My name is in Hansard

If you read my blog back in September you will remember that I helped to host Jo Swinson MP, who came to Nigeria for a week as a VSO volunteer, VSO have a scheme enabling MPs to volunteer for a short time. Jo came to support ICEED to advocate for a National Climate Change Commission Bill. The bill has now been accepted by both Houses; in this case the House of Representatives and the House of Senates, and is waiting for the signature of President Goodluck Jonathan, which hopefully will occur in advance of the forthcoming General Election. 

On 24th November, the Overseas Voluntary Sector was discussed in the House of Commons, and you can follow the debate on Hansard or They Work for You, or read the whole day’s proceedings which is quite fascinating, I didn’t know for example that they open in prayer and that they really write down AYES and NOES, and list all those who voted each way. And my name is mentioned on page 102!

Jo (left) wearing the dress made by Chisoba (right)

If you look at the links, I recommend the They Work for You link, you will see that Jo has really tried to tell the story of her time in Nigeria, not just the big things she did, lobbying State Government and so on, but the story of Chisoba, my tailor who made her a dress and Dickson, the ICEED driver. Jo didn't tell Chisoba that she was an MP, as she didn’t want to intimidate her, but next time I go to see Chisoba I will take a print out of p102 from this Hansard document and show her that she has been mentioned in the House of Commons.

A bus and a plane – order and chaos!

Last week I went to Ibadan, reputedly one of the biggest cities in West Africa, I travelled there to have a look at an organisation called NEST and to get a feel for the city, as I have been offered a new VSO placement at NEST, from February 2011. If cities can be opposites then Abuja and Ibadan are opposites, Abuja quiet, empty, organised, rich, dry – Ibadan, noisy, crowded, chaotic, lively, vibrant, poor wet. I liked Ibadan by the way. Anyway this blog post is really about transport, as for the first time in Nigeria, I travelled by bus and by plane.

 The bus – air conditioned, lots of leg room, a toilet on board, a proper break for food and toilet stop, a bottle of water and a meal on board. I went to the bus office the day before to get my ticket, and when I arrived to travel there was orderly queue to tag my luggage and then get on the bus. We were searched before getting on the bus, and when the bus stopped for a break, the doors were locked, and before re-boarding we had to be searched again and present our tickets. The bus was quite slow, the journey took 10 hours, however it was comfortable and unlike most public transport I wasn’t expecting to die at any time, I relaxed, slept, listened to music, read my book and looked out of the window.

View from the window - bikes queuing for fuel

The River Niger or the River Benue - not sure which!

The plane was another story. I travelled with fellow volunteers Brent and Ellen to Lagos airport, it was a Sunday and there are no flights from Ibadan on Sundays, we travelled in luxury being picked up from the house and driven straight to the airport. At the airport we had to push and shove to buy a ticket, while in the queue someone put a business card “office of the President” on the counter next to the guy selling tickets, then push and shove to check in our luggage, while some people tried to jump the queue and others somehow managed to get their luggage checked in without queuing. Once the luggage was checked in we were back to civilisation waiting to board, before completing a pleasant flight back to Abuja.

For those of you who complain there aren't enough photos of me!

If you want to know the cost by the way, the bus was Naira 4,700 and the plane Naira 22,000, and being a cash economy I paid, with 44 Naira 500 notes. The biggest denomination here is Naira 1000, around £4.

CONFLICT AND HOFSTEDE!

There was a conflict, and shortly afterwards I found myself reading about Hofstede. Some of you will know that Hofstede came up with a set of cultural dimensions to help understand how people from different cultures communicate and relate to each other. Now I had read the theory in the past, but then I came across a website which ranks different countries and it is fascinating, I really encourage you to take a look and notice how different even neighbouring countries are to one another, UK and Ireland for example. Read about Hofstede here.

I am probably something like this

Anyway my interest of course is Nigeria where I find myself, and the UK, where I have become the person I am. The main differences I notice between Nigeria and the UK are the Power Distance (PD), and Individualism (IDV).  This basically means peoples ability to challenge authority and whether they behave as an individual or as a group. The UK has a PD figure of 30 compared to 72 in Nigeria, and an IDV figure of 85 compared to 15 in Nigeria. In low individualism countries “harmony may be more important than honesty.” Being an individual I chose to challenge the power rather than maintain the harmony this resulted in CONFLICT! Check out your country here 

The people I am working with are probably something like this!

