posted
Hello all , I need some help here, I will be going to Nigeria in July and I haven't been there since 1985 , yep its been that long.
For personal reasons I would prefer to stay in a hotel in Lagos ,i.e. the Sheraton , Airport hotel or Ikeja Palace hotel, could any of you give me pointers on the costs of these hotels and the desirability of them.
The best option is to stay with your family. For hotels, it would be advisable to make a direct contact with the hotel and book before travelling. This is to avoid being stranded.
This is Sheraton’s contact details. Hope you will find it useful for any inquiry.
posted
Wale: Its always my pleasure to read that one of us is planning to or has been home of late. The reason why it is necessary that we touch base often as we can is that it will give us FIRST HAND knowledge and experience of what life in Nigeria is - ie, what the "common man" is passing through. Because if one continue reling on what the equally elitist Nigerian press reports or what the sweet-tongued Nigerian government officials propagade through these news organs, the chances of one believing those BROAD DAY LIES are more.
My advice: If you really want to enjoy and get first hand feeling of life in Nigeria I advice you stay with a trusted family member and from there make an alternative accomodation. Why this is good is because a) it will give you time to properly assimilate into the Nigerian life, b) it will give your relatives (if they are good people) the opportunity to advice and guide you on the does and donts as a visitor coming from the west after a long time away, and d)it will give you ample time to really decide on whether to put up in the relatively expensive hotel like Sheraton or alternatively to look for a low-budget but also good and save hotels scattered around Lagos and environ.
To be on a safer side, do not dress, talk or act western. If necessary, go to Balogun market and buy youself some native African attires to look like the locals. Most importantly, dont look down on the local folks; because one thing I discovered is that despite their poverty (by western standard) an average Nigerian is proud of his being, culture, traditions and language, so try as much not to behave as though you are superior to them. On the contrary, be humble and polite and even mingle with the commoners, but at same time be watchful.
As an Igboman, I wouldn't end my advisory note without asking you to take time to visit other parts of Nigeria especially the South-east. I am sure when you do so, when you get back you will understand why we Easterners often complain of marginalization from within and from without Igboland. Besides, it will also enrich you generally as a tourist.
We'll love to read your experience/s when you return to base. For now, best of preparations and when you leave have a safe journey!
Posts: 997 | From: Germany | Registered: Mar 2001
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May I suggest that you take a flight to Yaounde in Cameroon. Let the Cameroonian airport officials steal from you and demand bribes from you and force you to lose much of your luggage. Then, take a bus from Cameroon to Lagos, and encounter armed robbers from all the nations between Yaounde and Lagos.
And, on your way back to the US, take a bus back from Lagous to Yaounde and repeat the experience. Then, fly back from Yaounde to the US.
That's what it feels like when an Igbo has to fly to Lagos before going to our homeland in Biafra. After you go through that, you will learn that where you stay is not as important as how you get home.
Posts: 113 | From: USA | Registered: Aug 2001
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You could not have communicated it more clearly. Am sure you do not wish the victimhood we constantly face (which Omor Omoruyi celebrates) on Wale, But I wish that those Igbo who purpport to represent us in a "One Nigeria" can communicate with similar clarity to those Non Igbos who badly desire to speak for us like Aremu/Atiku.
Wale best wishes and safe journey. Call home to your folks and close relatives like Blessing and NwaAro advised.
___________________ YA CAIN'T KEEP A GOOD MAN DOWN :) Posts: 1182 | From: TEXAS | Registered: Oct 2001
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posted
Dear all thaks a lot for your comments, i do appreciate the various points raised about staying with relatives and dressing in casual Nigerian attire, i am sure this certainly will help with keeping a low profile.
In terms of staying in a hotel it boils down to space or the lack there of , my Mum's house is simply full to the brim and i am not going alone but with my Wife and child ( my wife is African from another country)hence we cant stay with her relatives,
Regina thanks for your comments, obviously I would not wish this on any one Yoruba Igbo or another nationality.
