How many Nigeirans does it take to change a lightbulb?

This morning I went to buy a lightbulb and some akara, a delicious Sunday morning breakfast treat, basically deep fried beans, so healthy in a protein kind of way, but in Ibadan they don’t give you extra pepe like they did in Abuja, must remember to add some next time!

Anyway, my lightbulb was not in a “nylon” as Nigerians call plastic bags, but just loose in a box in my hand.  So a neighbour asked me what I was going to do with it?  I thought this a rather ridiculous question so I asked him what he thought I was going to do with it.  To this he asked if I was an electrician, no I said but I do know how to change a lightbulb.  He then told me that many Nigerian women do not!

This afternoon I met my British friend Rebecca, and over lunch at the lovely Kokodome, relayed the story, she told me that the Nigerian family where she stayed in Ife, called an electrician to change a lightbulb.

Now a word of caution, in Nigeria changing a lightbulb is different to changing one in the UK, for a start it happens more often.  I have been in Ibadan, for four months, and only have four lightbulbs, I have bought and changed at least three lightbulbs in this time. 

Much as its life is significantly shortened by the unreliable, surging power, so is the risky manoeveur of changing it greater, hence I am far more cautious   I follow all the rules that I may be a little lax about at home; make sure the switch is off, my hands are dry, and wear shoes with rubber soles while I do it!  A quick look at Nigerian wiring and you will see why!

Election Fever - POSTPONED!

Having had strict advice from VSO not to leave the house for all voting days; on Friday, I made sure I had plenty of things to eat and drink on Saturday and prepared for day one of “house arrest”!

I was very productive, pancakes for breakfast, mung beans cooked with coconut and chapattis for dinner, did my laundry, studied, watched two movies, but I began to understood the term “Cabin Fever”, which got worse when I found out the election had been postponed until Monday. However I thought I’d better not leave the house, unless VSO “released me” as there were rumours of trouble as people who were turned away from voting.

The election was postponed because the ballot papers had only arrived in the country at 9am on Saturday, polling booths were due to open at 8am. I fail to see why this couldn’t be announced on Friday, but one of my colleagues told me that it was to prevent allegations of fraud, or to stop trouble or some such.

So on Sunday, I had déjà vu of Friday, and prepared myself for another day of “house arrest”, for the Monday elections, only to be find out they were now to be held next Saturday. Both times I found out about the change of plan from friends postings on facebook, not from the BBC World Service which I listened to, VSO or the FCO travel advice to Nigeria.

To plan or not to plan, that is the question...

Nigerians and I have a different attitude towards planning, and towards making plans public. I find this strange, but as my Dad would tell me its not strange its different!



Actually Dad now denies this is his phrase but I distinctly remember him telling me it as a child, I can’t remember what “it” was!


When I started work at NEST I suggested that we had some kind of shared calendar, so that we would all know the whereabouts of our colleagues. To me this is a useful planning tool; to my colleagues it clearly seemed to be like something all together different, police state or something. They protested that there really wasn’t a problem, when staff travel away from the office they always let others know of their whereabouts!


Many planning / not planning / not sharing examples took place last week


On Tuesday – colleague A was not in the office, when I asked where he was somebody thought he had gone to Abuja but they weren’t sure when he would be back.


On Wednesday – colleague B and I met to plan some work, we planned a meeting on Friday with colleague C who was due back in the office that day after 10 days of external meetings. I also wanted to meet him on Friday regarding a different project.


On Thursday – I was due to meet colleague D, he was out of the office all day, as another colleague (more important than me) had sent him on another task.  I also found out that colleague C wouldn't be back on Friday when I had planned to meet him.


On Friday – the Governor of Oyo State, announced a public holiday, so that people could travel to vote the following day. Unfortunately I only had confirmation of this holiday at 7:30am, when I was about to leave for the office.


On Saturday – the President of INEC (the election commission) announced that that day’s elections would be postponed until Monday, as the ballot papers had not arrived in time.


On Sunday – the President of INEC announced that Monday’s elections would be postponed until the following Saturday to ensure that everyone gets a chance to vote.


Now I am sure behind each of these examples there is a good reason, perhaps because so many things are just outside of ones control, like an election being postponed, a public holiday being announced a big oga / boss telling you to drop everything and do something else.

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.