There is even a place on the website where you can compare where you are from with where you are working, check here.

Go Slow

Last Saturday, I got stuck in a big Go Slow. Go Slow is pidgin for a traffic jam, and I think this was the worst traffic jam in my life so far. I had decided I needed a weekend away and chose to visit Heather in Kaduna, Kaduna is around 200km North of Abuja, and the journey generally takes around two and a half to three hours.

So I went to Mabushi, to get a car to Kaduna, and was very impressed, that 10 minutes after arriving we were on the road, leaving Abuja at 09:25am, I would be there by mid-day. Unfortunately after about half an hour we hit a big Go Slow, and got stuck for two hours of stop start traffic, more stopping, than starting.

Go Slow!

Meanwhile I had plenty of time to chat to my fellow passengers, what was the problem, it was Salah. Salah is a celebration that takes place 40 days after the end of Ramadam, so everyone was travelling as Monday was due to be a public holiday. No I said Tuesday and Wednesday are holidays not Monday. My fellow passengers were determined it was Monday. Public holidays in Nigeria are announced a few days in advance, and I have now found out that one newspaper announced Monday and Tuesday, another Tuesday and Wednesday.

There was plenty of Nigerian entertainment in this Go Slow:

• A crash! Well as much as a crash you can get in semi stationery traffic, “you brushed my car” Nigerians are not particularly patient drivers and seem to imagine in their haste to get one car ahead, that their cars are slimmer than the space, and wing mirrors are an unnecessary accessory useful for scraping other people’s cars.

Helping a bus cross from one Go Slow to another Go Slow

• Shopping, my purchases through the window were limited to some plantain crisps and a sachet of “pure water” – this is water that is sold in a pyramid shaped plastic bag, you simply bite one corner and drink. However there were plenty of other goodies for sale, mostly sold by young boys or men, the only thing I saw being sold by women was bananas.

Duty Free!

FOR SALE

• Goat for Salah, soft drinks, gala meat (a rather disgusting sausage roll), moi moi (a kind of bean cake), cashew nuts, perfume, mobile phone chargers, handkerchiefs, socks, apples, vitamin C, biscuits, palm oil, 20 Naira notes, you can buy 800 Naira worth of money for 1000 Naria! (small change likely to be used for “spraying” the bride and groom at weddings).

Goat!

After two hours we got through the GO SLOW, there appeared to be no cause other than volume of traffic and we were off, the rest of my journey went like a dream, I arrived in Kaduna at 2pm. I needed to get a bus to Stadium, as a taxi driver was trying to persuade me all the buses were full, a bus came along, which later broke down, but quickly transferred me onto another bus, and then onto an okada (motorbike taxi) straight to a bar called “Sea Breeze” (next to a river but a very long way from the sea) where my friends were waiting with a much deserved cold beer!


Fortunately my return journey was much shorter!

At Church with the President, God and Goodluck!

Two days after Independence Day I attended a Church Service to celebrate Nigeria’s Golden Jubilee.  My main motivation for going was actually to see the inside of the National Christian Centre and despite hearing that the President was going to attend the service, I didn’t really expect that he would show up.

Inside the church

However when I arrived all the nearby roads were blocked, and there were Police everywhere, and getting into the building was a little like getting on a plane, only I didn’t have to remove my shoes and I wasn’t wearing a belt!  Inside the church was rather empty to start with, so I took my seat beside Christian, a fellow Oyibo (white person) that I met outside, and waited to see what would happen.  Being the only two white people present, we were asked if we were diplomats, I said no, but Christian said yes, and much to my embarrassment we were taken almost to the front row.  However once things got going I was rather pleased with my front row seat and view of the President, not so pleased with all the cameras in my face, several witnesses have told me they saw me on TV!

