Even though Nigeria is presently amidst an economic quagmire, there are nonetheless still sounds of joy which gladden the hearts of the hoi polloi. One of these sounds is the restoration of power to homes after a long outage to the joyous cries of ‘Up NEPA!’ or the equally joyous shout of ‘Goal!’, when the national football team the Super Eagles are in full wing. Similarly, there is also the joyful melody of the English Premier League as there are the joyous melodies emanating from churches and Arabic chants from the mosques on Sundays and Fridays respectively.
Joyous melodies could also be negative. This negative joy manifests when a member of the ruling elite encounters misfortune and Nigerians collectively murmur ‘God don catch am!’. However, all these melodies of joy do not compare, in any wise, to the joyous melody of the ‘credit alert’.
The ‘credit alert’, mostly referred to in Nigeria simply as ‘alert’, is a bank notification through the mobile phone of a credit transfer to one’s account in the bank. Thus towards the end of every month, workers anxiously scrutinize every ring ding dong of their mobile phone message tune for the expected alert.
During this period, workers are visibly agitated as they query each other repeatedly over the alert, ‘have you seen your alert yet?’, ‘no not yet o!’ is the equally anxious question that continually floats around the workplace. If either of the two is mischievous, he may decide to heighten tension by adding a comment to the effect that alerts will not be seen till after two weeks. When the alerts begin to ‘drop’ however, you can literally see and hear the joyous melodies of the message tune playing out in the faces of the recipients. There are jaunts in the steps, back slapping and friendlier faces. Occasionally, added to the joyous melody of the alert, the recipients also hum the wildly successful hit single dedicated to the alert, ‘I don get alert na God win!’
However, this is not to say that the joyous melody of credit alert is peculiar only to only salary earners. One of the most popular prayers in some of Nigeria’s Pentecostal churches is the prayer that, ‘you will receive credit alert this week!’ though nothing is mentioned of the means through which the so-called alert will come by. A number of skits on the social media have also been dedicated to the glorification of the alert and its role in the psychological balance of the people. In recent times though, the fondness of the people for alert has caused not a few Nigerians unconscionable grief. Scammers who have taken note of this proclivity for easy money among Nigerians, have resorted to floating ponzi schemes on the promise of humongous alerts. Despite the fact that many have fallen for these evil schemes and many more will
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