THE UNKNOWN HERO.

He was patiently telling this driver to be patient.

The hero in action!

Untired and relentless, he kept working!

Free flow traffic....

Well done, good Nigerian.

His little efforts were yielding significant results.

Today, a hero triggered a memory of what I did last year. Let me quickly gist you before I tell you what this Unknown Hero did. Sometimes in the middle of last year, (one of those days when rain would fall endlessly from morning to evening), I was delayed at work that day because the rain was falling relentlessly.

The time was getting to 8PM, yet the rain showed no sign of stopping so I decided to leave all the same, knowing that I would get wet the first thirty seconds of entering the rain but not minding the wetness because I had no choice.

Few paces away from the office, I reached the main road and it was a mess. An electric pole had fallen and it lay across the road, preventing vehicles from all sides from moving. In the middle of this lock up, about three men were standing, drenched and shivering while they began to sort out how to solve the problem. The rain kept falling in a torrential downpour.
As a good citizen, I joined them.

After five minutes of hard labour, we were able to through a road by the left and we diverted the traffic to that side. One of us left a couple of minutes later in his car. It remained just the three of us inside the pelting, merciless rain.

Twenty minutes later, I was the only one standing in the middle of the congested road, controlling the traffic with my little knowledge of traffic regulations. I was at it and it was obvious that my little efforts were yielding significant results.

Suddenly, I noticed that while I didn't have a car or even a bicycle, car owners all sat in their cars with their windows wound up tight and cozy in their cars while I was slaving away in the middle of that Armageddon. This repulsed me so much that I felt like going to them in their cozy cars, yank the doors open and yell in their faces but I kept my cool. 

I walked away from the place and headed in the direction of my house. I was told the following day by fellow workers who were watching me from the top floor of our office that the moment I left, things grew worse (I didn't even know that they were watching!)


Fast forward to today, another unknown hero made the effort of bringing sanity to one of our roads. Initially, they were two. The Corp Members were standing in the middle of the road this evening, controlling the traffic. The typical Nigerian riders, pedestrians and drivers were obviously ready to leave the spot at all cost but these two knights stood in the middle of the road, in their khakis and stoutly pointed at the directions in which vehicles should go. This went on for about Thirty minutes and suddenly, one of them caught a taxi and zoom, he was gone!

Undaunted, the other corp member kept at it. He doggedly kept on directing the traffic for another hour. I loved the way he handled himself. He was gentle, yet firm with the stubborn Nigerian drivers who wanted to crawl through the available hole on the road. Strangely, people accepted his role and obeyed as he alone directed the traffic to bring some modicum of normalcy into the abnormal situation.

As i watched him, pride swelled up in my heart to know that there are still other people like me who would sacrifice their time and energy in making thing better in this country irrespective of how unconcerned others are to our general well being. This is the spirit that every Nigerian, especially the youths must embrace. WE ARE THE NIGERIA OF OUR DREAM. We are all the changes we expect to see in this country and if we refuse to render voluntary service when we ca, things will keep going upside down! GOD BLESS OUR  COUNTRY!