Popular Nollywood actress Kate Henshaw has taken a firm stance against the slogan “African time”, saying she condemned tardiness as being disrespectful.
Henshaw took to her X handle (formerly Twitter) yesterday to speak against lateness while expressing her disdain for the prevalent excuse often used to justify tardiness in African societies.
Her post read: “There is nothing like ‘African time.’ You are disrespectful and rude!! If it comes to money matters, you will be very early or you have an embassy appointment! Miss me with that attitude. I detest tardiness.”
However, her post had gathered traction as many of her followers agreed to her post and they equally condemned the concept of African time.
One of her followers @iamerioluwa’s comment read: “That’s true. The nonsensical phrase ‘African time’ isn’t even true about our African culture. Our forefathers, who relied on the rooster’s crow, didn’t seem like people who took other people’s time for granted. Some people just find a convenient theory to justify their mediocrity.”
Another follower @drkenon2 remarked, “No one misses an embassy appointment unless something is after him or her.”
Addressing the impact of tardiness on societal norms, another X user @richbeez1 wrote, “There is literally no reason to justify the idea of ‘African time’ because it has over time promoted late coming, and portrays Africa as a continent with a bad sense of time. The concept of time is one and ought to be the same in every continent.”
“I said this to someone recently, Baba told me ‘Komot dia, u wey don get European mentality.’ The fact is we go earlier to places that have to do with money but claim African Time for other stuff,” another user @adebayoapanpa wrote.
