Thought Picnic: Returnee Woes

This is pain

There is an interesting aspect of being a returnee that is quite uncomfortable and disconcerting. When you return home from another country after so many years away, the only thing you probably have is your identity and not much else.

The process of reintegration is being fraught by rules that do not seem to have exceptions. Resettlement is not easy and planning it depends on how you are able to leave where you were to where you want to be and the attendant responsibilities that come with it.

Soul destroyers

In my case, I am caught in a Catch-22 situation that is growing ridiculous by the day. Normally, on arrival in the UK one is to register as looking for work. My experience of the literally soul-destroying concept of being told you are not doing enough to find work that you are matched to jobs that demand nothing of you than to demean and depress you from over 20 years ago was job not what I needed at this time.

Recently, I read of the experience of a PhD holder expected to do menial jobs and not considered to be utilising his job-searching time productively if he was researching and preparing for interviews belying an inferior and pedestrian system in the UK whereas in the Netherlands they fully appreciated your skills and offered help and advice to job-seekers to help them flourish in what they really do know how to do.

Hitting the ground running

I arrived on a Friday and took temporary accommodation with a relation, by Sunday, I had obtained a mobile phone SIM and a new phone number that allowed me to update my CV with an address and number – enough to give it some freshness.

On Monday, I was getting calls and by Tuesday the inquiries were gaining traction that I landed an interview on Thursday after which I was offered a job, what had to follow were mere formalities – terms, contract and other essential personal details.

Proving an improbable

No one on entering a country within days is able to provide a proof of address in that country without exceptional circumstances to that effect. The social services will only consider a returnee habitually resident in the UK only after 3 months of arrival, before which that have no obligations though asylum seekers in dire need seem to get prompt attention.

I could not open a bank account without a proof of address and the company that was supposed to handle my payroll then said they will not release payments for my work until I could prove where I lived, however, I cannot claim many of the official documents like utility bills, job centre correspondence or government agency letters when I am in temporary residence still trying to find my feet.

Exceptionally unique circumstances

In essence, even though I am ready, able and engaged to contribute my bit to society, I am being treated like a homeless man, my independent streak to just get up and do not appreciated and there does not seem to be some exception to cater for people with my kind of unique circumstances.

The unintended consequence of anti-money laundering laws are hitting on honest and innocent persons ready to earn a living but frustrated by the system. Meanwhile, we read of looters of African treasuries washing their ill-gotten wealth through British banks with amazingly breath-taking ease.

Do something

I have put the onus back on my employer and Payroll Company, having offered my identification and met with their personnel, they know what I will be earning and it is unlikely that with the contracts I have signed with both, I can at the same time be an agent of money laundering at their behest.

What is required is a bit of common sense and intuitiveness on their part to validate my existence and facilitate my reintegration.

When I moved to the Netherlands over a decade ago, my employer stood as surety guaranteeing the necessity I had for opening a bank account and consequently securing rental property – that is what I am asking of them – the emails will go back and forth until I have gotten them to stand and stand tall on my behalf. I should not be agonising about these things, I want to concentrate on my new job and perform excellently in what I know to do.

Nigeria: The Age of Irreverence Is Upon Us Like A Rash

Culture shocks

It took reading a rather long blog full of very interesting snippets of history titled the Culture of Disrespect for it to occur to me that a seismic shift in values and customs had happened in our society that many had not noticed.

Over the last few months, anyone caught in the amber of some bygone age of interaction between the powerful and the self-important erudite set has lamented the spate of uncomfortable feedback emanating from social media forums.

That time is going fast

Those used to riding rough shod over the masses who had never had to be accountable to anyone and could with impunity be criminal without consequence having never been questioned or withstood by those they term lesser in status and influence have run the gauntlet of abuse, ridicule, rudeness, discourtesy and disrespect – the mystique and mystery that once redounded unearned adulation by reason of sycophancy and fawning had been torn away.