Onyeka Onwneu singing Happy Birthday Nigeria 

Onyeka Onwenu singing Happy Birthday Nigeria

The service was amazing, very Nigerian of course, lots of singing and dancing and wonderful clothes, but also a real sense of hope.  It was based on Jubilee, in the biblical sense, with readings from Leviticus 25, Joel 2, and Isaiah 61.  The Jubilee year, as described in the Bible, is about giving land back to its original owners.  When the Israelites entered the Promised Land, they were each given their share of land.  As trade began the value of the land was to depend on the number of years to the next Jubilee, (every 50 years).  So Jubilee is about re distributing things such that every thing is fare again, as opposed to capitalist economics where the rich keep getting richer at the expense of the poor.  (I imagine Nigeria is one of the richest poorest countries in the world).  The other readings were about reclaiming the stolen years, and preaching good news to the poor, healing the sick and so on.

Year of Jubilee

So in the context of a country that has had a rather troubled first 50 years and is due to have an election in its 51^st year, you can imagine all of the above took on a rather profound meaning.  This was added to by the “Sounding of the Shofar”, the Shofar is a trumpet, usually made from a Ram’s Horn, only blown by a learned man, for religious purposes such as prayer and announcing the Jubilee.

Sounding the Shofar

So that was the God bit, now for Goodluck, he read the second reading, and addressed the Congregation, each time standing at a special lectern.  Unfortunately I can’t remember what he said but a Nigerian sitting next to me said that he is good because he is open to change, and this certainly came across in his speech.

Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan GCFR, President, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Federal Republic of Nigeria

So if you are someone who prays please pray for Nigeria, that the elections are free and fair, and maybe more importantly peaceful, and that the next 50 years are better for the Nigerian people than the last. 

Outside the church

Nigeria at 50

Last Friday, 1st October was Independence Day, 50 years of independence from the British, celebrations were to be held at the Eagle Square, which is rather a small venue, so we aimed to get there by 08:30, it was due to start at 10. Unfortunately as often occurs when one group of people aims to meet another group of people it was more like 09:30 and there was no way we could get into the Square, unless we wanted to fight the police!

Peering through the fence in the rain

We found a space outside and thanks to a heavy rain shower we got close enough to the fence to observe some of the action, which started with a military parade and a brass band. Even then it was great to be part of the crowd of Nigerians clearly proud of their country, one wanting to see her President, “I want to see his face not his picture, seeing Goodluck will give me Goodluck for the day” and generally excited to be celebrating Nigeria. Many were wearing national colours, and some had their faces painted.

Nigerian facepaint

Later we managed to find our way into Eagle Square, and finally even got a seat, where we saw dancers, an air display, a display of tanks, and then we got the text message from VSO, “confirmed explosions in Eagle Square, please avoid busy areas.” The event then ended suddenly without the President speaking.

Men or possibly women emerging from a helicopter

Once we left the stadium we met some other friends outside who reassured us that Nigeria was a peaceful country and there were no bombers there, it was just a rumour, I did remind them about the underpants bomber, who they disowned rapidly. Finally I checked the BBC website and found the first topic was that there had been two car bombs in Nigeria, then I realised that these weren’t just rumours.



Note my green and white Nigeria is 50 hat and badge!

The sad thing is that this happened on the day the whole world was looking at Nigeria, and it reinforces the negative images about Nigeria, which I had as well before I came here. My journey to Nigeria started last September, with an email from VSO with the Subject : Placement offer in Nigeria, my first thoughts were “Oh no, not Nigeria”. In my mind Nigeria was a place where it was unsafe to walk on the streets, rife with bribery, corruption, kidnapping and armed robbery along with ethnic and religious conflict and violence.

 The reality is very different, I regularly walk around Abuja during daylight hours, and I have never been asked for a bribe. During the seven months I have been here, one friend has been mugged, she was walking alone at night, one person had a phone stolen by a pick-pocket and one VSO staff member was the victim of an armed robbery of the staff car. Now of course none of these things are good but neither do they live up to Nigeria’s reputation.

 On the positive side, I have left my keys in a taxi and the driver looked for me to return them, my friend left her phone in a taxi and the driver returned it, another friend even forgot her laptop in a bar, and went back to find it exactly where she had left it.

