P
rocedure is a way of doing
things especially the usual
or correct way (Oxford
Advanced Learner’s
Dictionary; International
student’s edition). It means following
moral standard or accepted procedure.
If we want to make a complaint, there
is a simple procedure. In life, there is
a normal way of doing things without
breaking the order. In business there
is a procedure. In an office, there is an
accepted procedure.
The same thing applies to law and
politics. There is also parliamentary
procedure of doing things. Following
procedures helps to maintain disci-
pline in any organisation even in the
church. In fact every department of
life needs to follow a standard way of
doing things to maintain order. In any
civilized society or primitive society,
there is always a procedure of making
things work. Going contrary to pro-
cedures and protocols upsets a system.
Many Nigerians are oblivious of this,
but they do what I call ‘jumping fence’
to get what they want before others.
If you go to the filling stations during
fuel crisis or strike you will witness
disorderliness and chaos. You see
those who want to get their fuel first
while others have been there for hours.
Whenever it rains, nobody maintains
order. Drivers break laws and nobody
obeys traffic lights. There is always
chaos. In any coup, there is always a
method of upsetting the procedure of
democratic principles. We may not
be wearing military uniforms but plan
coups each time we smuggle things
into any organisation without proce-
dure and it causes confusion.
Sometimes, one is frightened and he
avoids the right channel, thinking that
he or she might not be given attention
or listened to maybe because they
are in a hurry to bypass others to see
the boss. One might assume that the
secretary will not allow that.
Money can make you see the ‘oga’
without following the procedures and
that is why things are not moving in
the right direction. One can use his
position of authority to get oga with-
out quam of conscience. Even getting
to the top in the Nigerian society does
not require following the right proce-
dures and protocols. Who you know
and the backup letter from the oga
displaces any procedure and protocol.
In several government establish-
ments, red-tapes and rigid bureaucrat-
ic run-around can upset procedures
created with good intentions which
ends up becoming frustrating and
generate heavy criticism. Many things
that are easily accessed within 24
hours in other climes can take up to
months or years to be gotten in Nigeria
due to abused procedures by those in
positions aimed at extorting the poor
masses.
Things are no longer as usual today.
The advent of telephone and other
information technologies have reduced
several Administrative bottle necks
created to sabotage procedures. Times
are saved and people are satisfactorily
served while still maintaining the laid
down procedures enhanced by infor-
mation technology.
It is a complex society. Proper
procedure of doing things is a civilized
way which is dignified and gives the
individual respect and honour. In the
Catholic Church they have many pro-
cedures of doing things, administrative
procedures, sacramental procedures,
liturgical procedures, Parish proce-
dures. Catholic Church is highly dis-
ciplined. The way the masses are said
is the same all over the Catholic world.
There is a procedure in receiving the
sacrament of reconciliation-penance.
You must go to confession before you
receive the Eucharist. You cannot re-
ceive Holy Communion before you go
to confession. Because of the respect
we accord to our Catholic Clergy, we
obey the procedures of the church.
Procedures are also available for saying
several Catholic prayers at different
times especially the Angelus. The bell
rung during these times serves as a
time guard to everyone in the neigh-
bourhood who are not even Catholics.
Before parishioners put anything
on the Parish Bulletin, they should
consult the Priest in Charge. If people
have anything important to announce
to the people we tell people and pub-
licize it and the people will respond
accordingly. Smuggling things behind
any official channel is uncivil and
diminishes us especially when we are
supposed to know.
As members of the world commu-
nity, anyone who has worked in a
particular community has a right to
celebrate with the community when
an occasion calls for it. But it is not ap-
propriate to do it in a clandestine way
as if you know that someone will stop
you from doing it. Every community
has her own way of doing things. You
cannot just come and alter what they
do with a foreign method to alienate
their ways of doing things without
doing it through a gradual welcomed
procedure. Proper procedure must be
pursued as long as you let somebody
in-charge know your intention. Ignor-
ing somebody in charge can be seen
as snobbish, provocative and arrogant
and disregard to lawful authority. All
these betray one’s background. This
might be also ignorance of social eti-
quette. One may be acting so because
of his/her enlarged ego or a way of
saying ‘who is he?’ Doing things like
this upsets the structure of peace, unity
and justice.
Today, you cannot enter any country
without going through the embassy of
that country to meet the visa require-
ments. You cannot enter an office to
meet the boss without seeing the sec-
retary. You come to the Parish to do
something without seeing the Parish
Priest or his Associate. These are ways
of maintaining order and peace and
not smuggling in things in an improp-
er manner to achieve a desired goal.
Therefore there is a call to reason that
whatever we want to do within our
community or outside our community,
we must follow protocols and proce-
dures to maintain order and decorum