The age-old niceties of deep courtesy and obsequiousness that allowed for patriarchal and sometimes feudal systems of control and subservience had been consigned to the bin of the unnecessary, ushering in what I would call the Age of Irreverence.

Not by default anymore

What the Age of Irreverence meant was that people no more earned respect by default by reason of status, age, wealth, connection or position but by reason of what you did to affect your community for the better.

Much more is demanded of leadership and even more is expected of them to perform with people ready to call out bluster, bombast and bull shit. The people, many though not all, quite well informed today and poised to pounce on any sign of weakness or hypocrisy, do not have the patience to be taken for a ride.

The expression of the angry young Nigerian

It appears leaders are in for a rude shock, they engage to their peril and disengage to even greater opprobrium and that is just what has become the times – only their paid sycophants have sold their consciences for a lie in the face of manifestly undeniable facts.

That is not to say courtesy, respect and reverence no more matters but leaders will just have to work harder for it and carry their audience honestly and truthfully with them to be offered such adulation.

Like another blog suggests, the young Nigerian is angry and social media offers the forum to vent their spleen and join cause with others in what might look like an onslaught or barrage of abuse. It will take more sophisticated skills of communication to placate the passionately angry and they are increasing in numbers in what might become a formidable movement.

Taking no prisoners

Those who portend to take themselves too seriously will be cut down to side, the haughty will be belittled and the proud are in for a crashing and catastrophic fall.

It is all coming together now and only the savvy will be able to withstand those they label the opposition or as one Presidential adviser put it in his risible and lamentable Jeremiad - the cynics, the pestle-wielding critics, the unrelenting, self-appointed activists, the idle and idling, twittering, collective children of anger, the distracted crowd of Facebook addicts, the BBM-pinging soap opera gossips of Nigeria – have arrived to be the Kings and the Queens of the Age of Irreverence.

The art of the good insult

They will not suffer fools gladly and will use smarts, wit, abuse, insults, irony, sarcasm, satire and much else including data, facts or rumour in their arsenal to express their displeasure in ways that will make even the slightly old-fashioned like myself flinch – I hope for myself, I have not misread the signs of the times.

The sophisticated might well attempt to elevate the art and the finesse of a polite put-down, maybe a Shakespearean insult or even the subtlety of damning with praise – God knows, many are really deserving of what they see on Social Media and long may it continue until things are set to rights; for the highly fed and lowly taught need to experience a comeuppance that will clip their wings.

We have come upon by accident or by design the glowing Age of Irreverence and it will soon reach a street near you.

Nigeria: More on the Paralympians' Allowances Story

It was a good news story

Yesterday, I wrote a blog based on a news story published in the Nigerian Tribune with regards to the payment of allowances to our Nigerian Paralympic contingent to the London Paralympic 2012 Games.

It was titled Nigeria: Do Right By Our Paralympians Before Sundown and I challenged the senior sports administrators of Nigeria to address the issue with immediate effect.

A confrontation

By the evening whilst I was travelling in and out of mobile telephony areas on the London Underground trains I got involved in a direct confrontation on Twitter with @MrFixNigeria, the sometimes feisty and sometimes level-headed  Special Assistant  (Advocacy) to the Minister of Sports.

Now, a slightly truculent @MrFixNigeria was of the opinion that I was peddling an unverified fictitious report on the basis of him having confirmed from the Chef de Mission had said that the athletes where paid accordingly.

Accordingly is sophistry

One then asked what accordingly really meant and how accordingly could have somehow given rise to a fictitious report in a national newspaper about a protest, the payment in dollars and the difference in payments made to the Paralympians compared to the Olympians only weeks before.

The reporter who filed the story signed off as being in London, it would be rather atrocious if not mendacious for a newspaper to unnecessarily forment a crisis and create a controversy on the payment of allowances just to embarrass the sports bureaucracy – on balance, every Nigerian contingent to an international event has had to protest about allowances and I know that when I attended the Nigeria v Bulgaria match at the France 1998 World Cup in Paris, there was a threat of a walkout just because of allowances too.

