Starting with getting the airline tickets. It is not easy. I needed to pay in cash, $800 to get from Mali to Nigeria. But I had a cash withdrawal limit, so this involved several trips to the ATM. When I had the Malian currency, FCFA, I went to the travel agent to get the tickets, which were hand written on airline formatted forms.
Next I had to have a VISA to enter Nigeria. That cost $110, cash only. This involved 2 trips to the Nigerian Embassy, once to bring all the required documents (passport, personal ID photo, photocopy of airline ticket, and copy of conference program as verification that there really is a reason for me to go. The 2nd trip was for me to actually get the VISA.
The plane was scheduled to leave at 12:30 am on Friday morning. It actually left at 2:00 am. When I arrived at the airport, they recommended that I have my baggage cellophane wrapped in order to deter thieves that work at the airports. After asking 3 people, all of whom agreed that this is an good practice, I had my luggage wrapped. When I arrived in Lagos to transfer, I was grossly overcharged by a taxi driver to get to the local airport to catch the plane to Abuja. Luckily, I met another traveler from Bamako who was going to Abuja. She was very helpful in getting through the airports, and had her driver bring me into Abuja when we landed. She was going to Abuja on business with the NGO that she works for, WaterAid.
Abuja is a new city, only 20 years old. New buildings, new streets (no dirt streets). It is the new capital of Nigeria. The old capital was Lagos, which is in the southern part of the country. Abuja is in the central part of the country, and this was seen as being important in terms of uniting the country. There is approximately 50% Christians, and 50% Moslems in Nigeria. The Moslems are in the north, and the Christians are in the south.
When I arrived at the hotel, I was in 7th heaven. It actually had a bed, hot water, and towels. Also, there were other things that I vaguely remembered – AC and Internet. I had to pay with cash or Master Card, about $105 / night.
On the way into the city, I noticed a big Mosque. It was reasonably close to the hotel, so I walked over to it with my camera. When I got to the gate, I asked the guard if I could take pictures. He asked if I was Moslem, I said ‘no’. He asked why I wanted to take pictures. I said that I thought that the Mosque was very beautiful, and that I wanted to share its beauty with my friends back in the USA. He approved of my taking pictures. I entered the mosque, took a couple of pictures, but was then asked to leave by someone else. I left. Afterwards, I asked several people why this happened. They said thatrelations between Moslems and Christians very sensitive. Some Christian Nigerians said they would not go to Mosque for fear of being beaten or knifed.
The actual Project Management meeting was very interesting and productive. There were 20 project managers, some form Shell Oil, Nigerian Government ministries, and NGO’s (non-governmental organizations). We developed a draft strategy for growing the project management profession in Africa, and to help poverty reduction projects to be more effective
For the last 2 days, I accepted an offer from one of the Nigerian participants to stay at his house. I was interested in saving money, and to learn about life in Abuja. Well, the trip from the Valencia Hotel to my friends house was terrifying. When we hit a traffic jam, he turned around and went back the wrong way on the expressway, head-on into oncoming traffic. He then crossed the grass median to the other (proper) lane, merge by sticking the nose of car into high speed incoming traffic, which was honking and swerving to avoid him. Once in the lane, my friend drove by constantly swerving between lanes, tailgating, honking and flashing his lights at cars in front of him, with one hand on steering wheel, talking on cell phone, and reaching speeds of 140 km/hr (87 mph). At one point, I saw a man’s body spinning on the ground in the median immediately after being hit by a car. Hello, I am glad to be here.
Once we got to my friends house, we found the electricity off more than it was on. The house was dark when we arrived, and stayed liked that for several hours. The house had a bathroom,toilet, but water only trickled out of the faucent. The system was to fill buckets from the trickling water supply, one bucket taking about 1 hour to fill. We could then take sponge bath, standing up in bathtub (sharing bathtub with ants). To ‘flush’ the toilet, we poured water from the bucket into it. This was an above average house in Abuja. It cost $1250 to rent………..per year. There are no mortgages available in Nigeria, so almost everyone rents their homes because they do not have the cash to buy a house.
One day, we had a tour of Abuja. There were long lines at gas stations, and sometimes the stations are closed. Gas costs about $3/gal. This situation is somewhat bizarre for a large oil producing country. Several locals blamed their government for being incompetent in this respect. After getting gas, we saw the sports center, Velodrome for racing bicycles, government offices, a city park, the Christian church that was facing the mosque, and a slum. When I asked to see the slums, my 2 tour companions did not respond. When the driver said that it would be safe, they agreed to go. I was surprised to see the Nigerian slum looking like a typical Malian village. Nigeria is significantly better off economically than Mali. This were very familiar to me, and I had a comfortable feeling – chickens, sheep, meat & vegetables propped on rickety tables. There were no other whites there. Whites were not known there. Children were scared of me. A local man asked ‘why are you here?’
On my return trip to Bamako Mali, the plane was only 1 hour late. I made friend in airport in Lagos. We talked for about an hour about society and religion. I was very glad to have made this trip, to learn about Nigeria, and to strategize about the management of future projects across Africa.