How can you score a new house for absolutely nothing? If you live in Africa's Ivory Coast, it's easy: Just show up on time.

Last Saturday, the country's president, Laurent Gbagbo kicked off the first-ever "Punctuality Night" at eight o' clock on the dot – and it sounds like all the attendees were there with time to spare. The event was an awards ceremony held to honor nine of the country's most punctual people, including grand-prize winner Narcisse Aka, a legal advisor who was given a $60,000 villa.

Clockwatching may seem like an odd theme to celebrate, but Ivory Coast government hopes that the punctuality prizes will inspire the rest of the slow-moving citizens to pay a little more attention to their schedules: "It's hard to quantify but it's sure that (tardiness) costs money ... We shouldn't use our under-development as a pretext to accept not being punctual," Aka told Reuters.

Ivory Coast officials hope to turn Punctuality Night into an annual ceremony. Hopefully, more of their countrymen will remember to mark their calendars next time around.

Read the whole story. (Reuters)


Did you enjoy this story? Then you'll love these ones, too:

African Shantytown Creates Garbage-Fueled Community Cooker

Clear Your Clutter, Find Cool Stuff: Freecycle