A Google search for Nigerian Team Allowances presents pages of references indicating the story does have some provenance and elements of truth.

Ask the athletes, not the chiefs

The Nigerian Tribune in my view engaged in a spot of investigative journalism that does not paint of the officials in any good light and the least they should do for matters of both integrity and reputation is to speak directly to the athletes about their concerns and experiences rather than insulate themselves from the core issues that should inform any policy for change and reform they might consider to prevent sporting disasters in the future.

I hold this view more strongly because in conducting his London 2012 Olympic Review as the Olympics were closing a few weeks ago, it appeared the Sport Minister had laid out a whole range of interesting reforms without input borne of debriefing the athletes or their coaches – the danger is such a review will not by any stretch of the imagination address the fundamental issues athletes and coaches face in preparing for international competitions.

The arms-length approach of hierarchical reporting when matters go wrong in the lower cadres will only present to officialdom a false sense of order and efficiency with the athletes being frustrated by their lack of access to the people who really can ensure that the chain of command that guarantees their welfare is clued-in on what it will take for an athlete to perform at their best without distractions.

Get a shop floor view, first-hand

My advice to the Sports Minister and his Special Assistant is to go to the shop floor and get their hands dirty, find out how each sport works from the view of those who really have to sweat it out to bring back the laurels.

This should be first to squelch every rumour of impropriety or ascertain how and why story like the one I wrote about became a topic of discussion either as the truth of the situation or otherwise.

Meanwhile, the Nigerian Paralympic contingent has added another gold medal to their Powerlifting tally bring the medal haul to 5 Golds, 5 Silvers and 1 Bronze – it is the sports officials that now have to make themselves worthy of the task they have of ensuring our heroes are not distracted by incompetence and other shenanigans.

Do I have to suffer the feeble sensibilities of Noel Ihebuzor?

I am seriously bored with egotists

A few months ago, I wrote a piece titled Nigeria: Let's Do Twitter Sociology For Dummies in reaction to some apparently sociological piece written by a Noel Ihebuzor about issues with social media uses and hierarchies formed on Twitter to abuse and castigate the Nigerian government.

It was my view then that it was quite poorly written but more significantly, taking from his definition of sociology which I reproduce below, I decided by reason of the presumed power relations he identified to concentrate on the characters he created to buttress his views.

The easiest definition of sociology is that it is a study of society – how society is structured, the rules, the norms, codes and convention that govern it and the power relations which sustain it.

Long forgotten, now revived

Recently, even though he has blocked me from interacting with him on Twitter, he has visited that blog and first left a comment that I responded to and then left a treatise that I believe I should publish in full here as a blog.

The fact that he has joined cause with the risible article penned recently by Dr. Reuben Abati is to be expected but I am saddened that I find a seemingly intelligent and learned person unable to comprehend in any clarity what I was writing about hoping I will address the low-hanging and rotten fruit of his original piece.

Comprehension is a difficult thing

Constantly, I run the gauntlet of Nigerians unable to gauge perspective, context or drive despite their supposed knowledge of English, it is unfortunate, but I am quite forgiving. The way we are given to verbosity and the inability to be precise, concise and master some elements of brevity is amazing, I had settled into a coma by the time I got to the 5^th point.

Mr Noel Ihebuzor’s ego is bruised by my commentary, his argumentum ad hominem might assuage his pain, and I can’t really be bothered with his emotional state of mind. He simply forgets that comment is free and no permission is required to comment on what has been put out in the public domain. If he was half deserving of such courtesy, maybe, but I will offer his diatribe a space on my blog, when dirty laundry is aired, there is a possibility of freshness.

Would I respond to this? Unlikely.

A long read

The comments appear below:

Noel Ihebuzor: Good try, Mr Akin Akintayo! You successfully managed to by-pass the major issues raised in the article. The omission is deliberate and does not surprise. 08/26/2012 06:05 PM

Akin Akintayo: Mr Noel Ihebuzor, I do not think anyone including yourself should be in any doubt about what I had to say in this blog, your sociology piece was badly researched, poorly written and the only particularly clear thought processes you had in composing your piece were in the names you created of your characters.

