The way Nigerian landlords calculate rent will shock you

My neighbor just paid his landlord for the year. The man collected the money, then said, 'Ah, but we dey June now, so you owe me from January to June plus the next year.' My brother, the man counted the months on his fingers and arrived at 18 months in one calendar year.

I tried to explain simple arithmetic to him. He looked at me like I was the one who failed mathematics. He said, 'Oga, this is Lagos. You pay for the year you want to live, plus the year you already lived, plus the year the landlord is planning. That is our custom.' I asked him which section of the law says that. He said, 'Section Landlord's Stomach.'

Na wa oh. In the court we have a saying: ignorance of the law is no excuse. But ignorance of basic counting? That one is a whole new jurisdiction.