City of Paradoxes

Did you know that the richest black person in the world, Aliko Dangote, is Nigerian? In fact, Nigeria has some of the most affluent people in Africa.  Yet it also one of the poorest countries in the world. Despite this poverty, it was recently ranked one of the happiest countries in world.  Uh?!

"Yes, Nigeria is a country full of paradoxes," Yemi's dad explained. Perhaps there's no other place that reflects this more than Lagos, where we spent a couple of weeks and experienced this sense of inconsistencies many times.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times; 
it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair; 
we had everything before us, we had nothing before us.

- Charles Dickens

During our trips around the city we were chauffeured by Yemi's parents' driver, Alfa. This sounds like a luxury to most westerners, but in this country having private drivers and house maids is normal.  This is yet another paradox for a country that has a per capita income of only $2K.

Prior to visiting Nigeria Jan had only seen people carry things on their head in National Geographic magazines.

The paradoxes are everywhere you look... For example, Nigeria produces about 2.5M barrels of oil per day, making it one of the largest oil producing countries in the world.  Yet during our stay the country experienced a fuel scarcity so severe that Alfa, our driver, spent entire days queuing at gas stations and sometimes even purchasing fuel from the black market that had developed.

You can even find unexplained ironies in everyday life.  Would you believe that shorts are uncommon and sunglasses are even more rare for the locals in spite of the stifling heat?  The list goes on.

Agege Market in Lagos

We experienced the paradox of rich & poor ourselves when Jan and Yemi's mom visited the traditional market of Agege situated behind dirt alleyways along abandoned railroad tracks one morning, followed by us sipping wine and partying with a billionaire in an area called Lekki that very evening.

Our time in Nigeria wasn't spent doing any kind of sightseeing or touring; it was spent with people and taking in these kinds of elements of the country.  Just like people, Nigeria is multidimensional with layers of complexity and contradictions. Some can be explained and some are head scratchers, but on the surface it is all very interesting.

Memory Lane

Yemi and his sister Funmi

It's no secret that Yemi is very adaptive to new environments - so much so that it is easy to forget that he left home when he was at the tail end of his teenage years for a country where he had no close family or friends. Jan has called him the mayor of many of the cities we've visited on this trip because in a matter of days of arriving in a new city he is exchanging greetings to everyone on the street as if they're old friends.

However, watching Yemi reunite and interact with actual old friends and family in Nigeria was even more fun to see.  He took a great trip down memory lane during our two weeks in his home country.

Home is where you make it.

- Old Cajun man in the movie Joe Dirt

During our stay in Nigeria we visited Bereton Nursery School where Yemi started his education in Port Harcount, eastern Nigeria. Jan could feel his excitement as he struggled to summon memories of himself crying after being dropped off by his mom. 

He was even more giddy when we visited the University of Lagos, the last school he attended before moving to the US. Here his memories were a lot more lucid as he excitedly showed Jan around the Engineering Department where he spent much of his late teenage years. "My name would've been #40 on that list," he exclaimed as we scrolled down the alphabetically arranged name list of the examination results board.

Outside study area of UNILAG's Engineering Department

Yemi had only been back home to Nigeria once in 2006, so most of our time was spent reuniting with family and friends that he hadn't seen him for eight, or sometimes even 14 years. Yet, their love for him was palpable and it seemed like they just picked up from where they left. The way they welcomed Jan was so genuinely warm that it was overwhelming at times.

Yemi's Uncle Ayo

Yemi's real cousins.  All close family friends are referred to as cousins in Nigeria, which understandably confused Jan on many occasions.

The UNILAG crew

Photo Friday: Lagos, Nigeria

Yemi and his dad at the barber shop

The Unbelievably Welcoming Naija People!

Nigeria (or Naija, as it is nicknamed) is constantly in the news for the terrible violence in the Northern part of the country, but Lagos could not have been more friendly and welcoming. Of the 10 countries we have traveled to on this trip, Nigerians are definitely the friendliest people we have met.

"Welcome! How are you enjoying Nigeria?" women would ask Jan each day as she strolled through the outdoor markets or walked down the street. A family friend remarked that there's no reason for people to be lonely here because if you want to chat with someone all you have to do is say hi to the lady selling peppers at the market, for example, and you may be there an hour.

We spent most of our days meeting Yemi's extended family and old friends. It had been eight years since he had last visited, so everyone was excited to see him and meet Jan. Almost everyone we met was outgoing and expressive like Yemi is. It's like there were a bunch of "Yemi's" running around. Many Nigerians talk with their hands and speak passionately about their opinion, no matter how mundane the topic may be. This was especially entertaining to Jan when Yemi got into heated debates with his old college friends.

