Nigeria

Nigeria, officially named the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa and the most populous country in Africa. Nigeria shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in the north. Its coast lies on the Gulf of Guinea in the south. Since 1991, its capital has been the centrally-located city of Abuja; previously, the Nigerian government was headquartered in the coastal city Lagos.

Nigeria has many natural landmarks and wildlife reserves. Protected areas such as Cross River National Park and Yankari National Park have waterfalls, dense rainforest, savanna and rare primate habitats.

My Trip

• 2002 April 07 to December 07 (8 Months): I went to Nigeria from my company in Kochi, Kerala for customising and implementing our software package at the client site. I stayed there for eight months to complete the project and these are the collection of emails I sent to my friends and family members during this period.

Visited Places/Attractions

• Lagos (Victoria Island)
• Okomu (Oil Palm Plantation)
• Benin City (Town)
• Abraka (Spring waters)

Mails From Okomu

1. The Trip to Nigeria

2002 April 14, Sunday

Hi All,

On 2002 April 07, Sunday, I started my trip to Nigeria from Cochin Airport with my Project Manager, to implement our Software Package at the client company. We will join a team of three programmers, who have been sent to Nigeria some months before.

I'll start from Cochin... Thanks to my friends...they gave me a good company to the Airport. The flight in Jet Airways from Cochin to Bombay was nice. I missed the window side seat, and my co-passenger was an old foriegn lady who kept mum till the aircraft landed there at evening. We were taken to a Three Star Hotel arranged by Ethiopian Airlines at Marol. We got enough time to roam around through the Marol gullies and had a wonderful stay.

On 2002 April 08, Monday, went to the Airport at early morning and boarded the Ethiopian Airlines to Addis Ababa(Capital of Ethiopia). It looked very good, and the Ethiopian Airhostesses were beautiful and friendly. But they said a firm NO to my request for a Cockpit visit asking why do you want to hijack our plane. They explained that after those Septemebr 11 terrors, none of the airlines are allowing the passengers to visit the cockpit. My copassenger was an Hindi waala and he started speaking in Hindi. For Name, Destination and all I replied comfortably in Hindi. Then he started telling big big things which I could not understand at all. But I made him feel allright by saying 'Achaa' frequently and laughing in double when he starts laughing.

When every one started sleeping, I spent time walking through the aisles and watching the scenes outside. It was wonderful to see the white scattered clouds floating below us and their shadows over the beautiful landscapes of African Continent. Since the sky was very clear, I could see the water canals and lakes between the huge mountains. As the Aircraft started descending, the panoramic view of Addis Ababa filled my eyes.

Addis Ababa is a small city, but is a main hub in Africa, as passengers going to other African countries use this as a transit point. The airport was also small one with crowded passengers. A new airport building with state of the art facilities and looks is under construction.

It took exactly Five hours to reach Ethiopia, and we landed at about 3.30 PM, while the local time being 11:15 AM.

Spent some time in the Airport shops and they were crowded with transit passengers. After an hour boarded the next Ethiopian Airlines to Lagos(Nigeria). We were served with a grant lunch and some drink. This time also I was busy enjoying the views through the windows, and the movie showed was also an interesting one. It took 4:45 Hrs to land at Nigeria. It was drizzling outside, and the driver from the client company in Okomu was there to pick us.

Lagos is the main city in Nigeria, and is more populated than the capital city Abuja.

By half an hours drive, we reached our client company's guest house at Victoria Islands, near Lagos. VI is a small island and is connected to the main land by a long bridge. The guest house was a luxurious one and we got separate deluxe rooms. Mr.John welcomed us with drinks and a special kind of fruit, whose name I forgot. Later we had a grant dinner of Macronis with Beef and enjoyed a nice sleep.

On 2002 April 08, Tuesday, after the break fast, we started our trip from Lagos to Okomu by car. Okomu is about 300 km away and it will take more than 3 Hours to reach there.