I will give you all a brief run down of home when I get back, its been 18 years quite a while.
posted
Regina: You made me choke! Yours was though sarcastic but for us Igbos very, very real, painful and the TRUTH. How else could one understand the agony most Igbos pass through than to do as the Igbos are forced to do by landing in Nigeria in what can best be described as a foreign land (non Igbo part of Nigeria) because there's no international airport in any part of Igboland and then face the stern-looking mostly non-Igbo immigration and security personel at the port of entry, and from there take a taxi cap whom most drivers does not speak understandable english or Igbo (for an illiterate Igbo), and from there lodge in a hotel where you will be seen as "Omo Ibo" (just as the whiteman would see you as a "****** " in the US) until you discharge to join the road from Lagos to the east and then face the real dangerous Nigeria - bad road littered with armed robbers- which has forced all the east-bound bus owners to take police escort to accompany their busses. Apart from other factors, studies shows that it is this REAL WORLD scenario that an Easterner faces that makes the heart of most Igbos go into their stomach when they plan to travel home.
There's no doubt that if the situation is reversed today that it becomes that all the international airports in other parts of Nigeria are closed and every Nigerian is forced to pass through Igboland to get to their respective destination and witness same UNDUE stress, financial waste and fear as we Igbo does presently, I am sure that the self-styled "one Nigerians" from other part of Nigeria will complain more than we Igbos do today. Sadly, despite the LIP-SERVICE to the effect that we are "one," in Nigeria every race carry their cross UNAIDED no matter how weighty.
Unfortunately, for us Igbos at home and in the diaspora it is a loss-loss (at home and in abroad) scenario.
Again, Wale have a safe trip.
Posts: 997 | From: Germany | Registered: Mar 2001
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Abeg make you cancel the trip and invset the money for stock market. Just check all the thousands that you will tro way just so you can smell all that Lagos trash and trash police.
___________________ Feel me? Ofu onye ana asi unu abia go. - Ednut Igbo-American . www.airamericaradio.com visit her. Posts: 2447 | From: Mother Earth | Registered: Mar 2001
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posted
If say the international airport be dey for Ikot Ekpene, una tink say Yoruba for never build their own international airport by now? Make una dey whine, una go hear nwii.
___________________ NA MY PAPA BORN ME Posts: 389 | From: Eugene, Oregon | Registered: Jul 2002
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posted
Quote: -------------------------------------------------- "If say the international airport be dey for Ikot Ekpene, una tink say Yoruba for never build their own international airport by now?" ---Tijani. --------------------------------------------------
Tijani: Stand corrected that Ikot Ekpene is Ibibio and NOT Igboland.
As per Yorubas building airport of their own, be also informed that the present Imo Airport which was built to international standard was built by the the PEOPLE (without a cent from either the then Imo or Federal governmnet) of the then Imo State that comprised now Abia Sate and part of present Ebonyi State. After building the said airport by taxing ourselves, all that was expected by the then and present national government was to upgrade it to 'International' status and recognise it thus. That was/is all the Igbos are asking for. Need I remind you that unlike other Nigerians who cannot live without government had-out, that the central being of an average Igbo is SELF-HELP and dependancy on govermnet largess as you Yorubas especially are known for?
Without sounding arrogant, I can tell you that Igbo people as republicans DO NOT expect, need, nor depend on any government for UNDUE patronage. On the contrary, we have been known as a self-helping people and probably the most independed-minded race in the African continent; and that is what we proved BEYOND REASONABLE DOUBT by INDEPENDENTLY building the Imo Aiport!! Let you Yorubas with with all your EMPTY-HEADED and LAZY "intelligensia" match that feat then we can take you and your Babalawo gragra serious. Given a LEVEL playground, every Nigerian knows they are Igbos are NO MATCH to a baby Igbo, so because you cant beat them FAIR and SQUARE, as Africans, YOU STOP THEM! It's exactly for this primitive petiness that Nigeria was, is and will continue to be in the DARK.
As per "una go hear nwii," sadly it's a hypocrite like you who on joining this board told us we are "one Nigeria" who rejoices at the pains of your supposed "compatriots." Now you see why people dont take OPPORTUNISTS like you serious?
Posts: 997 | From: Germany | Registered: Mar 2001
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quote:Originally posted by Biafra: I chuckle when I see people who have not visited home for almost 20 years come here to defend obasanjo.
Regina Nobody could top yours my sister, you covered completely how many Igbos and Biafrans feels.
All I asked was a very simple question on where to stay if anyone would be so kind and send a response in, I did not need to be sarcastically insulted by you Biafra, if you have an answer that's pertinent to the question asked then be so kind and provide it, if you haven’t got anything to say with regards to the specific question that I asked then there is no harm in not replying.
This thread should not be turned into a thread on the merits or lack thereof of the Obasanjo Presidency simply on where to stay if by any chance any one knows.
To those who have answered regarding how to comport myself and where to stay thanks I really appreciate it.
