It Has “Goed”!

I drive into a filling station to top my tank. It was an NNPC station somewhere at Ejigbo, Lagos. I ask the lady – about 25 years old – to pump in N20,000 worth.

Somehow, I feel the lady looks too elegant for the job.

“Na Cash abi na POS”? She asks.

POS please, I reply.

She takes my debit card, inserts it into the POS machine.

“Savings or current”?

Savings, I told her.

She types in some details and hands the machine over to me to type in my PIN. I type in my PIN and hand back the machine.

She waits while the machine does its bit.

Did it go? I ask.

“It has goed”, she declares.

Goed? As in GO (plus ed)? I do like I did not hear.

She pumps in the gas. I leave.

Another day at the same gas station, I meet the same lady.

Hair – I guess one of those Brazilian type – cascading down her shoulders. Unusually large dangling earrings. Quality, top by my assessment. The top open at the midriff, revealing a large bosom. Good tight-fitting chinos that excessively accentuates her anatomy. The front pocket of the pant itself housing part of a Samsung Galaxy A54.

The same routine as the other day.

Again, the same “it has go(ed)”

Then I decide to do a little psychology

It seems I saw you in one of my classes at Unilag the other day. Are you one of my students? I ask.

“No sir, I no attend school. I only stop at SS3” she declares.

Oh really? Why didn’t you go further? I ask.

“My parents have no money”. she replies.

“And even if dem get money sef, after school, what?” she asks.

I do a quick valuation of her hair, phone and other accessories.

Standing there, she is worth about N600,000, enough to go a long way at National Open University of Nigeria. And she would still keep her job, if she organizes herself well. I decide to mind my business.

Well, it is not late yet. It is never late to read. You may also try putting some funds together to start business. Buying and selling perhaps, I advised.

No response. I drive away.

Every day I meet young folks who blame their parents and country for their woes. Some blame God for making them come to the world through poor parents. They know not that God has provided them opportunity. And it is right at their feet, only they choose to fritter it away on vanities, because they want to live like the Jones’s.