I dare say, that this blog was much better researched than yours. 08/27/2012 01:46 AM

Noel Ihebuzor: Mr Akin Akintayo, I have just seen and read your reaction to my short comment on your blog article. I am tempted to ignore it but I will not. So here are few quick reactions:

1.    With regards to your initial article and your puny efforts to engage me in a discussion on Twitter following the publication of the article, let me say that I am still intrigued by how you so quickly came to identify yourself as belonging to the group I describe. Was this a case of a guilty conscience needing no accusation?

2.    The article describes the behavior you belong to and whose norms you clearly identify with. Your attempted rudeness to me on Twitter confirmed that such behavior to be your preferred conduct on social media. For you, such behavior was and is still OK. The article points out the inadequacies (social and strategic) of the same type of behavior, and this makes you feel uncomfortable. Your response is to attack the article and the writer. Such a reaction is understandable. But it is also sad.

3.    You devote 509 words in your blog article of 1303 words to the names I coined to capture the eccentricities of members of your group. Incidentally, these coinages are patterned after the Twitter names of a number of persons in this group you belong to. Please just go to Twitter and check before you commence contesting this.

4.    Let me acknowledge that your analysis of the names is on point for most of them. I am happy you understood what I was trying to achieve by use of those names.

5.    By the way, “air” and “hair” are not homophones. Neither are “head” and “ead”. It is surprising that someone who flaunts his English identity as you do does not know this!

6.    You miss the point on the significance in the choice of “Koko” too in your preference for surface readings. The significance for “koko” lies in its association with a place where toxic materials were dumped at a point in our history. Koko is therefore a metonym that represents the propensity of members of your group to emit outputs that are largely of a toxic nature.

7.    You were also totally clueless with regard to one other name because you were trapped in a mindset induced and conditioned by your primordial language loyalties. So, Mr. Akin Akintayo, how really well researched are you? 

8.    Let me now say that the choice of names was my partly way to reflect the aberrant conduct so typical of members of your group.  Clearly, this section annoys you but does this justify your devoting more than a third of your write-up to it? Or does it bring out realities of your group that you are uncomfortable with? Does it unearth some truths you would rather deny about the mental qualities and attitudes of members of your group? Denial is not unusual when persons are confronted with uncomfortable truths about themselves or groups they belong to. Are you also aware that some people in denial have also been known to accuse persons who present uncomfortable truths to them of being delusional?

9.    The other sections of my article receive scant attention in your failed attempt at a critique – I had expected you to contest the truth values of claims made in them. Should I read your read silence to mean that you accept that the claims I made in those sections are well-founded?

10. Mr Akin Akintayo, your attempt to defend the poor behavior of this group is not very persuasive, and the gloss in “a broad spectrum of expression from measured to intemperate“, though a clever effort to use language to cover up the known tendencies of the group you belong to for incivility is not successful.

11. Rudeness and activist fervor are two different things. Capacity/proclivity to insult and use hurtful language are not the same as courage. Courage has a different color. Activism and negativity are not the same thing.  You and the group you represent will do well to recognize these differences and apply them in your pursuit of your “activism”.

12. Since the publication of my article, reactions by members of your group as well as their activities continue to support most of the observations in the article. Only yesterday, Mr Reuben Abati did an article in the Guardian where he lamented the progressive enthronement of bad manners in the name of activism.

13. You say you see nothing dishonest in the use of the URL for the article as the web address on the profile of the fake Twitter account one of your collaborators created. I am not surprised. Our values determine what we see.

14. Not everyone who points out the deficiencies in the operations of your group is a government agent or a government propagandist. It may interest you to know that I live and work outside Nigeria.