Posts: 66 | From: Irvine | Registered: Apr 2001
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posted
Dear all, I am back from a very wild trip back to Nigeria and the East Africa, all I can say right now is its good to be back.
From when I was last there in 1986 it has changed considerably. As soon as I got to the airport custom's even though all I had where my clothes and some presents for relatives customs started, Oga I want to drink tea now where is my present (I could sarcastically have answered but all I wanted to do was get out of the airport.
Lagos is dirty, terribly dirty, painfully dirty, and so dirty it hurts your spirit and your very being just by looking at the dirt.
When we got to Lagos there was a strike about the price of fuel, thus what everyone did in terms of their refuse was to take it to the high street i.e. on the Lagos- Abeokuta expressway (a major road) and place their rubbish there.
The effect of this was a dual carriage road now became a very uncomfortable single lane on both sides with rubbish everywhere just imagine the stench.
I will brief you more later
Posts: 66 | From: Irvine | Registered: Apr 2001
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posted
Bababoyz: Whether Wale is a Nigerian or Biafran is irrevant. One thing is clear, reading from his post above he didn't sound like a proud Nigerian either.
Wale: Welcome back! While we wait to your complete story from home, I will use this opportunity to repost the mail i posted to the "Gist from Home" section of this board when I returned from Nigeria about two years ago (dated 8th July 2001).
Just read it and tell us if much has changed between 2001 and 2003:
__________________________________________________ Bros & Sis, Let me start by thanking all of you who have kept this board running with your insightful post for and against. I feel grat to see how this board which some thought will vanish sooner than later is growing both in membership and Features. Keep the good work going mr. Administrator, more grease to your palm Onlike other travellers, I am a what can be discribed as a discerning traveller, by this I mean if it requires goeing on foot, I will do; if it's on bike, I will ride; ion verhicle, I will drive or be driven and if happens that one need to fly, I will sure do that.What I am trying to say is that I am not one of those when they travel to such poor places like BiafraNigeria, they insist on be chauffer-driven, hence, they end up not being part of the environment they visit or live. I discovered that the safest and cheapest way to enjoy your stay in BiafraNigeria is one to go "local", both in dressing and in eating as soon as one arrives there. INFRASTRUCTUE: From Lagos to Calabar and from Calabar to Sokoto, Nigeria is a country in tatters infratructure-wise, like is always the case, the most affected part is Igboland, there, there is virtually no evidence of the so-called "democracy divident." From the death-traps that goes for road to the non-functioning telephone lines to the completely brocken-down energy supply (electricity), etc, one counld't help than to ask "what are the Igbos still doing in Nigeria?". The abandonment is to say the least inhuman.
ECONOMY: Except for survival through buy-and-sell pervalent in most BiaNigerian "cities", theres just nothing to talk about the economy of the "giat of Africa". The Seaports are congested because the Nigeria Customs insist on discharging every container that arrives BiafraNigeria, and after that is done, the Customs them dis out custom tarrifs which make some importers to abandone their containers at the Warf for those greedy officers to later sell and bank in their private accounts and the most affected are the Igbos who happen to be majority of the importers - another war on Igbos ofcourse. The good news is that most of the shoes and cloths worn in BiafraNigeria is either made in Aba or Onitsha. Were Nigeria to have purposeful leaders they would have encouraged those manufacturing these products so that the can compete or surpass the Italians and other western countries that earn their foreign exchange from this sector of their economy. Though Nigeria is the sixth oil exporter in the world, there is accute scarcity of petrol (gasoline) and allied products throughout BiafraNigeria. Unfortunately, the places I saw the longest queue of vehicles waiting some for days and weeks at petrol stations to buy petrol are in the "oil producing" Delta towns of Port-Harcourt (Rivers State), Ikot-Ekpene and Uyo (Akwa Ibom), Calabar (Cross Rivers State), Asaba and Umunede (Delta state) and Benin-city (Edo State). Ironically, when I visited the northern towns o Abuja, Kubwa, near Abuja, Minna and Suleija (Niger State), the queues at the petrol stations were shorter. A "one Nigerian" Igbo friend of mine who accompanied me to northern Nigeria almost came to shedding tears when she saw the wide, well-tared roads from Suleja to Minna and from Abuja through Ibadan to Lagos, ever since then, she has started re-thinking her "one Nigeria."
