Snappy Dressers

One of the things I love about Nigeria is the variety of clothing that people can wear, men and women.  These images from Jonathan's rally last Saturday, show some examples.

Jonathan's rally

Election Fever - a bike instead of a car

Many years ago, I met a Kenyan who had spent some time in the UK and was there during a general election, he had been surprised how life went on as normal.

I am about to experience my first African election, there are three voting days, on 2^nd, 9^th and 16^th April, Parliamentary, Presidential and State governors and legislators. 

Things are a little tense, before 1^st October, when there was a bombing during the Independence Day Celebrations; any violence in Nigeria was isolated, in specific points and linked to ethnic / religious issues.  Since then there was another bombing at Abacha Barracks on New Years Eve, and MEND a group trying to get justice from oil companies for the people in the Delta have threatened to bomb strategic locations in the Niger Delta, Abuja and Lagos.

During January all the schools were closed, supposedly for voter registration, but others said it was to stop the schools being a focal point for violence.

Last week, we received a strongly worded email from VSO with their security plans, these are that we should not leave our houses for the three voting days, or on the day results are announced.  If we feel unsafe we are to let VSO know and move somewhere safer.  If VSO or our countries want us to evacuate we should proceed to Abuja.  Hopefully of course apart from being “grounded” (yes they used that term) for four days, none of this will happen.  However when I told my colleagues that VSO didn’t want us to leave the house all day, they thought it was very sensible advice, I was expecting them to tell me it was over cautious.  

The other election advice we have been given, and have been being given for months, is to avoid crowded areas and talking about politics.  So my first action to maintain my safety took place yesterday.  I had just arrived back in Ibadan, after a weekend in Ife, and was at Iwo Road, a big junction full of traffic, traders, people begging, and the Ibadan Marathon was passing through.  I walked off to get the first of two shared taxis home to be told there was “no road” (a Nigerian term used when a road is closed, in this case for the Marathon), I would have to take a motorbike, now I am quite scared of Ibadan traffic so I decided to take a taxi instead.  Then as I sat in the taxi I realised I was in the middle of total grid lock, in a crowded area, in the part of town I had been warned could be prone to election violence.  I got scared and decided I would after all be safer on a bike.  So my first "keeping safe in the election action" was to take a bike instead of a car.  

My new home

 More photos
I am now living in an area of Ibadan known as Bodija, and specifically JK Junction.

The street I live on is
  
although the address is
 
About 10 metres away is my nearest shop

And sometimes I think I live near a football stadium, (due to the noise)

When I want to study, actually go running I go to

"My sister lives in Arsenal State"

Nigerians are mad about football, and most of them, well most of the men, follow a British Premiership team, so when the security guard at my new home, Johnson, found out I was from the UK, he told me his sister lives in Arsenal State.

I explained that Arsenal actually isn't a state, its the name of a football team, that used to be in Highbury and Islington, and is now somewhere else, and there are other famous football clubs in London such as Tottenham Hot Spurs, Crystal Palace, and another one?

So I promised to get him a map of the UK.  I found one on line and printed it for him, and explained, England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, London is the capital city, along with showing him other places of footballing interest, Manchester, Liverpool, Newcastle.

Fortunately I came to Nigeria with a small atlas, so we spent some time looking at it together comparing country size, population and so on.

He asked me if he could borrow the atlas for a few days, of course I agreed.  This morning when I woke up, late, (after being disturbed by people praying very loudly between 1 and 3am! - I am sure that is banned in the Bible!)  I looked out of the window, to see him reading the atlas.

I know its a small thing, but it gave me a little warm glow, that I had enabled one person, to have a look at my little atlas, and maybe expanded his view of the world a little bit, until now the only thing I have seen him reading is the Bible.

Chimamanda Adichie: The danger of a single story

If you have a fast enough internet connection, have a look at this, a Nigerian speaks

http://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story.html

Anticipating mangoes

On Thursday evening, I was very excited to see a man carrying mangoes on his head, yes my first mango of the year, 150 Naira, (Abuja price!)

Making a difference in Nigeria?

This isn't really a fresh post, but an article I wrote for the Friends of Nigeria newsletter, see page 4

I am soft and squiggy

Yesterday my soft squiggy body spent 9 hours inside a hard metal box on wheels, in close proximity to many other hard metal boxes all moving in similar and opposite directions, at varying speeds.

The metal boxes were travelling on a surface with many obstacles: potholes, speed bumps, police check points, contraflows and drivers who think they are Bond.

Along the way there is evidence, of crushed, folded, distorted metal that were formally metal boxes on wheels and presumably were carrying soft squiggy people, this evidence however doesn’t persuade the drivers to behave less like Bond.

My physical health at least, in tact I arrived safely at my destination, and am no longer in a metal box, indeed I haven’t been in one all day.

So if you think the danger of Nigeria, is the risk of armed robbery, being kidnapped, catching a tropical disease, or food poisoning, these risks can be all but eliminated with the right precautions, but you cannot live in a country without travelling, and for me as for you, the most dangerous thing I do on a regular basis is get in a car.

Abandoned in Nigeria

Twelve months ago last Sunday, I arrived in Abuja at 4 45am with Heather and Richard.  We were the three Brits arriving with 15 VSOs from other countries.  Last Sunday, Heather and Richard were my first visitors to my new home in Ibadan, on their way to Lagos, Benin, Togo, and Ghana for one last adventure before they go home.

So here we are after our final beer together, at TinTins my new local bar, they have now crossed the border and are no longer in Najia.

It should be noted that Rich is wearing Hausa clothes and a Yoruba hat, which I daresay is culturally inappropriate!

The Brits!