 So is Nigeria’s reputation fair, yes and no, of course there is crime and reading the history of the first 50 years of Nigeria tells stories of civil war, coups, military dictators and religious violence, but in my experience Nigeria, is a peaceful country, full of people who love life, and want to live it to the full.

More Independence Day pictures

Entertaining the Honourable Member for East Dumbartonshire – Jo Swinson MP

For the last six days I have been on a temporary “holiday” in a different part of town with Jo Swinson MP. Jo was taking part in VSO’s Parliamentarian scheme, where MPs visit a country for a short time to be involved in high level advocacy in her case the Climate Change Commission Bill, for Nigeria. As they are supposed to behave like “real volunteers” they get to stay with volunteers. VSO decided she should have the best they could offer and put her in a flat in Zone 2, to stay with Viola. Viola was in Germany though, so I offered to stay there with her, which gave me a great opportunity to get to know Jo in between all her important meetings.

Jo and Ugochi

Jo was formerly the youngest MP, elected when she was 24, and first stood for parliament against John Prescott, the then Deputy Prime Minister when she was only 21, so you can imagine she is quite an inspiration. It’s worth taking a look at her facebook page, she also tweets, to get an idea how younger MPs may help to involve younger people in politics. 



Final alterations on Jo's dress with Chisoba the tailor

Over the weekend I took Jo to the tailor so she now promises to wear her new dress in the House of Commons, and then we met other volunteers for barbecued fish on Sunday. It was a real privilege to spend time with her and to introduce her to others who helped her understand Nigeria and were inspired by her, for example Jo told them of door knocking every week in her constituency even when it is not election time, (to ensure she contacts people who will never contact her). She was also able to explain to Nigerians, who are very cynical about the lack of Democracy the story of the Liberal Democrats, who have gone from being a minority party to being a part of government.

Jo and I dressed Nigerian

 I had always wondered why MPs use the terms “the Honourable Member for ..” and now know that you cannot use names in parliament as each MP is speaking on behalf of their constituents, and replying to the constituents of another MP. I’ll be keeping in touch with Jo especially as she has promised to take me for tea in the House of Commons when I am back in the UK. And thanks again Jo it was great to meet you, you’re an inspiration!

Jo and Velice, eating fish and talking politics

Barka da Salah

The week before last was the end of Ramadam, and Thursday and Friday were public holidays, so I went with some of my fellow volunteers to Kano to see the Durbar.  I travelled with Viola and Richard, in this car on another terrifying Nigerian journey, but we arrived in one piece if with slightly raised blood pressure. On arrival we went off to find Sophie’s house a volunteer who lives in Kano.

Richard in the car, or a coke advert?

Due to the moon, Thursday was still a fasting day, but when we woke on Friday, the streets were full of people in their best clothes, shouting Barka da Salla, and eating and drinking in daylight hours for the first time in 40 days. It felt at bit like Christmas Eve in Britain though rather a lot warmer!
We spent Friday, pottering around Kano, enjoying the party atmosphere, there were horses everywhere ready for the Durbar, in the afternoon we headed for Kurmi market, one of the supposedly biggest and oldest markets in West Africa. Don’t go on Friday afternoon, we left soon after arriving, of course it was prayer time and most shops were closed.  And then we found cold beer, in Sabon Gari, Sharia Law?

A cold beer (or several) on a hot day

and then it got dark

Saturday morning took us up the hill, to see the view, and then to the Durbar. The Durbar is an ancient ceremony where the Emir checks his military might, so tribal leaders, dress up themselves and their horses and come to greet the Emir.

The Emir in a silly hat with a big umbrella

It was also a great opportunity for crowd watching as cameras were welcome and everyone was dressed in their best outfits, including young girls complete with make up jewellery and handbags.

posing

The next day we were invited to another ceremony at Government house, where I found myself in a seat market “Diplomat”. (Apparently there was a shortage of diplomats travelling to Kano, all due to some Christian who wanted to burn the Koran at Ground Zero in New York on Sept 11th, their embassies had warned them not to travel to Northern Nigeria, fearing repercussion.) Fortunately no-one warned us so we ended up at a rather amazing ceremony!)

