My Travel Blog: Lagos My Pride.....

....(Koro's campaign line..)

(typical sunset in Lagos - magnifique!)

After my North American tour I ended up in Lagos in July 2006. It was supposed to be a short trip for 6 weeks but it ended up been 7 months! (i'm also there every year, does that count???)

Lagos (which means 'Island' in Portuguese) is in the south of Nigeria (on the Bight of Benin) , it used to be the capital of Nigeria (an Oil producing country in West Africa, colonised by the British, and liberated in 1960) but Abuja is now the capital (very beautiful, made several trips there), so Lagos is now classified as the Financial Capital/District - in other words - that's where the money is! Lagos used to be very beautiful because of its many beaches and parks, but with all the money in Lagos, none of it can be seen anywhere anymore, I wonder why.......

We all know that Nigeria has been classified as a developing country, and like many other countries it has it's list of issues namely, okadas (taxi motorbikes), NEPA (electricity for those of you who don't know), water, corrupt police (corrupt government AND corrupt people), bad roads, outdated infrastructure, horrendous traffic, no rules, security, robbers (every other person you meet, see or know), aviation safety, poor levels of education, poverty, fraud, dysfunctional families, sexism, infidelity issues, laziness, unnecessary stress, overpopulation, politics, religion , tribalism, vudu/juju, etc, i could go on and on.....

But I have to add, it also has a major plus point, 'The People!' - makes all the difference! Believe it or not Nigerians are very unique! As bad as things are in Nigeria and as much as we moan and complain at every opportunity we get to huddle together (not that we do anything else about the situation), we know how to have fun, how to laugh, love to dance, love to conjugate, love money (hoarding and spending), love to show off, love fashion, have huge families, love people around us, love gisting (other people's gist that is), love food, love to complain, understand only ourselves and yet don't at the same time, love to exaggerate, love to tell urban tales/stories (true or false) , know each other, love boasting, love parties and weddings, wear the same fabric to the parties and weddings (solidarity it's called), pray a lot, practice tough love, have a lot of pride, complain its sunny all year round (?), and can be found in every corner of the earth - literally!

Nigeria is not perfect but it has a lot of potential and there are many opportunities (if you persevere and are male). It is only 46 years old and has a lot of room to grow.....

My motto for surviving in Nigeria is: "....expect the unexpected..." :)

p.s. Highlight of my trip was working with Linkachild (http://www.linkachild.org/)