Yesterday, our state conducted its staff audit, an event I had expressed concerns about on my blog. I believed this wasn’t the best time for such an exercise, given the involvement of several districts across the state.
The day started early for me. I woke up at 4:30 a.m., dressed up quickly, and left my house to beat the notorious Lagos traffic. My destination was Ikeja, the venue for the audit. Despite my early start, arriving well before the scheduled commencement, I found the area already crowded with cars parked in every available space. Clearly, many others had also arrived early, hoping to secure a smooth process.
Although the audit was supposed to begin at 9 a.m., the auditors didn’t start until around 9:30 a.m. Initially, everything seemed orderly, thanks to a timetable designed to guide the process for each district. However, things quickly descended into chaos when the auditors started attending to people randomly instead of following the schedule. This led to a massive surge of people pushing to get verified.
The situation worsened as the venue became overcrowded and unbearably rowdy. Several people fainted due to congestion and stress. Efforts by security personnel to restore order were futile, as everyone was determined to complete their verification. Adding to the frustration, the auditors abruptly shut down their computers for about two hours, claiming they needed to restore order. Their actions only intensified the chaos, as the crowd became more restless and impatient.
Around 4 p.m., stakeholders from the Ministry intervened, appealing to everyone to stay calm and maintain order. This intervention lasted over an hour, and while it temporarily restored some semblance of order, it was already late in the day, with the queues continuing to grow longer. To make matters worse, the auditors’ server went down shortly after, bringing the entire process to a halt. By then, it was past 6 p.m., and many people still hadn’t been attended to. It became clear that the audit would need to be rescheduled.
Leaving the venue was another ordeal. The poor road conditions and heavy traffic made the journey home exhausting. I didn’t get home until 11 p.m., completely drained. Tragically, one of the staff buses involved in the audit was involved in a severe accident. The crash resulted in casualties and injuries of varying degrees, adding a sombre note to an already stressful day.
