Can we stop subscribing to this term “African time?”

The lack of time management and punctuality in Africa right now, is something very uncalled for and is a total sign of irresponsibility. Rather, we term it “African time.”

According to Wikipedia, African time or Africa time is the perceived cultural tendency, in parts of Africa toward a more relaxed attitude to time. This is sometimes used in a pejorative sense, about tardiness in appointments, meetings and events. This also includes the more leisurely, relaxed, and less rigorously-scheduled lifestyle found in African countries, especially as opposed to the more clock-bound pace of daily life in Western countries. As such, it is similar to time orientations in some other non-Western culture regions.

This is simply our inability to stick to scheduled times. Events and functions do not start at the scheduled time: Weddings, parties, interviews, bridal showers, board meetings, etc. Also, people naturally just love to be late in virtually every event. Late to an interview, late for a wedding, late to a board meeting, late to a party, late to a family gathering, etc. A meeting scheduled for 12noon starts by 1pm. A lecturer comes into the lecture hall by 10:00am for a lecture of 8:30am. Bride and groom are 1 hour late to their Church wedding of 9am. I once attended my friend’s bridal shower scheduled for 12noon, we started by past 4 because as at 2 we were barely 5 persons, and it was meant to be a surprise. Lateness has just spread like wildfire all over the society and like a virus in our blood. This is so bad a lifestyle and culture. But, what do we do, we just ignore it, we become complacent about it,  act like it’s normal, and just conclude “It’s African time.” Like seriously! African time!

Now, it is believed that why we Africans, especially Nigerians, lack time management or tend to always be late is because as with African culture “we are polychromic.” This means we tend to engage in so many activities at a particular time/manage more than one thing at one time rather than in a strict sequence. This explanation  is understandable, being that we like to be in Lagos as well as in Abuja at the same time. Or, you want to be in Mary’s wedding and also present in Pelumi”s child dedication ceremony. We also have cases where we encounter situations that are beyond our control. For example, mad traffic, the road was shut down because an event is going on there, car break down, etc. However, this is not all there is to our lateness attitude.

There is very much this attitude of  “Will I be the first to open the gate? I will arrive there much later. Let me wait a little so that the place will get filled up. Let me just wait small. etc” We also birthed the thoughts that other people will come late so we definitely don’t want to be there early. Funny enough, everyone (every attendant) has that same mindset or thought pattern, so everyone ends up arriving late for the event. Now, this one is so strong among Africans, Nigerians to be precise. It also comes with the attitude of feeling very important, thus, you just want to enter when every one is seated and eventually you become the center of attention.

Like I earlier mentioned, this is so uncalled for. A lot of people have missed several opportunities, interviews, openings, contracts, etc, just because they were not able to keep to time. We need to unsubscribe from this term or culture “African time,” that will only ruin us and not make us better. If you have an event, a meeting or a function that requires you to be there at a specific time or hour, brace up and do everything possible to be there on time. It’s better to be there earlier than to show up late. It will only connote that you lack value and hence, value cannot be entrusted into your hands since you can’t manage your time well. Time, they say, is money, so you have to make good use of it.

Never believe that because we are Africans, it’s in our nature to be late.

Aspire to be a better African. Aspire to be a better Nigerian.