Goodbye my love

I didn't say it, but I might as well have said it before embarking on this almost everlasting journey into Nigeria.

The first time they told me on the phone that my next assignment would be in Nigeria I just knew that it was in Africa. Therefore, I was glad to finally be given the time to explore a bit of what I had read to be a most involving and enchanting continent. My mind set itself immediately to this new bunch of adventures, started wandering on how would the people I would meet be and it visualised the fantastic photos I could take.

When I hang over the phone and I told about it to the colleague sitting next to me, his reaction was slightly negative, warning me about the possibility of having to stay living inside the factory compound and about some danger on the streets. "Right, they also said that about Pakistan and I loved it", I thought, keeping my motivation high.

The next day I tried to find some information about the country. All the travel websites I knew had nothing about Nigeria, and I was only able to find one guide book about it in the whole world. I tried to convince myself that this was due to the fact that the country was unfashionable, and not because it was uninteresting or unsafe for travellers. I ordered the book from London, and I went on Christmas vacation. During that time, I was too busy relaxing, that I didn't even thought about Nigeria.

When I got back, I met a friend of my father's in the street. He's a layer, and a passionate about foreign politics. I told him about my next assignment, and he immediately put on a very serious expression. He described to me the horrible things he had read about the country, but still I thought that I couldn't trust somebody that had never gone there.

Later that day, I received the guide book I had ordered from London*. The introduction couldn't be about any country, it could only be about a nightmare:

"one of the world's most chaotic and dangerous places"
"it's dirty and an environmental nightmare"
"nothing works"
"the infrastructure is totally inadequate"
"it has [...] corruption at all levels of society"
"there's an ongoing religious and ethnic conflict that has already killed 10'000"
"it could feasibly be regarded as a civil war"
"Nigerian people are killing each other in hand-to-hand fighting and mob violence"
"run by a government that is largely incapable of controlling the largest population in Africa"
"it's simply one of the world's most difficult places to travel in"
"from 24-hour internet cafés to dead bodies in the street"
"people so poor that they resort to eating rats and maggots"
"there are still rumours of human sacrifice going on"
"it's appalling and awful"

The book went on to describe the real dangers of the country. From diseases like malaria to almost certain credit card fraud, from polluted water to road accidents at each minute, from bugs that can leave inside your body to "area boys" that carry around guns, the book would describe any type of travel danger as quite possible in Nigeria.

At this stage I had to start admitting that Nigeria was maybe not that much of a great place for an assignment after all. However, it couldn't be that bad. But just to make sure about it, I went to check with the real professionals, the corporate security office from my company:

"violent street crime, armed robberies, muggings and carjacks remain prevalent nationwide"
"ethnic groups are regularly involved in clashes"
"business travellers are at high risk of armed attack, armed robbery, carjacking, abduction and extortion in the main urban centres"
"foreigners have been killed in carjacks"
"police and security forces are ill-disciplined and lack adequate resources to combat crime"
"medicines can be difficult and time-consuming to obtain"

I've just arrived in Nigeria. I try now to make the balance between remembering all the safety warnings to take precautions and forgetting about them not to become crazy. Let's see how it works out...

* Nigeria Bradt Travel Guide