Traveling to Abuja in summer 2012 is an experience that will linger in my memory for a
while. This was my first visit to Abuja and I had heard so many stories about
Abuja and the idea that it was comparable to cities in the developed world. So
naturally I was full of expectations on my onward journey to the capital city
of the motherland.
I
jetted off through the Raleigh-Durham International Airport and then through
the renowned John F Kennedy International Airport with a stopover at London
Heathrew Airport. As we approached Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, I
thought about how different the airport would be from Murtala Mohammed Internal
Airport and how I would enter Nigeria without the usual drama. As I left the
aircraft and began entering the immigration area the change of temperature left
me in no doubt that it was the same old country. Nothing changed. No working
air conditioners and a number of pseudo officials with no visible role at the
point of entry. To sum it up the environment was poignant and one got the sense
that touting by government agents was now official. First of all, after the
immigration officer had looked at my passport he passed it to the officer
sitting by his side who quietly told me to go and claim my luggages first and
then come back. I demanded to know why the unusual procedure and he told me
that was the old passport which ceased to be used since the past ten years. Of
course for want of a better word, I will simply state that I was very pissed
because I used same passport to enter and depart Nigeria in 2009 when it was renewed.
This officer who was Igbo and I have forgotten his name was not impressed but I
went ahead to pick my luggages. After I had picked my luggages I then looked
straight at the immigration booth and there was no one there and before I could
utter a word I saw the immigration officer who called me to the side to explain
things. The short of it all, he wanted me to settle the others who according to
him included an SSS officer. I wondered why the reference to the SSS officer
but I later learnt this immigration officer wanted to debunk the notion that
SSS officers were saints. As this was going on I was eagerly looking to see if
my welcome party was around because our aircraft was late in arriving. I told
the officer I only had $10 on me but urged him to be patient so that I could
get some more money from my people and this officer would hear none of that. He
wanted the $10 so that he could get the hell out of there and I obliged. This
transaction took place in the open no shame, no hiding on the part of the
officer.
Anyway
moving on, we drove through Abuja and a long stretch of good roads and my folks
wanted to see if I was really impressed with what I had seen so far. What I
couldn’t understand was the fact that drivers had no regard for stop signs. I
wondered if whoever awarded the contracts for the production of the signs
intended it to be so. “Oga dis na Nigeria o no be America, the driver politely
and joyfully replied”. As I unpacked my luggages when I arrived my destination,
the power went out as if to remind me I had arrived. Within minutes I had
settled to eat my favorite oha soup and my variant of eba ( ground Quaker oats
made like eba). The next day we drove to maitama and I was really impressed with
beautiful edifices such as the ministries of finance, defense, justice and the
central bank. I also went to the High Court and the reception area on the
ground floor was quiet impressive .There was a big screen monitor hanging on
the wall that displayed the court calendar of cases. But when I looked on the
floor I knew right then that all I had been seeing was window dressing. I
proceeded to the office of the commissioner for oaths and it was packed. Both
visitors and customers were almost sharing the same seat as the office was too
small and over congested. I will not talk about other stuff which is typical of
Nigerian officials. There was no air-conditioning and you could get the sense
that these folks were not being properly paid at least going by the unnecessary
courtesies from these employees which was a dignified way of soliciting for cash
handouts. I wanted to use the bathroom or toilet but didn’t know what to
expect. There was just one toilet serving the entire ground floor with many
employees and the general public. For me this was hard to understand because
this toilet did not fit the building at least viewing from outside. My estimate
is that there should be at least two large restrooms for males and females in
different parts of the ground floor with each male room having at least four
commodes or toilet bowls and at least four units of urinary and the female
rooms with at least four toilet bowls. But with this one toilet I wondered if
the building had in house janitorial staff or if the cleaning was contracted
out. But why can’t folks keep their hands off the walls and to themselves? High
rise buildings either had no working elevators or simply no elevators. The next
office I visited was the immigration department which was not anything like the
US equivalent. The hallways were overcrowded and I wondered if all the officers
loitering around had permanent offices. Looking into the offices I found they
were over congested but the building looked great from the outside. Security
was near zero and those that supposedly were responsible for screening visitors
never believed in their job. It was so pathetic and pitiful.
To
be safe on the highways, one needed lots of prayer. The traffic signs and stop
lights were just to please the eyes and deceive foreign nationals. Many of the
roads had pavement markings but drivers generally ignored those and many drove
in two lanes. One agency that was conspicuously absent on the roads was the
Federal Road Safety Corps.This agency seemed to be more concerned with issuing
vehicle papers, license plates, driver licenses than with highway safety. The
equivalent of the federal road safety corps in the United States is the state
highway patrol also known as state troopers or state police. They are not
involved in issuing driver licenses, license plates or certificates of road worthiness.
Their primary responsibility is highway safety and they are state government
agencies and not federal. Highway safety is huge and the FRSC needs to leave
these other distractions. In the past driver licenses, license plates were
state concerns and how the FRSC got involved in these is difficult to justify.
Emergency response on highways is pathetic and laughable in Nigeria and the existence
of the FRSC as a federal agency is just difficult to explain and justify since
the agency pursues a different agenda.
The
organized private sector [OPS] seems to be doing great at least I can report on
a great shopping experience at ShopRite. Shoprite is a South African food chain
that started in 1979 and I don’t know if it has any connection with a similar
US based retail food chain also known as ShopRite that started in 1947 in the
northeastern US. The floor plan made shopping at ShopRite a pleasant experience
because of the convenience it afforded customers. All the isles were well
stocked and the employees were very professional. You would realize that was
Nigeria only when you stepped outside. An evening night out was also a great
experience at local bars. One thing that Nigerians can make better than
Americans is beer whether lager beer or stout beer. These come in different
sizes in Nigeria and truly black is beautiful. The stout produced and bottled
in the US in my opinion is imitation stout. But is Abuja comparable with cities
in developed countries? Abuja is still a far cry from cities in most developed
countries. The absence of a public safety and emergency response system is huge
and will remain scary for foreign businessmen visiting to do business in Abuja.
A
lot of effort seems to have gone into making it difficult for the average
Nigerian to live in Abuja and yet there is nothing in the city to justify the
high cost of living. Those many Nigerians who desire a good and better life
live in the outskirts of Abuja but they live by the day as they are routinely
displaced from their dingy residences each time a land deal is closed. For
Nigeria to make progress and grow something dramatic must happen and going by
what is happening globally only Nigerians can bring the change we need.