POLITICS: The news going arround is that Orji Kalu, the Abia State governor has been "ordained" by the anti-Obasanjo forces, e.g. Babangida to take a shot at the presidency come 2003. That is why he is now against MASSOB, unfortunately for him (Orji Kalu), MASSOB, unlike Ohaneze enjoys grassroot support especially in Aba and Umuahia (Abia State) and most of Igboland, therefor, me think he is starting a battle he will surely lose. In return, as it is reported, Obasanjo has bribed Jim Nwobodo and Anyim the Senate president to re-launch his sagging acceptance in Igboland, from what I read and saw, Jim Nwobodo & Co will find that it's easier for a camel to pass through a neddle than for Obasanjo to win a free and fair election in Igboland come 2003 (that is if the election will hold in Igboland atall). From all indications and as agreed by most BiafraNigeria political watchers and pundits, the battle for who rules BiafraNigeria will be fought, won and lost in Igboland.
SECURITY: If you are visiting Nigeria please stay clear from Lagos because that city has been taken over by dare-devil armed robbers, now they rob and drive their loot and victims in motorcades, that is the level of their sophistry, unfortunately, the Nigerian Police has all but given up, hence, Tinubu's desire to have the OPC in Lagos, which in the long term will not urgur well for non-yorubas living in there. From my experience, the safest place to live free from armed gangs in BiafraNigeria thanks to Bakassi Boys is in Aba and some northern towns, Enugu and Port-Harcourt which used to be "safe heavens" is presently no-go areas because the robbers driven out of Aba and Onitsha by Bakassi Boys have re-located to those towns. A visit to some french-speaking west and central African "small" neigbouring countries will convince an unbiased observer that Nigeria is a primitive and stone-dead "giant of Africa." __________________________________________________
Correct me if I am wrong when I made the following observation about Nigeria of 2001: "A VISIT TO SOME SMALL FRENCH-SPEAKING WEST AND CENTRAL (you can compare with the east African country you visited) WILL CONVINCE AN UNBIASED OBSERVER THAT NIGERIA IS A PRIMITIVE AND STONE-DEAD GIANT OF AFRICA."
After comparing and contrasting, you will know why the Nwa Aros on this board despise your kinsman in Aso Rock and his gang of robbers throuthout Nigeria.
As for the day-dreaming, confused jokers and tribal biggots like Addy, Kunle, Bababoyz and co who think they can fool everyone as they fool themselves by making Nigeria under Obasanjo look as though it is different or better than it was under the Abachas and those before them, I say let them continue enjoying their macabre dance from their comfort in the west.
A VISIT TO EVEN THEIR YORUBA AREA OF NIGERIA WILL TELL THEM THAT THEY HAVE ALL ALONG BEEN LIVING IN FOOLS-PARADISE.
Posts: 997 | From: Germany | Registered: Mar 2001
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posted
Thanks Dave unfortunalty, I did not have time to visit the east or any other part of Nigeria.
Whilst in Lagos with the strike on my nerves were continually frayed.
In terms of the infrastructure I will be honest to say from my observation things seemed to be left to rot once built.
The houses I passed from the Airport to Agege all needed new coats of paint, from Ikeja to Oshodi Mushim Surulere all had terrible roads with pot holes and houses that needed considerable renovation.
Roads that were once tarred no longer had the asphalt on them it had been eroded with rain and not replaced.
Moving from the state of the crumbling infrastructure to the everyday person, they seem to be coping as best they can under very trying circumstances, a considerable number of people I knew back In Nigeria before I left were now traders of some sort either buying duty free gifts from Dubai and bringing them back to see in Nigeria, or they actually had shops or stores where they were selling their wares, undoubtedly they were not happy about not have decent jobs with major companies but were just determined to not let the unavailability of these jobs prevent them from striving on in life. And in certain cases they were doing extremely well, some had well built cyber cafes others had mini super markets.
In terms of Nepa for the first 3 days that I was there I will give them 20 % as we had sporadic light maybe 3-4 hours a day, for the last 3 days I was there I will give them 90 % as the light did not go off once,
We were meant to leave Nigeria on Monday July 7th, I woke up and my Brother pointed out smoke to me in the Horizon and said Wale you will not be traveling today, He and I made our way to the major road to see where smoke was coming from, as soon as we got there a great mass of people were in front, they had taken over the expressway and where smashing anyone windscreens who dares pass by (they were protesting the hike in fuel price). Thus the buses where not going anywhere nor where private individuals, these youths had taken over the highway plus the major bus garages and had managed to bring Lagos to a standstill.
