Making use of influence and power at one point or another is not something that I can totally criticize. The reason is that I believe that everyone would use the powerful tool if opportune. Many people make use of their connections and influences to get jobs. I don't have a problem with this if they are so qualified for the job. It has been happening since the beginning of time, and I don't see it ending.
The instance that I liken to nepotism is when influence and power are abused by giving a job to an unqualified person ahead of a qualified one.
Moving away from using influence to get a job, I will like to talk about abusing power and influence when faced with dire situations like demand surpassing supply. This happened to me a few years ago. It was during the Yuletide season, and many people traveled to the village for Christmas and the New Year. The population was overwhelming for the few banks available. They were finding it difficult to satisfactorily attend to the population surge in and outside banking halls.
I went to the bank to make a withdrawal, and I met a large crowd queued up for the same purpose. The ATMs were not dispensing cash. The only channel of withdrawal was to go into the hall, fill out a withdrawal slip, and withdraw over the counter. I was skeptical about joining the queue. I knew the stress I would encounter if I joined. After contemplating for a few minutes, I joined the queue.
The queue was moving gradually. A security guard stood at the entrance, opening the door for one person at a time. He would only do that when someone came out of the bank via the exit door. The hall was filled to capacity. The arrangement was to replace the population inside with another set. I spent almost three hours in the queue outside before I was allowed into the hall to go and join another queue. I was hungry and angry. I never expected anyone in this century to suffer that much just to withdraw the money you put in your account.
Finally, I had only one person in front of me in the queue. I was beginning to feel a sigh of relief. After the person in front of me was attended to, I stretched my hand forward to give the teller my withdrawal slip. She hadn't collected it when a lady came to her and gave her a phone to talk to someone. All I was hearing from the teller was "yes, sir." They spoke for a few minutes. Right there, the lady who brought the phone to speak took a withdrawal slip, and filled it out. The withdrawal was made, and the cash was wrapped in a small polythene bag for her. It was a huge amount of money.
At this stage, my eyes were red. I was fuming inside.
I stretched my hand again to give her my slip, but she told me to hold on. I stood for many minutes without knowing what was keeping her from attending to me.
She advised me and others behind me in the queue to take our seats and wait for the arrival of cash. The cash had been exhausted.
We waited endlessly.
When it was a few minutes before 4 p.m., a staff of the bank came to apologize to us that the cash they were expecting wouldn't arrive that day. We were advised to come the following morning with a promise that we would be given the privilege of withdrawing before others. I was angry. The money that I was in the bank to withdraw wasn't up to a tenth of what the last lady attended to come to leverage on her power and influence to withdraw.
I let out my anger before leaving the hall.
I didn't go there the following morning. A friend of mine was coming from Abuja. I transferred money to him for him to withdraw it and bring it to me in the village. The ugly experience I had the previous day made me ignore the risk of transporting cash over long distances. I got the cash later that day, and I left the village before exhausting it.