15. We all want change in Nigeria but it has to be change built on the principles of mutual respect, politeness and self-discipline in utterances. Most Nigerians reject change built on a culture of verbal violence, distortions, bullying and intimidation such as you and the group you represent currently appear to be so prone to using and are clearly so proud of.

16. Behaviors by like yours give activism a very negative image. Increasingly more and more Nigerians of your generation are beginning to be fed up with the conduct and methods of your group. The question is now beginning to be asked – are these people really activists or just hirelings of the opposition? Eventually, the truth on this will emerge. It always does. When this happens, your group may be the one at the risk of being put in stocks and pelted with rotten eggs for concealment, dishonesty and attempted mass deception.

17. Finally, can I urge you to review your write up? Some sections will benefit from a re-write to make them clearer and less ambiguous – a good example is the first paragraph under “a sad day for sociology”. What did you want to mean there? Ask any of my former master’s and doctoral students from the early eighties and nineties, and they will tell you that I have always insisted on message clarity in their submissions and term papers. You also make some claims which beg for evidence to back them up. How does the article make a mockery of sociology, for instance?

18. I am not a sociologist. I simply applied tools from sociology to observe, describe and analyze the behavior on Twitter of a community of persons you belong to. I also made comments based on my observations. The fact that the comments are not flattering does not however make them untrue. The fact that you say that they are untrue does not also make them untrue either. To show them to be untrue, you will need to bring forth supporting evidence. I suppose you know that this is one basic principle in research. 

19. As for your claim that your blog is the better researched one, there is an expression that aptly describes such claims!

Incidentally, next time you do a rejoinder to an article, be kind enough to inform the person whose article you are reacting to. It is honest to do, to say the least! It is also in keeping with standard practice. Good afternoon.

Conclusion

By the time you have reached this point, I hope you have not yet called in the emergency services, that was supposed to be a comment but one thing is clear from all this, Mr. Noel Ihebuzor is quite lacking in appreciating the use of the Internet, the essential etiquette required, he is thin-skinned and is unable to engage in discourse that challenges his supposed erudite positions.

I stand by my original views; they are as well presented as they should be.

Nigeria: Do Right By Our Paralympians Before Sundown

Hail our heroes

As at this morning the Nigerian contingent to the London 2012 Paralympic Games has won 10 medals in the Powerlifting sport with 4 Golds, 5 Silver and 1 Bronze shared amongst 4 gentlemen and 6 ladies.

This means in the best attended and arguably the best representative Paralympic Games ever, we have gloriously heard the strains of the Nigerian national anthem played out to the whole world four times and had Nigerians step up to take other laurels six times.

Considering what a debacle the Nigerian outing to the Olympic Games was earlier in August, these paralympians have singlehandedly with guts, ability, spirit, dedication, resolve and amazing patriotism put Nigeria on the Paralympic map at the 14^th position and leading the Powerlifting medal table comfortably.

Sports bureaucracy failing us again

It should not have been beyond the capability of the redolently incompetent sports bureaucracy to have learnt some quick lessons from London 2012 to have been better prepared to do right by the Nigerian Paralympic contingent to ensure that they are being dealt with fairly, justly, honourably, respectfully and with consideration on all matters with regards their welfare and all they need to represent Nigeria without being subject to unnecessary pressures and angst.

I woke up this morning to read a manifest injustice meted out on our patriots by some faceless and unconscionable officials who should by all rights be out of a job before the sun goes down if there is any justice in this world and if the Sport Minister and his gilded entourage along with the much vaunted tough-talking will act to clean up the unforgivable atrocities that have bedevilled Nigerian sports administration for too long.

Too many wrongs unforgiveable

First is the matter of the late payment of allowances, we have always been tardy with payments that are due across the board in all walks of life in Nigeria but it is no excuse to have high-profile representatives of Nigeria suffer such indignities when they are supposed to be concentrating in beating the world and bringing glory to Nigeria – that this singular view was lost on the sports officials is regrettable to say the least.