The Authorities where not happy about this and sent some scouting helicopters to the scene, by about 12.00 noon the helicopters about 3 were back and they were shooting live bullets and tear gas at the rioters from their vantage point, inevitably there were casualties I believe about 8 died, but what I had not want to happen did, I was stuck in Nigeria with my Wife who is not from there and my son, so nerves were very frayed. At about 2 .00 pm my brother ask me to accompany him to the same high road to see if the rioters were still there, we got onto it and walked for about a mile there was no one on the road anymore not a car not a bus, not a person so he said we will try later and change the ticket to the following day, by about 6 .00 pm we went to the Airport the roads were still relatively light but some people were up and about, we had our tickets changed to leave on Tuesday and went back home.
My Mother said we would wake up very earlier before the trouble makers do and we did we woke up at 5.00 AM and got to the airport at 6.00 AM for a 5.00 pm flight.
Murtala Muhammed Airport seems to be an official beggars paradise
The airport attendants were another story, the man who guides you to your airline ticket counter wants to drink tea (asking for money) the counter attendant who give you your boarding pass but says she cant put myself Wife and child together in the same row even though the flight is half empty wants to drink tea and then the almighty customs officers want to drink tea as well because I brought two small statues and I might want to sell it so I have to pay him some stupid tax.
Then when you are asked to view your luggage before it goes into the plane the young attendant wants to drink tea as well or your load may find its way to Kinshasa.
Any way our plane took off, and I left sadder than when I went in which is such a shame they is some much potential.
Posts: 66 | From: Irvine | Registered: Apr 2001
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Welcome back. Now, you see what BiafraNigeria became after 4-years of Obasanjo, and more of the reasons that Biafrans want out of the wrecked ship. Those people who work at those airports do not see BiafraNigeria as a nation, certainly not a nation that they owe any duty of loyalty or honest service. The situation would be different if the Yoruba workers at Murtala Muhamed Airport believed they were working for a nation of their own, a Yoruba nation. Then, they would not be demanding "tea" from you unless it is of the same brew that Moshood Abiola drank in 1998. In that case, your response would be "ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT THE TEA?"
There are all sorts of ways to package that type of "tea" when the little crook demanding the "tea" is your fellow Igbo, Yoruba, or Hausa working for Biafra, Odua Republic, or Arewa Sharia Nation. He knows that the Nigeria cover will be blown and you know the way to his village, and therefore you could be visiting to make sure that he actually drinks the "tea." There is a very good reason that no Igbo man has ever demanded "tea" from me in Owere or Enugwu, but he might not hesitate to do so in Lagos and Abuja.
___________________ No Biafran will be permitted to play Mother Theresa to the Yoruba and Hausa-Fulani, but play Osama Bin Laden to the Igbo or Biafrans! Posts: 1182 | Registered: Mar 2001
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Welcome back friend. Glad to hear you made it back in one piece. I hope your young family was'nt too disappointed and that both they, and your family back home are all doing great.
Damian said it all about our Biafra9ja as am sure you would probably agree if you gave it great thought.
Its a pity that now that Kema Chikwe has left, that the employees have reverted back to asking for "tea". It only goes to show that while she may have had a cosmetic impact on such matters, she did not make any, and I repeat any structural and lasting impact that would assure at least a foundation to continuity.
When I was there they did not openly do so, yet like you I felt the looming sense that my baggage might take a walk or that my relatives would not be allowed to come through the crowd beyond to recieve me, so I shelled out the tips in the smallest denomination I had ($20.00)
Why must we always settle for this? This is the question we must ask ourselves.
We want somehow to be useful in the place we call home and of which we have fond memories. The "better tomorrow" of which our forbearers planned for us when they invested and wished us a safe trip "abroad" is certainly not this?.
The pride of heritage which gives us all a well disposed sense of being in our foreign places of abode has certaily not come to this?.
The contributions which our generation must make (despite difficulties) to raise Phoenix from the ashes certainly cannot be said to be for this?:
A misguided cesspool of a geographical expression of which the more we wait for something to be done, the more those with ill intent continue to define us out of our role in the reshaping of our only inheritance.
If in a supposed democratic dispensation the kind of disintegration of aspiration and values as you saw evident is happening, is'nt it time we dissolved that entity amicably in order to redeem some, all, or even more of its environs for the preferred long term?
This what for Igbos the quest for Biafra is all about.
___________________ YA CAIN'T KEEP A GOOD MAN DOWN :) Posts: 1182 | From: TEXAS | Registered: Oct 2001
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