Growing Up in Nigeria: Then and Now

Growing Up In Nigeria: Then and Now

To today’s Nigerian adolescent, some of the information in this article may seem like a fairy tale but it is true. However, for those who were adolescents and young children then, it should kindle nostalgia.

For Nigerians born and bred between 1963 and 1983 in Nigeria, it was a potpourri of experiences growing up. Depending on where they were and regardless of their socioeconomic statuses, they saw things work as they were said and meant to work. The public potable water taps gushed at almost every distance between two electric poles. No water sold in sachets or even bottles. There was no need as the quality was safe and world class. Trains and the railways functioned properly alongside planes belonging to British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) which later metamorphosed into the now extinct Nigeria Airways and very well-managed road transport companies like Midwest Line (later Bendel Line, now Edo/Delta Lines); Izu Chukwu, Ekene Dili Chukwu, The Young Shall Grow and the likes. The latter were running ‘luxurious buses’ as they were then called (and still called even though these days we do not really fell any luxury in them).

Now these services were open for all as long as they could be afforded. The Naira then vacillated between 25 kobo and about 70 kobo to the US Dollar. It was about the second or third most powerful currency in the world at that time because it was introduced in 1973, during the oil boom and three years after the civil war by the Military Administration of General Yakubu Gowon alongside changing from right hand steering to left hand steering, and the National Youth Service Corp (NYSC) among other parastatals and national organizations. Only the pound sterling could really boast of ‘looking down’ on the Naira at N1.20k (one naira, twenty kobo) to the British currency.

In 1972, one day, children saw parents jubilating after starring at the front pages of newspapers or listening to the news on transistor radios (TV’s were rarely owned those days): the Udoji Awards!

The late Chief Jerome Udoji did the civil service proud in 1972 with his salary and other benefits awards. It is still being referred to as the golden era of the nation. Then, he headed a Civil Service Commission to review standards of service and compensation within the civil service which made sweeping recommendations on the public service including the recommendation of an objective or goal oriented management style. The review was popularly known as the Udoji award.

Toys were bought for kids, who hitherto were content with playing with kites made from old newspapers or polythene waste. Then craftsmanship for kids was almost a reflex. Children did cages to catch birds, or made mini-cars out of old and disused motor bearings. ‘Borris’ as it was called, was mostly driven on hard surfaces if there were no tarred roads around the neighbourhood. Home decors were changed and ‘modernised’ and new clothing were acquired. Some in the middle class bought their first cars and they were brand new or ‘tear rubber’ as it is called these days. Second-hand cars were ridiculed at and were mostly used by people who returned home from overseas. Known as Aloku (‘used’, In Yoruba), these second-hand cars are now revered in Nigeria as people now literarily give thanksgiving in church for purchasing one!

Hold your breath. Night-soil men aka ‘Agbepo’ (‘pail-carrier’ in Yoruba language) were common place in those days as pit toilets were still in vogue for the average city-dweller. The men came in the dead of the night anyway to evacuate human waste but that did not go with its attendant unpleasant consequences to anyone who was awake then. Children slept earlier than what is obtained these days.

Television sets as earlier mentioned were rarely owned by most homes except by the affluent in the society. Those who had it kept it under lock and key as the brands of teevee available in those days were lockable as they had retractable wooden ‘doors’ and locks built into them. Their homes became a sort of Mecca or viewing houses especially during international football matches involving the then Green Eagles. Those who couldn’t afford TV, or who weren’t allowed space to view from windows and living rooms of teevee owners settled for live commentaries on transistor radios, so vividly relayed by the late radio journalists, Ishola ‘it’s-a-goal’ Folorunsho and Ernest Okonkwo. They relayed the matches so well that it seemed listeners were right at the stadium seeing the games live!

Video? not until the early 80′s that people got first Sony Betamax and later VHS types. Children had teevee viewing times and strict sleep time rules. Films and movies which had explicit content were the last programs of the day only available to adults. However, some ‘stubborn’ kids sneaked up at night to catch glimpses or one or two scenes of shooting or smooching as the case may

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