Secondly, the athletes are in the United Kingdom where the British Pound is legal tender, there is no reason why the athletes should have been paid allowances in dollars and then have to run the gauntlet of being creamed off by others waiting in the shadows to exchange the currency to pounds.

The sports officials should have converted the allowances to pounds before paying the allowances; it was just an unnecessary burden to place on the athletes who in terms might have been desperately in need of the allowances that some rotten official thought to exploit their vulnerability.

Short-changed by £1,329

Thirdly is the matter of equality in representation. It is instructive to see Paralympians bring recognition and glory to Nigeria that seemingly and apparently more able Olympians failed to do. There is no reason why any sports representatives of Nigeria should be treated differently, unequally and with contempt.

Apparently, the luckless Olympians were paid £2,400 and now the Paralympics contingent was paid $1,700 (£1,071 @ today’s exchange rate from Google) suggesting they have been dealt an inequality blow and short-changed by £1,329. It is unbelievable that anyone in charge of sports administration will sanction this atrocity and expect to get away with impunity.

Equality is the biggest message

If for any reason not enough money was allocated for the allowances of the Paralympic contingent, then I expect that all is done to make up that shortfall by every means possible. The success of the Paralympic contingent should be a ringing endorsement of challenged people to come out and be the best they can be in any endeavour they choose to embark on.

It should be the impetus for equality legislation that no matter how impaired physically or mentally you might be in Nigeria, you will not be discriminated against, you will be accorded due courtesies, respect and access to all opportunities that are available to Nigerians and those who contemn, disparage, denigrate or belittle you will face the law with punitive compensations made out to those affected.

Minister, step up

This, I believe will be the first test of the Sport Minister Bolaji Abdullahi’s resolve to change the face of sport in Nigeria or continue to allow impunity and incompetence to reign in our sports bureaucracy.

To go into speculation as to why one has had to write this piece will be too unreadable for the disgust that it will raise, the only remedy to this matter is to do right by our Paralympic contingent – Pay them their allowances, pay them £2,400, pay them in British pounds, pay them now and make a public shame of all those involved in this disgraceful debacle.

The time to remedy this situation is now, along with compensation for the unnecessary hardship and exasperation caused our heroic athletes – these allowance protests at every sports meeting must stop forthwith – Enough is enough! 

The life of Mother Theresa in a London exhibition

A mother of excellent service

As I walked up Charing Cross Road just after Foyles but before Tottenham Court Road Station on the left where it is a construction site with diversions and a modicum of inconvenience, I was handed a leaflet for the official exhibition of the life of Mother Theresa.

If I remember correctly, she died in the week following the death of Princess Diana as if she chose the occasion to slip away with pomp or ceremony as the world was distracted by the celebrity and sad end of the fairy tale of this other famous woman.

The exhibition in a church just off Soho Square had a chapel with a statue of Mother Theresa in prayerful pose with a notice for all to pick a prayer card from a bowl beside the statue. I in fact thought the statue was real at first.

Features to see

There is was a 55-minute documentary about the life of Mother Theresa, a corridor with pictures of events in her life and a hall with about 100 posters illustrating and describing her life from birth, through her ministry to her death.

There was so much to read of this remarkable woman, her faith, her service, her Christian piety and her deep commitment to the suffering of so many, her example puts to shame too many Christian leaders reaping their rewards already that they might naught when heaven comes.

Profoundly, I was moved by her response to aborting by getting involved, she offered to care from the unwanted children pleading that they be brought to term. It is a lot different from those who pay lip-service to being pro-life but are not there to really bear the burden that comes with the good-intentioned activism but absence of requisite charity to back those agitations.

There were panels of effects of Mother Theresa to view much of which I believe when she is made a catholic saint will be put in reliquaries for veneration and supplication.

Elsewhere in the church a replica of the room where Mother Theresa lived was constructed for viewing too.

Getting there

The volunteers were helpful, friendly, knowledgeable and nice, they exuded temperance and soothing affection, you could not demand too much of them.

