WALKING PHONES

GSM Mobile phone use came into Nigeria in 2001 with Econet. As usual, they started in Lagos as the commercial center of the country and those of us in other areas just heard about experiences of its users. We only saw it on television and heard about it on the radio. It had become one of the fantastic things that were to remain a fantasy to those of us without a lot of thousands to spend on its acquisition. Then in came MTN, then known as “your best connection”. Apart from the competition and its wider coverage, it was a little lower than Econet in cost. By 2003, a large number of Nigerians could afford mobile phones because of the flood of options from Nokia and Samsung especially. I could afford a phone too. My father bought my very first mobile phone, a Samsung R220 popularly called “blue face” and I joined the league of GSM users. However, I had to squeeze out N12,000 to get an MTN sim card.



That was 9 years ago, now sim cards range from N250 to N350 and mobile phones we bought then for N40,000 can’t be found in the market anymore for the sake of newer versions. Camera phones can be gotten for as low as N7000, BlackBerry’s for N30,000 and more complex phones under N100,000. Who would have thought that the day would come when the Chinese will so commonize the mobile phone that every tom, dick and harry will carry one. Not to sound class conscious, but for the sake of owning a phone theft has gone to another level.

March 2010, I sat in a vehicle waiting for other passengers to come in so we could head home and as I waited I began to chat on my phone. Suddenly, I heard a noise at the window and as I turn to look I felt a hand smack me in the face in shock I grabbed my bag and after a little struggle and some more hits I let go of the phone to save my face. Well, more accurately, the string around the phone cut and it will have taken my losing my jaw to keep the guy at my window from taking it so I let it go and screamed on top of my lungs. As is common with Nigerians, sympathizers began to gather and tell their own tales of woe and experiences I didn’t care to listen to at that time. I got into another vehicle went home and cried myself to sleep. It was the best phone I had had of yet. Everyone who heard the story was sorrier about it than my face or arm for that matter. Mobile phones had proven to be the concern of many.

I’ve heard people say, “I leave my phone on all night” or “I never switch off my phone”. I’ve seen people freak out because they left their phones at home or at work. Some years ago, it was called “Lagos street madness” because everyone was talking all at once to no one their neighbors could see. The most frustrating is those who scream while they are on the phone. Right now is not a strange sight to see someone walking down the road and talking to himself, he may just be using a headset, earpiece or bluetooth.

Everyone has a phone! Everyone must have a phone!

That has been my dilemma from losing one phone to another. I wouldn’t mind if by some stroke of luck I can get back all my contacts and documents on my phone but that was such a no-no. MTN now has sim backup but if you’re like me you’ll never consider it until you’ve lost contacts three times in a row like I have. My latest experience was my blackberry. I had hurriedly left one meeting for another and within that rush I lost my phone somehow. With over 400 numbers in it, family photographs and documents worth 1G, I was left to begin to figure out what to do. I know how to get 300 of all my numbers back; some are written down in my diary, friends on facebook, business cards, other friends phones, family members and so on but the remaining 100+ are cab drivers, new friends, business contacts(with no cards), acquaintances and others. That’s just the beginning, who will copy them into the address book?!

The theft of mobile phones has become so rampant it doesn’t carry the sin sticker like it used to anymore. Now if you mention you lost your phone, the next person just wants to know when you’ll be doing a “welcome back”. And if you are like me you’ll be doing one pretty soon, can’t afford to be out of circulation. Thank goodness for smart phones, you can now back up contacts, pins and documents. Now, phones have really begun to show their mobility because they just walk away from you, today you see them tomorrow you don’t. It’s not only wrong to take what doesn’t belong to you as we learnt in nursery school, it is a selfish act. No consideration is given to the owner, in this world of communication; you just throw away a sim card and believe the owner will “survive”. Wickedness is in its prime when wrong doings are given less severity than they should. If stealing is stealing then the same act of stealing a car or a burglary should be equated to stealing phones to combat the skyrocketing rate of lost phones.


p.s

I’m still waiting for a Good Samaritan to return my phone to me (intact) while I wag my finger at the thief.