At the ceremony the Emir arrived  and his rather fine carers / bodyguards? and the local government chiefs (all male) paid homage taking turns to kneel on the floor and bow their heads all the way to the ground. The only women present were “diplomats”.

We were then ushered out by our host to get a very fine view of the tribal leaders on their horses, (unfortunately my camera battery had died by then!) and then the three of us who were travelling back to Abuja dashed off to the motor park, for a rather death defying trip home, just think James Bond at 140kmph and throw in a few pot holes, at least on the way back we didn’t have to worry about whether the driver had taken food or water since dawn!



More people watching pictures
More Durbar pictures

More Diplomat Emir pictures

Emily Bullock speaking live from Aso Radio the "Station on the Rock"

One day when I was with my boss on the way back from a meeting, he said, that's where Ugo works, and pointed to a rock with a mast at the top of  a hill, and I wandered how on earth you could even get there, well last week I found out.  On Monday Ugo asked me if I would be on her show the following day, to talk about renewable energy in Nigeria.


So I went, up the hill to the "Station on the Rock" to take part in her weekly environmental programme "Green Angle".  So I got in a taxi that said of course they know the way, he did this time, and he took me out of town and up the steep steep hill to the "Station on the Rock".

Me and Ugo on the rock

The programme started at 9, so Ugo asked me to be there at 08:50, well she is on the radio all the time, anyway I got there about 08:45, we went quickly through the questions and then we were live on air, me the renewable energy "expert", although I must say I surprised myself at how much I knew and how easily we filled a 30 minute programme, fortunately before the texts and calls came in, but after she asked me how to collect electricity from thunder!

in the studio

The half hour went really quickly so before I knew it we were outside taking a walk on the top of the hill and looking at the view. 

view from the hill

Then after the adrenaline rush of being "live on air" I went back to the office, expecting everyone to comment on how great I had been! First of all my boss who had approved it and given me guidance asked why I was late, as did my colleagues. I had forgotten I was in Nigeria, in an office where internal communication is to put it politely rather poor, and I'd assumed that since at least four people knew where I was going, they would all be listening avidly. So as far I know, one person listened a colleague, I am hoping to get a CD and will try to post it if I can manage the technology! My wonderful father, hope you are reading, tried to listen on line but couldn't get it to work, thanks Dad!

More "Station on the Rock" pics

Six months in Nigeria

On Saturday, I was having a drink with my fellow British volunteer, Richard, and he said it was our six month anniversary, a little confused, I asked for clarification, six months since we arrived in Nigeria. Yes six months ago, Richard, Heather and I stumbled off a flight from Heathrow to Abuja at 05:30am into hot hot Nigeria.

Well hot hot Nigeria, has become cold wet Nigeria, it goes down to 22°C at night and I have a blanket on my bed! The obvious question of course is what if anything have I achieved, or if you are VSO, have I “shared skills and changed lives?”
 I’m a bit of a realist about what I expect to achieve, I even have a document at work that I add to occasionally called “Small, small achievements!"

So here is a list of achievements…..


1 – Skill shared, I helped Ugochi prepare for her telephone interview for the Climate Change Media Fellowship, you can read about it here and here


2 – Languages – very basic greetings in Pidgin and Hausa, ina kwana, ina auni, lafia, how dei, I dei fine, well done, sannu.


3 – Inches lost around my waist, at least that is what the tailor told me last time she measured me, and probably at least 3 inches gained on the length of my hair, as I haven't managed to achieve a hair cut yet, next months challenge!


4 – States visited, I live in Abuja, which is in Federal Capital Territory or FCT, the Centre of Unity, but I have been to Kano, Centre of Commerce, Kaduna, the Liberal State, Nassarawa, the Home of Solid Minerals, where I met the Deputy Governor, and Niger, the Power State, where there were still power cuts! Look at my map to see where I have been.


5 – Church services attended - Family Worship Centre, Baptist, Methodist, Summit, Redeemed, these are marked on my Abuja map.


