It was a cool, quiet evening—one of those rare days when the city seemed to exhale. I boarded the bus home from work, grateful for the unusual calm. The vehicle was only half-full, a welcome contrast to the usual chaos of rush hour. The driver was sealed off in his little cubicle up front, and we passengers were scattered like leaves on a still pond. Among them was a man who immediately caught my eye—late 60s, wearing a crisp white cap that read ' Chosen One' in bold black letters. He was flipping through a newspaper with such frantic energy it looked like he was searching for something long lost—or perhaps arguing with the headlines themselves. Opposite him sat another older man, though you wouldn't know it from his clothes. He was dressed like a teenager—like someone clinging to relevance with both hands. Then, out of nowhere, the man in the cap spoke, loud and clear, as if addressing a courtroom rather than a quiet bus. 'Does time determine what's right or wrong...
It could pop up as breaking news, a social media post, a gossip from a neighbour, an observation by a pastor or a rumour from a beer parlor. Then it develops wings and flies through every section of the country and then it becomes a broken news."Have you heard what is going on in town now?"
"Oh that one na old news sef...na so we see am o my brother. Wetin we fit do? Na only God fit help us..."
And then there might be committees set up to combat the negative views of the given news; a way of looking into the issue by the government. In no time there will be new news to take its place and the ball just won't stop rolling.
Unemployment has not always been, but it is now the Normalcy Talk like "no water, light, food, housing, etc. When it becomes normal it becomes accepted comfortably like a prodigal son returning home. It becomes celebrated via speeches, conferences, songs, films and the like, still it never goes away...Stalemate. Are you a Normalcy Talker? Aren't we all?
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