Ending 2020
Today is the last day of 2020, a year that most will agree saw years' worth of events happen. I agree with that as well, but draw the line at saying it was "the worst year in the last 100". I’m sure that people who lived in 1929, 1937, 1941 and 1966 will have a lot to say about that...
For me, like for many, 2020 started with a lot of optimism. This sense of optimism quickly gave way to caution when shortly after my return from holiday, I fell quite ill. This illness ended with me getting a new accessory, my spectacles. No sooner was I back on my feet, than I was forced to stay indoors as a new disease forced governments across the world to panic and lock huge swaths of their populations indoors. What started out as a cute holiday with the Missus using me as a very willing culinary guinea-pig ended with her broadcasting a video of my now corpulent self attempting to dance. Trying to lose the lockdown weight has been a real chore since then.
At work, when HR sent an email sending everyone home on the evening of 1 March after Nigeria recorded its index covid-19 case, that email was met with stiff resistance as people were worried about data and generator costs. Eventually, the government took the matter away from HR's hands and people were forced to stay home anyway. When HR sent an email on 31 May informing staff of a resumption date, that resumption email was met with an armed uprising which management failed to defeat. After peace talks, it was agreed that the company would become a one-day-a-week organisation, and strangely, productivity improved, but buoyed by increased shouting by those of us on the managerial side of things, so I don't know if it's a better trade off...
On a personal note, the three months spent at home was the longest stretch that my wife and I had spent in each other's company since we started dating, and it was a very good journey of discovery, asides from my weight gain...
In the end, all good things must come to an end, and so work resumed, which included a trip abroad that ended with me stuck at the MMIA on the eve of the Lekki Massacre. That evening, I was treated to a live video in which my country's military shot at peaceful protesters with 130,000 people watching, and then lied about it. Which for me, is the biggest thing from 2020.
The End SARS protests of October 2020, despite their unfortunate end, showed us two glimpses of the new Nigeria that is possible, one of these possible futures, is one where people rally around a just cause, work towards it, and provide accountability. The other, is meltdown. I get the feeling that the coming year will decide which one our country has picked. Fingers crossed, and happy new year.