6 – Oibo I love you! – Well actually I didn’t count but a certain number of men have claimed to be in love with me, want to marry me and so on!

7 – New outfits, one of the great things I’m enjoying about Nigeria is buying fabric and getting it made up, pictures here.


8 – Exercise, 4 times running, 4 times swimming, rather poor for six months I know but it was very hot when we arrived, and I’m working on it, but I have lost three inches!


9 – New types of food, egusi, vegetable soup, bitter leaf soup, pounded yam, eba, semovita, jollof rice, suya, shawarm – I will write about food another time, but if you would like to you can look at this great blog post by Richard, a different Richard!


10 – Haven’t made it to 10 yet! – but I have passed one module of my MSc since I have been here.


Mmm well let’s hope that after 12 months I have some more concrete achievements to share with you.

Would you notice if the power stations were shut down in your country?

Pride comes before a fall, and following my recent blog posts about how wonderfully reliable our electricity has been, I got home last night to find there was none.  I cooked and studied by candlelight, used two batteries for my laptop, and slept with the windows closed and my ears stopped with ear plugs against the sound of my neighbours generators.  And I heard there was a strike.

Now I am at work where we have apparently 36 hours of battery back up, and I found this wonderful story from panapress which I really have to share with you, in the interest of acknowledging my souces, I found it at http://www.panapress.com/freenews.asp?code=eng057805&dte=25/08/2010  and as for the normally well-lit glistening streets of Abuja, can somebody tell me where they are please?

Nigeria's electricity workers on strike

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Nigeria's 40,000 electricity workers Wednesday embarked on an indefinite nationwide strike to press for payment of "monetisation" arrears, but most Nigerians who are already used to poor power supply are shrugging off the strike.


The few hours of electricity usually enjoyed by residents of most cities across Africa's most populous nation were cut due to the strike.
 "We told all our members to stay at home and all the power stations in the country have been shut down," said workers' spokesman Temple Iworimo.

But government spokesman Labaran Maku said the situation is under control, and that the government will do all it can to resolve the problem.

"In the next couple of days, those issues (payments of arrears of allowances) would be resolved," said Maku, who is the junior Minister of Information.

On Wednesday night, the normally well-lit streets of the glistening capital city of Abuja were plunged into darkness, except in areas that were lit by solar-powered lights. 

"Most streets here are in darkness. That's how you will know there is a strike ," Adebayo Ojo, an Abuja resident, told PANA.

Apart from street lights, most Nigerians, who provide their own electricity using power generators, are oblivious of the strike.

"What difference does it make?" queried Innocent Chukwu, a Lagos resident. "We have not had light in our area for weeks. Let them continue the strike for as long as they wish."

Nigeria, with a population of 150 million, generates about 3,000 megawatts of electricity, which is inadequate to power the vast country.

Most homes and businesses depend on power generators for electricity, as the government monopoly Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) cannot meet their electricity demands.

Lagos - 25/08/2010

Would you go to school, send your children to school or teach if....

Its hard to tell what Nigeria is really like when you work in an air-conditioned office in the capital city with colleagues who lobby the government, but perhaps reading this will give you more of an idea.

As plagiarism is the biggest from of flattery here is a link to Simon's blog.  Simon is a volunteer based in Kaduna, (around three hours North of Abuja) working in the primary education sector.  This blog post has some shocking statistics about primary schools in Kaduna state, which apparently is one of the better ones!

Click here to read Simon's blog

Defining customer service

More NEPA / PHCN stories, for a reminder that stands for Nigeria Electric Power Authority / Never Expect Power Again and Power Holding Company of Nigeria / Problem Has Changed Name, for more info read my two previous posts Paying for Nepa or not? and PHCN became PHGA.
So after paying 20,000 Naira for our electricity two weeks ago, and finally getting re-connected we receive another bill for 17,800 Naira that says it is for June and July, its dated 29th July and that was the day we paid the previous bill.
 So off I go to PHCN, first to customer service, then I am directed to the second office on the right. The customer service office is a clean air conditioned office where two staff sit with desks and computers and chairs for the waiting customers. The place I am directed to resembles a classroom with rows of desks, and a bookshelf at the back, and rather worryingly no papers, or computers - so how on earth do they track my electricity consumption?