Yemi's old college friends at Lekki, Lagos

Nigerians' animation can be very infectious. There were many times when they would just break into singing and dancing. On Yemi's grandma's birthday we all joined in - including the 85-year-old celebrant!

Yemi's grandma at her 85th birthday

Other than meeting Yemi's extended family, Jan had been looking forward to a country where she would be considered exotic. She had waited four months to experience the kind of celebrity that Yemi had gotten in many of the places we visited on this trip - and boy did she get it in abundance. Once at a traditional market, a girl of about 25 years old approached her and touched her arm. She then gestured to Jan's hair and asked, "Your hair?" Jan said yes and held in a chuckle.

Yet another singing & dancing moment

Yemi's parents and extended family were nothing short of amazing hosts. Despite the unbearably thick heat, they made our stay comfortable.  Our only regret was that we didn't get to meet many more of them due to terrible traffic. The traffic was so bad that we generally spent as long in traffic as we did at our destination.

After meeting everyone, it was easy for Jan to see why Yemi became such an incredible man. It also explained to her why he moved to the US - anyone that knows Yemi well understands that he cannot survive without a blasting air conditioner year round...something that's not yet possible in Nigeria.

Yemi's best possible smile in the heat

Bribing Government Officials in Nigeria

Welcome party for Jan and Yemi. It was a long journey home.

"I'm sorry, but there's a problem with your visa and we cannot allow you to board the plane," the lady informed Jan as we tried to check in for our flight to Nigeria. 

Travel days are stressful for Jan. That seems ironic considering we are traveling full time, but she still gets stressed on days we have a flight to catch. Today, however, her stress was warranted. The passport number written on her Nigerian visa didn't match her passport. It was clearly human error.

After escalating the situation over a tense hour, the airline's management team in Vietnam allowed her to board the flight in exchange for releasing the airline from liability if Nigeria's immigration turned her away upon arrival in Lagos.  We sprinted through customs and security just in time to board our flight and start our 25 hour journey to Nigeria.

Beautiful clouds about 40,000 feet over Qatar as we flew to Lagos

Nigeria is widely known for corruption - bribery is simply a part of doing business. Yemi was familiar with it, though he had never actually bribed anyone.  He left home at 19 years of age and had only been back to once. We immediately devised a strategy for bribing immigration in case they caught the visa error. Jan hid her large bills and split up her small dollars. She was going to be on her own since Yemi would be in a separate line for Nigerian citizens. Unfortunately, our troubles were just beginning. 

The number "419" is Nigerian Criminal Code dealing with fraud. The sale of land or property that doesn't belong the the seller is a common scam in Nigeria.

Yemi breezed through immigration in Lagos due to his dual citizenship. As Jan moved to the front of her line, she watched the immigration officers request money from the couple in front of her. They slid money over the counter and moved to the second of three immigration desks.

Jan's heart was beating fast. The officer inspected her passport and visa and ushered her to the next desk. This lady stared at her passport for awhile so Jan got nervous and amped up the charm by speaking to her in Yoruba, the local language. Success!  She laughed, responded and sent Jan to the third and final immigration desk where the visa errors also went unnoticed!

Our celebration of Jan's arrival on Nigeria's soil at the luggage carousel was cut short when we tried to exit through customs. We were asked for our Yellow Fever cards. Yellow Fever was one of the many diseases we were vaccinated against prior to leaving the US.  We received a "yellow book" to show proof of this vaccination. We put our yellow books in our portable safe for safekeeping...and we never took them out!  We had realized they were missing the day prior, but we didn’t think they were needed in Nigeria so we had planned to get new ones later that week.  We tried to display an electronic copy, but they wouldn't entertain this. They wanted cash and they weren't shy about it. 

"What do you have for me?" the lady at Customs asked Yemi in Yoruba. Yemi resisted until she threatened to send Jan to quarantine for 10 days. "You win," Yemi thought.

$5 later, we exited the airport and began our two week adventure on Yemi's old turf.  Although we were casually asked for bribes on several other occasions during our stay, we managed to keep our cash as nobody else had real power over us.

Yemi & his dad wheeling our saran-wrapped luggage to the car at Muritala Muhammed airport, Lagos (under construction)

Photo Friday: Lagos, Nigeria

3 generations deep - celebrating Yemi's grandma's 85th birthday