Go-Slow

  
go-slow

n

(Business / Industrial Relations & HR Terms) Brit

a.  a deliberate slackening of the rate of production by organized labour as a tactic in industrial conflict

b.  (as modifier) go-slow tactics US and Canadian equivalent slowdown

Source: http://www.thefreedictionary.com 

When the Brits left, they probably left this word back in Nigeria. It has now mutated into a term that causes the maximum headaches on the roads of Lagos and also into a excuse which cannot be met with a repartee'.

Its used as a noun to perfectly describe what happened, is happening or will happen on the roads of Lagos.

My best(worst) experience of this was spending 7 hours in the car on my way back from an agency meeting. I left at about 3.30 pm and hoped to be home by 5- 5.30 pm, cause it had taken nearly 2 hours in the morning traffic, but I eventually reached home at 10.30 pm.

There have been numerous instances when a 15min drive 

The reasons are many from accidents to high density population to slow moving cargo trucks to just 3 bridges connecting the island to mainland.

In adversity comes opportunity. The same go-slow which frustrates people to no end and sends schedules haywire also helps a set of people earn their livelihood. the long traffic snarls have given rise to a new channel of selling products called the go-slow market. When you are trying to get on to the highway out of Lagos at 10-11 am in the morning and stuck in the traffic and heat, there is an easy solution to the heat in the form of chilled soft drinks and bottled water served to you right at your car window. Most of the people on the road in the picture below are hawkers.

 I have seen products sold across a lot of categories and also the choice of categories chosen as per the location. Highways mostly have food and drinks including peanuts, soft drinks , water sachets and bottles, snack packets etc. On normal city roads you can find mobiles, mobile accessories ,car accessories. On the island I know a couple of spots  that sell books, in fact I bought 'There was a Country' from a go slow hawker.

The working conditions are not great, you have to bear the heat, noise and pollution. Sometimes the hawkers have to run behind the vehicles to complete the transaction and get their money. All this to survive for the day.