An Irony I Can't Unsee!!!

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A few days back, one of the craziest things happened that, honestly, I’m still yet to fully wrap my mind around. Not just because of how crazy it is, but also because of how it was carried out by educated people who were supposed to see the irony of the situation. But for some reason, either because they were simply following orders or just because they wanted to look for trouble, they chose not to see the irony.

I use the word choose intentionally because, in this case, eleven the blind would see the irony. But then, this is Nigeria, and just about anything goes. As long as it has the backing of the government, then it’s most likely free game!

So, what actually happened? You see, in my compound, we took out a weekend to clear out the weeds and trash that had accumulated. This particular weekend was specifically chosen because it was the closest to when the waste disposal company would have come to get them all. The cleanup generated a lot of trash, and we couldn't keep it inside, so they were outside, by the fence, somewhere the garbage men could easily see it and carry it.

Unfortunately, they didn’t come that month! And the month after that! So, the trash remained there. And here in Lagos, the burning of refuse is illegal; you can get arrested for it. The government has also successfully chased off all the local garbage men who would have easily handled it for us. So, we were stuck with trash that was getting rotten and was an eyesore. And unless the garbage company came, we were screwed. But we didn’t even know how screwed we were. Not yet.

One day, we were visited by some agents from the environmental agency. Their job was to make sure that streets were clean and people were keeping their homes clean and disposing of their trash properly. A very noble and good job. But then, we were the targets. They wanted to fine us for having trash in front of our compound, and when we told them that it was left there for the waste disposal unit, which failed to come, they didn’t listen. We literally couldn't do anything about the trash without breaking any laws. It wasn’t our fault that those guys didn’t come to take them; we had done everything as residents. It was up to the organization to do the rest.

So, we had to get to convincing them that it was beyond our power, it took a while, but they eventually left, with a warning that they didn’t want to see the trash again next time they returned. Still, that was beyond our power, but we just agreed. It took another two weeks before the trash company finally came with their vehicles and cleared it all. A huge relief!

This is something we experience from time to time, the company is irregular, they come when they want, and many times, only once a month. But we’re making it work. What reminded me of this event was that I saw one of the agents a few days back, and it reminded me of that crazy day! How insane everything was, and somehow, we were made to look like the bad guys even when we had done everything right.

But still, it was a good day! Lol!

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_{Thank you for reading. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below, I would love to know what you’re thinking. Till we meet in the next post.}

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_{N.B: All images used in this post are mine. The thumbnail was designed using Canva.}

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