I tell my friends that I am a Lagosian, they think I am just joking. But the fact is that I have been living in Lagos from 1964, the year I graduated with a diploma in Pharmacy and started working. Of course, I was outside Lagos during my B.Pharm. programme (1966/67 session) at the University of Ife, Ibadan Branch, and the Nigeria-Biafra war (1967-1970).

People do not take my “Lagosian” claim serious because they hardly hear me speaking Yoruba. As a matter of fact, all my attempts so far made to speak the language have failed. Even at the university, my friends taught me only dirty Yoruba expressions for abusing people.

Moreover, most of the time, my dressing does not reflect Yoruba culture. Many years ago, I made one white and one yellow babariga for important occasions. At one time, I collected the white one from the dry cleaner for a wedding.atur As my Yoruba friends do, I kept the outer “balloon” at the back seat of my car, until I reached the venue of the wedding. Then I brought it out to wear. After fruitless attempts to force in my head, I abandoned it on the seat of the car with the cap and then entered the reception hall. It was not a nice experience for me. The following Monday, I returned it to my Obalende tailors to expand the neck.

My second experience was even more embarrassing. This time, I tested the attire before giving it to the dry cleaner and everything was alright. The function was a cocktail party at Ikoyi. I got there a bit late because of traffic problem. As soon as I arrived, I confidently brought out my balloon and wore it, grabbed my cap and fitted it well and then marched with dignity into the hall.

Soon after, the then president of PSN sighted me and moved straight to me. He then surprised me by politely holding my hand and taking me along with him to a corner. There, he started turning my balloon round my shoulder because I had worn it back to front.

One or two guests might have earlier noticed my mistake but did not want to correct me – maybe, thinking that I might not be mentally sound. I thanked my president for saving me from the embarrassing situation. Those two experiences discouraged me from wearing babarigas. In any case, I am not even good with Igbo traditional dresses.

As I said before, I have spent most of my life in Lagos. I can count only three occasions when I have spent more than one month outside Lagos since 1964. The first was in 1978 when I attended a six-week course of the International Marketing Institute (IMI), Cambridge, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

The second was just last year when we attended the NAPPSA conference in Tampa, Florida, USA. On that occasion, it was my wife who made up her mind that we should stay for one month, so we could visit some of our relations in different states. I did not take her serious until when I wanted us to purchase our air tickets. It was then that she presented to me our tickets which she had already procured covering one month. I was upset as I was not thinking of staying out for so long. However, since the tickets had already been purchased early at a good rate, I had to surrender to her decision. It turned out to be an exciting trip that afforded us time to be in Florida, Georgia, Maryland and New York.

My third time of being more than one month outside Lagos was earlier this year. Sometime ago, our daughter in Canada filed the Canadian Permanent Resident Permit for us, and it went through this year. For the purpose of this permit, we were advised to plan for initial stay of about three months.

Staying three months outside my house was a very serious decision for me. Many questions were flooding my mind. How would I abandon my office, my FGBMFI meetings, NAPharm meetings, church activities, my friends and my household? My life and daily routine would be dislocated. My mind was focusing on imaginary problems but the few friends I mentioned the purpose of the trip to were highly excited and congratulated me on such an opportunity that many are looking for. That gave me the encouragement to stay for three months outside Lagos this year.