This is the room of the "marketeers" which I found out are the people who "manage" my power supply, ie make sure I have paid, disconnect if I haven't, re-connect if I have. I am told I have to wait to see Helen, who looks after my area, she should be here sometime after nine, (it was around 8:30) so I sit and quietly fume about the inefficiency, why can't someone else see me, why have they sent me an incorrect bill, why are they wasting my time etc etc?

However when Helen arrives I change my mind, and wander if this really is customer service, she explains the bill to me, tells me where I have to pay, gives me until the end of the month to pay, and gives me her phone number in case I ever need to contact her if I can't pay on time, so that she won't have to disconnect.
 So this customer service had me waiting for the right person to turn up, but at home, I could have been on the phone, on hold, transferred between many different people who ask me all the things I've already told the last person!

And for the record, the NEPA has almost become AEPN (always expect power now), this could be due to the rain, (as some of Nigeria's power is generated from hydro), or the cooler climate (fewer people turning on the AC) or maybe it is Goodluck himself, who when he was sworn in as President promised to take personal responsibility for the power sector.

We frequently lose power for about half an hour in the morning, after it is light, I notice as the ceiling fan stops going round, and occasionally at night, normally by the time I have found a candle, it comes back. I'm not looking forward to the dry season, and the resumption of hot candlelit nights, disturbed by the noise of generators.

Well done Ugochi or should I say Sannu and a sad farewell to Angie

Well done and Sannu are often heard phrases here, you don't seem to have to have done anything well, or done anything at all.  But well done Ugochi, whose facebook status says: "thank you God, I was among the 40 journalists selected out of thousands of applications from all over the world for the fellowship, happiest day of my life"

My last blog was about supporting Ugochi to prepare for a telephone interview, well she was succesful, it is for training in climate change journalism and funding to attend the Mexico Climate Change conference in December. 

The in my opinion rather cool picture is of Angie (left) and Ugochi (right).  Sadly for us, and happily for Angie's family she is currently on a plane flying back to Canada via the UK.  Angie worked as a VSO volunteer with ICEED for a year, supporting work on Communications, and really welcomed me to ICEED and Nigeria, thank you Angie.

Sharing Skills and Changing Lives

Sharing Skills and Changing Lives - (for the uninitiated this is the VSO motto!)

I sometimes wander why I am here, yes its interesting I am learning, but am I helping Nigeria, or even one Nigerian?

Well this morning I received this text message:
"Tank u Emily for ur support. d interview went well. just d same things you asked me. tanks a lot"

Working in "development" sometimes feels like an "industry" of its own, and to be honest it sometimes feels like convincing donors to make rich Nigerians richer.  I work for an organisation that sees itself as affecting policy at the highest level, ie Federal Government, in order to reduce poverty, which of course is important but it takes time and feels rather abstract, and has little to do with grassroots level actions which I am used to.  Talking to Nigerians about using individuals to influence government policy is met with hilarity, bewilderment, and statements like "you don't know how things work in Nigeria", this is true and I am trying to learn.

So when I got the above text message this morning, it bought a tear to my eye, yes I know that's not difficult.  It was sent from a colleague Ugochi, who works for a radio station, and is with ICEED as an intern to learn more about climate change.  She has a radio programme called Green Angle on ASO radio  (you can listen on line, Tuesdays 09:30am) and applied to the Climate Change Media Fellowship to attend a nine month training for journalists and then to attend the Cancun meeting in Mexico.  Yesterday she had an email to invite her for a telephone interview at 6pm.

So, Velice my Kenyan colleague also VSO, and I conducted a mock interview, with me in role of interviewer and Velice as observer.  I asked "if you could interview President Obama what would you ask him?", "how do you prepare for your radio programme?" and "tell me about a difficult situation you have faced live on radio and how you handled it?"

Ugochi has experienced the effects of climate change in her village and wants to understand the issues better and use art and media to educate people to create change.  If she is selected she hopes on her return to Nigeria to train journalists and grassroots organisations to build their response to climate change in Nigeria.