5 lessons learnt from everyday is for the thief by Teju Cole

Title: Everyday is for the thief

Author: Teju Cole

Pages: 162

Publisher: Cassava Republic

The above quote is my favourite excerpt from the book.

Why? You’d ask

An average Nigerian can easily relate to this. Teju Cole in this book mirrors the life of the average Lagosian whose life is characterized by corruption from those in power (NOTE: power is relative in this case), hopelessness in the current state of affairs, the “energies of Lagos life” as the writer succinctly referred to it.

Every Day Is For The Thief was first published in 2007 where Nigeria was represented as a basket case and 10 years later, this book finds its way into my “books to read” list and I find myself relating to the woes of the narrator.

The narrator, a young Nigerian living in New York returns to Nigeria after spending 15 years abroad (surprisingly, the writer never mentioned the narrator’s name). Through his eyes, we experience Lagos, not Ikoyi, Banana Island, Lekki Lagos but Ikeja, Yaba, CMS, Ojota Lagos. The narrator sees his life as a labyrinth and takes the readers to the streets of Lagos to find inspiration to get him out of this puzzle.

For the narrator, Nigeria is a closed case, he is forced to “observe” the routine double payment at the consulate in New York, one issued with a receipt, the other without, on arrival, he encounters three instances of official corruption within 45 minutes of leaving the airport.

And on several occasions during the course of his daily tour in order to survive the brash city that is Lagos, the narrator says that “body language as one moves through the street has to be one of undiluted self-assurance”. Through the mind of the narrator, we feel the discontent, disappointment and a sense of foreboding of every average Nigerian.

5 things I’ve taken from this brilliant piece are:

1. Corruption has been existing in Nigeria for as long as this book has existed, its not any different 10 years later. An extract from the book that buttresses this point, “Money dished out in quantities fitting the context, is a social lubricant here… the giving and receiving of bribes , tips, extortion, money…is not thought of in moral terms… it is a way of getting things done, neither more nor less than what money is there for.”

The narrator reflects on the plight of Nigerians, he alludes to the case of Tafa Balogun who stole 14 billion naira. For us, corruption by high-ranking government is a given but the narrator says that, “what annoys people is that he stole so much so quickly. The reasoning was that if only he had shown some moderation, taking only a little here and there, he would not have been arrested”.

Its 2017 dear readers and this is still the case, its no wonder the Nigerian economy is crippled, high-ranking officials embezzle funds in large amounts, I’m talking about billions of dollars here! Unconscionable!!

2. Beliefs, Teju mirrors the lives of Nigerians as the most religious people, he gives evidence to this fact by stating that Nigeria received recognition in the world media as the most religious country in the World. A trip down the  narrator’s experience draws on the religiosity of Nigerians, from the brief sermon at the wedding ceremony he attends, the story his Uncle Tunde tells about a man who died at 106 yet, family members concluded that black magic was used and the growth of churches “springing up like mushrooms on every street and corner”.

Our beliefs have taken over our reality such that plane crashes, lack of wealth and miracles are attributed to insufficient faith. The last straw for the narrator is the conversation with his old friend where he finally concludes that Oluwafemi’s judgment, like every other Nigerian is clouded by the belief that sicknesses are caused by word of mouth as the tongue is very powerful “its saying it that makes it so”.

Easy to relate to, our religiosity does not permit us to say, “I am sick” rather, we say “I am strong”. Sounds familiar?

3. Cultural displacement, the narrator’s much anticipated visit to the National Museum in Onikan is fraught with disappointment as he realises that there is nothing concrete representing the Nigerian archaeology and art history.

The culture of Nigeria, strongly rooted in its art (Ife bronzes, Benin brass, Nok terra-cottas and Igbo-Ukwu) is fully represented in other museums such as Metropolitan Museum in New York, British Museum and Museum fur Volkerkunde in Berlin but a crushing disappointment in Lagos.

The narrator is disgruntled by the mediocre description of our colonial heritage, after “hundreds of thousands our compatriots were sold, tortured, murdered” and military history as he describes the military governors as “butchers” are celebrated in the museums.

4. It is with great joy that I put forward this point, over the past years, it is without doubt that the African literary industry has moved from what it was when the narrator visited a bookshop in the heart of CMS and finds nothing by African writers but two novels by Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie and Sefi Atta knowing that the reason they are there is as a result of “energetic young publisher behind them”.

Thankfully, you walk into a Nigerian bookshop and see hundreds of books written by African writers, our African writers industry is growing. I have my personal favorites, most readers would acknowledge that we’ve graduated from reading foreign literature to the books by our very own such as Ayobami Adebayo, Elnathan John, Lola Shoneyin amongst others.

At least one of the few things that have changed in the past 10 years.

5. I must not forget to mention the growth of digital media in Nigeria and by digital space, I mean social media. The narrator seemed quite impressed with the internet cafes in Lagos. However, this is shortlived when he finds out that the internet is used to perpetuate advance fee fraud (419).

I wonder what he’d think now. Nigeria thrives on social media right now, yes yes, 419 still exists 10 years after the book was first published but it goes farther than that. Social media is a way of life for people, a veritable method of making money (not through yahoo yahoo oh) but by legit means, brand advertisement and what not. Maybe this too has changed over the years.

I’ll read this book in a few years and maybe things will be a tad different…hopefully.

Thank you Teju for an interesting read.

P.S I know I read this book pretty late, thankfully, good books are ageless.

Written by Omena Akpobome

Omena Akpobome is a 19 year old student of the Faculty of Law, University of Lagos. Omena considers herself an interesting and intelligent young woman and her passion for greatness is evident in notable recognition for academic excellence.

Omena believes that the joy we see in life is almost conterminous with the beauty we attach to it.

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