Nigeria insight

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Posted: Thu Aug 14, 2008 12:40 pm

A friend of mine who is originally from Nigeria but is now a US citizens has recently returned from a trip to his native country. He left Nigeria under political harassment. He has given me permission to share his email with you. He was a brave person to go back and all of his American friends are happy that he has returned safely.

Quote:

Yes, Folks, I am out here and BACK!!

Thank you for your concerns, prayers and petitions for my safe return from Nigeria.
If I fail to mention your name directly here, please note that
it's not because you are considered less of a friend or well-wisher -
the list is probably too long and time short. As most of you know, I
have been in Nigeria on missionary journey of sorts for the past 2.5
months.

My trip to Nigeria turned out to be an experience of a lifetime. After
an absence of slightly over 10 years, I came to find that the country
had changed dramatically in so many ways. In some, the changes were for the better.

The impact of technology was visible through the profusion
of Internet cafes and cell phones. These things were not there when I
left the country, but now even people in the most interior and
physically inaccessible places had cell phones, some more than one.

At first I was wondering why a lot of individuals had more than one cell
phone, but soon came to realize that the most of the services were
terribly inadequate and unreliable. To counter this, one would subscribe
to one or more of a medley of network providers, including MTN, GLo,
Retel, Celtex, and Zain etc. If one network were bad or inaccessible,
one would switch use a different phone or switch the SIMS card for a
different network. And this happened all the time, even in the middle of
an important phone conversation.

As with all things fashionable or not, Nigerians typically compete with
each other to be distinctive and different from the rest of the masses.
This is the case with cell phones; they are everywhere! I got to see
designs and styles of cell phones I never knew existed. Whether it
worked or not, almost everyone of more than 140 million Nigerians had a
cell phone or two, or was planning to get one soon.

It is nothing short of amazing how well Nigerians adjusted to even the
most unimaginable and difficult circumstances. Unfortunately the
unsteady power supply meant that people had to find ingenious ways to
recharge the cell phone batteries. Often, people carried a supply of one
or more charged batteries. Or they had portable battery chargers that
could be plugged directly to any available power outlet, thus dispensing
with the need to carry a wad of power cords for the many cell phones. Of
course, those who can afford it, use electric generating sets or
mini-power plants to maintain the battery power supply. Thus, one could
hear these plants coughing, belching and choking day and night, all over
the place. Almost every household has an electric generating plant or
"generator" that is small or big, however much they can afford.

The national power supply company has all but gone under; the national
telecommunications services provider is moribund; and most of the
essential services providers that were functioning fairly well when I
left the country are teetering on the brinks or have collapsed from
mismanagement and corruption. And these include even basic health care
services. As I moved around the country, I learned things. I learned
that, in many instances, corrupt politicians and administrators have
colluded with outside interests to sabotage and cause the demise of many
of the agencies (or parastatals, as they are called in Nigeria) that
provided essential services, ranging from energy and power supply to
health care and sanitation. Thus, there are now cabals who organize to
frustrate any attempts to restore national power supply or
telecommunications because it would affect the sale of electric
generators or the business of Internet cafes.

Perhaps, in time, I will elaborate on some of these and more of my
experiences during my trip to Nigeria. The bottom line is that the
average Nigerian is laboring under extremely difficult conditions, even
though the country is one of, if not, the most richly endowed of the
countries of the world. Sadly, for now, it appears that a cabal of
criminals with extremely violent tendencies has hijacked the political
process and vacated the government of Nigeria. I am sure that some if
not many of you may have heard of the spate of kidnappings in the
southern area of Nigeria, which is where I come from. In my movements I
learned of a long list of the many like me who got kidnapped or killed,
while trying to fight corruption, corrupt politicians or both. This is
part of the reasons I had to be very cautious in my movements and
activities, and why it was difficult for many to reach me or be reached
by me, during the past 2 months.

Again, thanks to all for your good wishes and concerns.

XXX

Baiting Guru Joined: 03 Mar 2006 Posts: 7103 Location: Yes

Great email. Your friend is brave indeed.

Posted: Thu Aug 14, 2008 1:15 pm

Quote:

Unfortunately the
unsteady power supply meant that people had to find ingenious ways to
recharge the cell phone batteries.

So you are not just using up your lad's credit when he calls you only to be put on 'hold' for an age, you are using up his precious battery power too.

** Retired ** Joined: 14 May 2007 Posts: 750 Location: Air

Very insightful. Thanks for sharing Very Happy

Posted: Thu Aug 14, 2008 11:13 pm

Fascinating. Thanks for that, and please share anything further that he is willing to have publicized.

Western Union · Posted: Fri Aug 15, 2008 7:10 pm

Interesting read. Thanks for sharing it.

Posted: Sat Aug 16, 2008 4:07 am

Thank you, to both you and your friend for sharing this. Kind of helps give a reminder to me, and insight to others, about why some people are so eager to scam (not all scammers, just some). As my spouse would say, "ah, Africa." Is it strange that reading this letter from your friend, even mentioning the corruption and everything, made my heart ache to return to Ghana?

Posted: Sat Aug 16, 2008 4:26 am

Nice!

Posted: Sat Aug 16, 2008 6:42 am

Very interesting read. Thanks for sharing it. Very Happy

Posted: Sat Aug 16, 2008 7:21 am

Chibuike, that was a very useful insight, and thanks for posting it. The thing that struck me most was its poignancy; I feel for your friend. Please thank him for allowing us to share in his experience. Smile

Posted: Sat Aug 16, 2008 2:57 pm

^^^ You're welcome. Personally I thought my friend was nuts for wanting to go back to Nigeria, however, he had some personal issues that needed to be addressed. As he provides more information I will pass it along as he has given me permission to do so. He and I have had many discussions on 419 scams and the corruption in his home country.

I do have to admire him. One of the reasons he went back to Nigeria was to support his charity. He is a strong advocate of ending genital mutilation of women. As a physician he saw many women in his clinic who had had this done to them. That is why he traveled the back roads and visited small villages to get the word out how this act causes many phyical problems for women.

Posted: Wed Aug 20, 2008 5:47 pm

He does what he has to do. A good man with strong ethics.
I guess the state of his country must hurt him. Just imagine. Use your mind. Imagine your country down the toilet like his, and all that because of some greedy m.....f....... I admire him. I, instead of him, would grab a gun and kill some of those f......

Posted: Wed Aug 20, 2008 5:50 pm

I really need to be checking this forum a bit more often.

This was a great post.

Thank you!