When I meet new people in Nigeria one of the fist questions I try to ask them is if they could change one thing about the country what would it be. The answer is always resoundingly the same thing: fix the corruption.

Over the years billions of dollars has been transferred to Nigeria through loans from the IMF and the World Bank. These loans are meant to be for the common citizen but in talking with them they see none of the money. Instead what the common citizens see is a few people at the top who put billions of dollars into their own pockets and become untouchable here since they have so much cash.

The last three heads of police are all being investigated for corruption. It is pretty hard for the government to charge them with anything since the head of police was hired to fix the elections so people could get in power. How can you bite the hand that knows all of your secrets!

The great story I heard was of ballot boxes being stolen in elections and then allowed to be submitted and counted a couple hours later. What exactly do the election officials think one does with a stolen ballot box??? Check out this story to see what Amnesty International thinks about the situation:

http://thereport.amnesty.org/eng/regions/africa/nigeria

Or another story has the government giving favorable contracts and then getting kick backs off shore so that it can’t be traced here in Nigeria. And you wonder why Nigeria gets such a bad reputation in the world. This is the link to the most recent bribe case:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/04/business/04bribe.html?_r=1&ref=africa

The big problem for the average Nigerian is that this corruption is keeping them in the poverty trap. They can’t get enough assets put together to start saving and improving their education. At least if the government was truly trying to help the people and not themselves the citizens here would have a better chance of moving towards prosperity.

As if the pot holes the size of cars were not enough to keep things at a crawl when driving in Nigeria, add to that having to stop and talk to the police every 5 minutes!!

This would generally give you a sense of peace they are police officers after all! Here in Nigeria though it is a different story all together. As I have been told I can do anything I want here, after all if I have money freedom is just a bribe away!

At least the road blocks have a method for dealing with these things. A line up of the people who don’t want to pay slows thing down while a second much faster line with people hanging money out the window zips past. The general toll: 20 Naira or around 15 cents! We are lucky since we travel with a policeman that we don’t get stopped but the openness about the bribes is just amazing to see.

So far I have not had to pay any bribes. A little bit of charm and getting them to laugh is my first approach and if that doesn’t work then I throw a fit and yell at them. As a white person they are still a little fearful of me.

I don’t really know what is worse that the police all are looking for bribes here or that the fact that I am white and there is still racism here to make them scared of me gets me off from having to pay.

Here is a report going on from the BBC about the safety here in Nigeria. Enubu the city they are taken from is where I fly out in and out of and around 40 minutes from the house I am staying at.

Mom, you shouldn’t read these!!!

On Patrol With Nigerian Police

Nigeria’s Vigilantes

So my first week in class came with a few distractions from the students. Talking with the other lecturers about it they told me that I had to lay down the law. So from this came our new rules for engagement:

Our classroom manifesto:

Class starts promptly at the scheduled time.
No latecomers to class will be permitted, this includes latecomers from breaks.
If you are late please join the class during one of the breaks.
If your phone rings during class you will be asked to leave and not return until a class break occurs.
No listening to music during class.
No yelling or being disrespectful to your lecturer or classmates at any time.
No mid class interruptions from guests.
This page will act as the attendance for this class.

Failure to abide by any of the above will result in being asked to leave the class.

If you agree to the above please place your name, registration number and signature below.

Name Registration Signature

Out with the Sheriffs badge to get some structure in the class!!!

So I wanted to leave the school last week and go down to an internet café to post a blog when I was casually informed that I was not allowed to leave the university. It turns out that there was an armed bank robbery just down the street. Sadly the robbery resulted in the loss of life.

Robberies, violence and corruption are all part of life here in Nigeria. The robberies are infrequent and the violence is mostly focused in the Delta region by the oil companies then it is where I am staying. That being said it is still always here in the background. As much as I would love to have full days to be productive here I am limited due to the curfew that has been imposed on me for my own protection. I can’t be out any later then 6 pm. It is for my own good they tell me.

Not listening to rules, as usual, I stayed at an internet café until 8 pm the other day and I was getting phone calls from people worried for my safety. Getting ready to leave we unlocked the door to the café yet still having a couple of minutes before we would actually go the owner promptly locked the door again saying that it wasn’t safe. The door comes with a sliding peep hole just like in the movies.

