Why "African Time" Persists!

I had a movie date with some beautiful members of staff from the university here in Belgium. At the time, I wasn't familiar with "timing" for buses and the duration for arriving at destinations. So I miscalculated the time and got to our meeting point five minutes late.


Back home, even if I had come fifteen minutes late I could have still met the people I was to go to the movies with. But not here. By the time I got there, they were already seated at the movies and enjoying the show without me!


In the west people are more time conscious and always take it seriously when one is a minute late to an appointment. But for Africans, it is permissible to be up to 30 minutes late. We are so accommodating that we can allow for such a "generosity!" Hence, African time. If we agree to meet at 8, it could mean anything from 8:30 to 9:30. Most often not exactly at 8, like you have in Europe.


I thus set out to find out why this is so!

Train Time Schedule in Gare Liège Palais 

• The first thing I discovered is that the social infrastructure in place helps Europeans to keep to time. For instance, if one needs to go by bus, train or by air, there are fixed routes and fixed time for departures and arrivals. So you know when the bus or train is leaving and also when it will arrive at your destination.
• There are also designated stops which are strictly adhered to by all commuters. 
• Bus stops are clearly marked that no car is parked on them at anytime of the day. 
• Even if one chooses to drive him/herself, there are clear road signs especially at intersections and roundabouts with clear rules about who should wait for the other to pass first.
• There are also traffic lights and street lights that are in good working order.
• Parking spaces are clearly defined and delineated even on very narrow residential streets.
• And most importantly, every information is available online and internet access is as common as sewage on the streets of a good number of African cities.
• Drivers of both commercial and private vehicles are learned about road use. You need to see how pedestrians cross roads at designated points like royalty, without having to wave down vehicles.

• In fact, in Liège, I have had to ride a bus as the only passenger for over five stops and I asked the driver to take a picture when he finally stopped me. And he complied.

The reverse is the case in a cities like Lagos and Abuja, Nigeria. 

Oshodi Bus Stop, Lagos

• Regrettably, there are no alternatives to road transportation within these cities. Hence, the roads, no matter how wide, are often cluttered with sundry automobiles both during rush hour and before or after.
• Bus stops are not clearly delineated. Thus they could be negotiated by the driver's generosity and the passenger's ability to properly use adequate doses of insults and decorum.
• There are no designated time schedule. This means that you neither know when the bus will leave nor when it will arrive.
• No bus leaves the garage until it is filled and sometimes it can take hours. So your getting to your destination on time depends on other passengers coming out in good time.
• Needless to talk about the general discomfort of very impolite bus conductors who often believe that if you are rich enough you should buy your own car.
• Even if you choose to drive yourself, the level of traffic you will meet is oftentimes unpredictable. and when you have spent a good part of four to five hours in just one gridlock, you will keep wondering what has really brought the traffic jam.
• Road signs? Where available, they are covered with one campaign poster or the other.
• Most drivers get their driving license without going through any practical examination or training.
• Even where you have pedestrian crossings, you need a "good Samaritan" to even help children flag down cars and let children cross.

One side of Saint Lambert bus stop in Liège
Note that there are no cars here because the buses
use tunnels at busy parts of the city.

 What more can I say?
Compare the picture above and this one here!
How does one keep an appointment amidst the confusion that we see above.


The need for city mayors in Nigeria might need to be re-considered. The local governments are doing virtually nothing. They cannot even cart away refuse, let alone maintaining public utilities. The state government is so high above to work on the immediate needs of specific cities.
If there is an elected mayor in, say Lagos, s/he will know that his/her being re-elected is based on physical developments that s/he has brought to the city itself. At least, we can judge them by the amount of refuse they are able to clear and the manner in which public infrastructure is built and maintained!


The key to eradicating African time, to me, is consciously erecting and maintaining public infrastructure to functional levels. Politicians in Nigeria are scared of investing in alternative transportation systems that will entail using underground tunnels. But they are not looking at future gains and the amount of revenue these facitilies will be generating for generations to come. Look at the metro in European cities: Paris, London, New York, et cetera! They were not built yesterday, but they are still as functional and generating millions for the government and their operators.