The exhibition runs until the 15^th of September from Tuesdays to Sundays between the times of 11:00AM and 7:00PM at St Patrick’s Church, Soho Square, London W1D 4NR. The entrance to the exhibition is at the corner of Charing Cross Road and Goslett Yard.

Those requiring wheelchair access should call 07719 927 419, it is also the number of other enquiries and you can also email MotherTheresaExhibition@gmail.com – visit if you do have the time, donate to the church and write in the register of visitors.

805 Restaurant just improves on itself consistently

Meeting my uncle

It came on a whim; I was meeting up with my uncle who I had not seen for nigh on 7 years or thereabouts. It was interesting when we first spoke that he had been informed that I was ill but he thought it just a fever – well, I did have fevers amongst other things – to which I commented, “That is an understatement.”

He probably went half-numb into shock when I told him how ill I was, the story of the discovery, diagnosis, hospitalisation, treatments, recovery and return to life has become a somewhat flawless delivery with snippets of other things like my brother thinking my being able to blog from hospital meant I was fine – the little artistic bent I have allows for the a dead-pan delivery of the line – You have no idea.

805, it is

Anyway, we got stuck in traffic so I suggested we go off to 805, the Nigerian cuisine restaurant at 805 Old Kent Road. Whilst my uncle had his general bearings of where we were, he was unsure as we got to Old Kent Road whether we had to turn left or right.

Smartphones are so handy nowadays; I should write something about how smart my phone is when looking for directions, checking timetables for public transport and much else. Immediately, I keyed in the address and we found we were to turn right, having parked the car briefly to be sure – there was no rush.

On getting to 805, the car park behind the restaurant was full apart from watching the annoyance of someone parking and re-parking with such indecision you were ready to take a nail to their tyres just to stop them.

Between you and me, you can use the Toys ‘R Us car park on Old Kent Road some 100 yards from 805 on the other side of the road – Yes, I am back to imperial measures – but you must never have your car there for more than 2 hours, else, be a customer of Toys ‘R Us before you go to 805, the penalty is a £50 fine wending its way to your wallet.

Responsive service

We got to 805 as it began to get busy and we were ushered to a table in one of the even more sophisticated dining areas, all the décor looking formal and well laid out. I then noticed a good subtle organisational arrangement; waiters and waitresses were allocated sections to attend to and the floor manager being very observant would notice if the service was not as prompt as one would expect and ask questions of the staff as to why the delay.

As it does get busy, there could be a bit of a wait but the staff will come with assurances to handle your expectations, the wait will always be worth your while.

I had assorted meat pepper soup as my entrée and semolina pudding with edikang ikong with assorted meats for my plat principal, my uncle went for the fish pepper soup and amala pudding with corchorus (ewedu) vegetable stew and assorted meats. We had Malta Guinness for drinks but the capsicum rating of the pepper soups had us pleading for water too.

Quality and class

I first visited 805 in 2006 and since then, I have watched the restaurant expand and improve, in quality, in service, in choice, in clientele and it is a stand-out Nigerian-owned business that sets the standard for what one should expect of a decent restaurant that I find quite lacking in many other Nigerian cuisine restaurants I have visited around Europe.

805 easily caters to an international diverse and multicultural demographic, it is a place you can take anyone not familiar with Nigerian cuisine to experience the amazing smorgasbord of Nigerian cooking without being squeamish about setting, service or any other uncomfortable situation.

Easily the best

We had a lovely dinner, the facilities are also much improved too and as I made for that opportunity I acknowledged the owner who apparently also knows my uncle that when I was later introduced to him commended my appearance – he is a sharp dresser too, commanding an air of understated sophistication that most of my country-folk usually fail to carry for hedonistic ostentation that makes for expensive and vulgar expressions of wealth as one risks snobbery for noticing the difference between the one and the other.

If you are in London and looking for a bit of class mixed with nostalgia, 805 at 805 Old Kent Road cannot come better recommended.

How to get to 805 and the menu.

My first review of 805 in 2006.