MY FRIEND WAS STILL BLEEDING

How Nigeria is happening to us.

My friend Mr. P was meant to retire this April, but he died in February. He died in a Nigerian way.

That Tuesday was a slow day at the office. We had a lot of casual conversations before we closed. He received a call that got him mad so we expected that he'd travel to his hometown, but we didn't think that he'd travel that day. When we closed, he was supposed to come to the office the next day.

That Tuesday was his youngest kid's birthday. The kid turned one. From work, He got to his home nearby, ate and said goodbye to his crying kid who crawled to him and grabbed his leg. It is normal for babies to want their parents to carry them but perhaps that Tuesday was different. His wife told him to come back with a birthday present for the kid and that was it. Sudden deaths are literally untimely, I suppose she would have said a better goodbye.

It happened on his way back. The first sad thing about it is that Nigerian roads are bad. It was night time already when he was riding back on his motorcycle. As Mr. P was approaching a big pothole that was extending from the shoulder to almost the middle of the road, he moved to the middle and so did the driver in the space-bus behind him. The driver was trying to overtake him. Perhaps the driver thought he was clear of Mr. P or maybe he saw another pothole or something, but the driver tried to get back to his lane and pushed my friend crushing to the side of the road. My friend, Mr. P, began to bleed from the large opening on his head.

The driver stopped. He began looking for who would help him carry my friend and his bike to safety while my friend continued to twitch, struggle, and moan in pain. That night the road was not busy. That night there was no one or perhaps no one stopped. My friend had a broken hand and one of his legs broke in two places. The driver decided. He dragged my friend in extreme pain into his car and struggled with the motorcycle into his boot. My friend was still bleeding.

The driver rushed to the nearest Federal Road Safety Corps station, stated the accident, and asked for help. A Road Safety officer was assigned to him and they rushed out again not to the hospital but to the nearest Police station. The driver stated the accident and asked for help. They were then assigned a Police officer and only then did they rush to the hospital. My friend was still bleeding.

The emergency room was busy but not that busy that night, so my friend got a bed. My friend was unconscious by now. And now the tertiary hospital told the officers they needed a relative or someone that knows him to give them his details and make a down payment for his treatment. Tertiary hospitals are full of seniors consultants, experienced nurses, ambitious professionals and everyone else who's worried about their reputation and break time, most especially their break time I suppose. The bureaucracy is unfathomable. They searched his body and found his work identity card. Having his name and where he worked, they began calling people in that area asking if anyone knew him.

While they were going back and forth, my friend was left unattended. While everyone was trying to avoid a Nigerian factor, a Nigerian factor was happening to him. When my friend began to convulse and gasp for air, they gave him oxygen. With the head wound still unattended, my friend was still bleeding. And that was how he gave up the ghost. After, a relative rushed to the tertiary hospital and a short moment later, his wife.

At the morgue, my friend was still bleeding. The blood was too much. The relative was asked by staff of the hospital to pay for the head wound to be stitched up and he did.

It is hard to explain how situations unfold in Nigeria to non Nigerians. It is easier for us, Nigerians, to understand how weird and pathetic situations unfold because we understand that we're constantly surrounded by one set of Nigerian factors or another. Nigerian factor is the element in a system or situation that makes it dysfunctional. It can be foreseeable or unforeseeable. However, we can't accurately incalculable Nigerian factors in our plans, insurance, or any form of risk assessment. Nigeria will simply happen to us. Little or big, we have experienced these factors. We're molded into being by them and we carry the post traumatic stress order in our genes.

This is how a Nigerian factor phenomenon unfolds. It's a regular Tuesday. You're loved by colleagues and family. You get on your bike in good condition. You get into an accident because it's a Nigerian thing for roads to be bad and cause accidents. It was an empty road. It could have been a hit-and-run but the driver involved is one of the better Nigerians. Yet a Nigerian nonetheless, he has PTSD about how things unfold in this country. So he wouldn't take you to the hospital alone. He needs a law enforcement officer as his witness and his safety net. And he knows that the hospital will also require the presence of a law enforcement officer as their safety net just in case. The law enforcement officers see you bleeding and unconscious and they know you'll not survive because first aid response and emergency service is [explicit deleted] around these parts. And so they'll play it cool and avoid things unfolding that'll make their reports longer. “We received reports of an accident along so and so road at such and such time. The accident victim was taken to the hospital by the driver involved in the accident and the victim gave up a moment later in the hospital. He was later identified as Mr. ….”. Plain. Simple. Things might unfold with a long report and these officers are Nigerians. They got PTSD too.

At the hospital, they'd see you unconscious and still bleeding with no known relative and they'll decide that you won't make it and therefore worthy of little effort. They think about their report too. “Accident victim was brought unconscious with an open wound on his head and broken bones. He passed away a moment later before treatment commenced”. Simple. Plain. The lack of consequence for negligence, incompetence, and unethical behaviour is a Nigerian factor. A lot of lawbreakers get off scot-free out here.

I can't bring myself to imagine what was going through my friend's mind in those catastrophic moments. The lying in the pool of his blood, in excruciating pain, on the side of the road waiting for help to come. The bumpy ride in agony. The hope that he's being taken to the hospital snatched away from him by a stop at the Road Safety office. The waiting, in the pool of his blood, in the back seat at the office. The hope that he's being taken to the hospital snatched from him again because of a detour to the Police station. Then finally at the hospital if he still had some sense of awareness, the hope, and comfort of being in a place of help, snatched away from him by some hospital management bureaucracy.

I'd rather think that my friend lost his sense of awareness a few moments after impact. I'd rather think he didn't feel the pain in those moments and that he went with ease.

I am Nigerian and from the parts where we easily forgive and let go. I'm fine even with the knowledge that Nigeria is happening to me.

We went to the funeral, we mourned, we lamented and we celebrated his life. In the office, we received condolences, we lamented, and life went on.

Forgive me for telling you this story and for not having anything practical or pragmatic to share with you in this post. I just needed my thoughts to echo out a little. Stay safe out there.