I really look at it like everywhere else I have travelled. If I keep my eyes open and don’t do anything that stupid then I am sure I will be fine. Here I just have to be prudent and keep my eyes open more then usual.

It is getting close to 6

When I first arrived I was spending the bulk of my time with Peter the school registrar. Here the school registrar runs all the non academic parts of the school as well as looks after students acceptance into programs. To put it another way; Peter is way to busy to baby sit me!

Nothing like a few peeps to make the adventure here a little more interesting!

Tansian University has around 1,000 students who study across 17 different disciplines. The Pro-Chancellor or head of the school is a gentleman named Father Bosco who is about as nice as anyone can get.

I guess human nature is not that different wherever you go….

Back at home I am trying to increase my productivity. I want to become more efficient and accomplish more so I am scheduling my day into 15 minute intervals. It is anal, I know! Life in African happens to be the complete opposite of that, here I am getting a crash course in AFT: African Flexible Time!

I figured this would be a concern before I arrived but I just didn’t realize to what extent it takes effect here. It is one thing to be late; it is another thing to just be in no rush to get anything done at all! This morning the people I was travelling with didn’t even start getting ready until we were already a half hour late!

This morning was fine compared to how a number of people here have to real care about accomplishing things. Here it seems that something can always wait until tomorrow. If they say it will take 10 minutes to get something done, it may take an hour if it gets done at all.

At home I live right in the middle of town. I don’t need a car since I live a 10 minute walk from everything. Just one more way to remind myself that I am not at home… they have me living out in the middle of no where here! I am in an area that is about as rural as it gets.

At least the house comes with 15 other people living here (all guys), an outdoor kitchen (a fire pit in the back), and great sleeping quarters (a bed with mosquito netting). They have an air conditioner in the room but unfortunately the generator doesn’t produce enough energy to run it most nights. It is so hot here that at night I sleep with the windows open trying to get as much of a breeze as possible, the bare essentials for clothing, and that is it! No sheet, nothing else… and I still sweat!

When I first came here I thought I would be staying at the university itself but apparently the school thought it would be safer for me in no-mans land where people can’t find me! At least the rooster outside my window can scare people away if they come for me.

HOT… I mean, instant sweating hot!

At home if I get sweaty I want to instantly run for the showers. Here in Nigeria I just have to accept it as a way of life! I look like I took a shower with my clothes on every day.

My flight into Nigeria landed in Abuja, and besides the heat when we took a car to the Canadian embassy I really was wondering why I had come. Abuja is a fairly modern city with wide streets that are clean, street lights and organized traffic. The locals joke that it is safe enough to sleep on the side walks if they would let you!

I had come to Nigeria to help out those in need and this was not it! Coming to Onitsha I got what I was asking for and I got it in heaps! Hot, dirty, stinky, garbage everywhere, roads with potholes so big you can get lost in them, cars everywhere, abandoned hunks of what once were vehicles lying about… Onitsha is the heart of a people trying to fight tooth and nail to survive!

At the Canadian Embassy in Abuja to my delight they didn’t give me that big of a lecture on the ‘no non-essential travel’ warning that the foreign affairs office gives. As long as I stay out of the Delta everything should be fine. Oh and stick close to your escorts and hire and make sure you have an armed guard just to be safe!

Ahhh…. Those are words to my ears! Just another day in paradise….

‘My biggest worry isn’t that you die, it is that you get kidnapped!’ How does one react to that statement?

The funny part is that I actually understand why that would be the case. If I died here in Nigeria people could get over it, it would suck, but people could get on with life. If I got kidnapped who knows what would happen. The uncertainty would be the real hard part. It is probably easier for me then the people around me who care for me.

I like the adventure and get the enjoyment out of it; my loved ones only get the worry. So before I went away it was the people around me who had the biggest concerns. There is nothing like getting your will in order, arranging a line of credit in case you do get kidnapped, and assuring people that some day you will settle down and be ‘responsible’ towards a family to put things in perspective.

‘Stay home, but if you don’t go I will kill you!’ That was the other comment that reassured me that though it may stress some people out, it is only because they love me. I know in their hearts they understand, and when I come home safely it will be all the better for everyone. And it will make it easier the next time I go.

I also know that they understand that I go to because I love them and I want the world to be better for them and every one in it.