The streets of Lagos were busy with office going people. The roads were wider and clean. The big hoardings along side displayed the familiar international brands. The only difference was that all the models were blacks. It was interesting to watch that famous mother and kid Johnson & Johnson ad in a different way. The climate was like in Kerala... Sunny sometimes, and cloudy someimes. The landscape also resembled Kerala. Coconut trees and Mango trees were widely seen. The Mango trees were full with ground touching mango bunches.

We reached Okomu at noon and our friends were waiting for us. They accompanied us to the guest house.

I think this is the time to stop, and I'll write more about our guest house stay, people of Okomu, food, entertainments, work and other things in my next mails.

Regards,
Sameer.

2. About Okomu

2002 April 21, Sunday

Hi All,

This time I'll take you to Okomu. This is a small village in the Edo State of Nigeria. And most of the part of this village is occupied by our client. This company is a major Palm Oil producer in Nigeria, and its parent company in Belgium has got many such Plantation based companies all over Africa.

Okomu is a deserted place, far away from major cities. But its a beautiful place, just like our inner Kerala villages, full of greenery, but no hills and rocks. The company compound is a separate world, with all facilities provided inside, and is guarded always by security personnel. Once you enter the Company compound, you are just like a prisoner, trapped inside, but with all facilities. You need special permissions to go out of the company campus. We call this as Heaven in a Prison!

The only place we visit outside is Benin City, capital of Edo State, which is about 60 Kms from Okomu. There our client has got one office and on all Sundays, we used to go there to send mails and to make telephone calls.

The company compound is more than 5000 Hectres, and tall Oil Palms cover most of the area.It takes more than 4 hours to go through all the roads inside, in a car. The Administration Office, and Workshops are in near by Buildings. Then there is Plantation Office and Palm Oil producing Mill, about 2 Kms away. Finally the Management Quarters, and Labours Quarters near to the Office Buildings.

The only crops in Okomu are Oil Palm and Rubber, Palm oil being the major product. The FFB (Fresh Fruit Bunches) collected from Palms are crushed in Mill to produce different grades of Palm oil, and is supplied in Nigeria only.

We are working in Administrative Office Buildings and are staying in a Guest House in the Management Quarters. It takes only 5 minutes drive to reach office from house.

Thats all about the company and its setup.

And now about the people here... Most of the Managers are Europeans who are getting paid directly from parent company in Dollars. All others are Nigerians, and there are about 4000 employees here, including casual workers who go for harvesting. There are more than 300 dialects in Nigeria, but most of the Nigerians speak English very well. So making friends is very easy. There are lots of guys and gals of our age, joined recently as Industrial Trainees. People in Nigeria are incredibly friendly and cheerful. They love a laugh and have a great sense of fun. They are verymuch willing to help others, sometimes even at great inconvenince to themselves.

Imagine a situation...you are meeting two guys here, and introduced yourself. Now its their turn, and one says 'Iam Friday Sunday' while the other says 'Iam Sunday Friday'. No...they are not crazy, this happens here as the Employees of Okomu has got very strange names. Earlier, while we were developing the different modules from our office in India, we used to wonder by seeing such names in the database. Now I've got a chance to know the secrets behind these names. One was like this...'I born on Friday, and my father on Sunday, so my name is Friday Sunday!'. Its as simple as that....! Other names goes like this...Firday Happiness,Friday Blessing,Saturday Green,Sunday Love,...!!!!!

One day, I noticed a lady in the office who looked like an Indian, with long black hairs. But next week, the same lady appeared with a different look, and now the hair was curly, short and brown. Then my friends explained me about this..Most of the ladies here use attachments on their head to cover their original short curly hair. They look just like original hair, but are made up of synthetic materials!

Thats all in this mail... I shall write more in next ones..

Regards,
Sameer.

3. African Food

2002 April 28, Sunday

Hi All,

Talking about food is always interesting...and when its about African food, it will be more interesting.

When I was asked to go to Nigeria from my office, I tried to gather as much information as possible from many sources. There was one guy in our office who had spent some days at Okomu, many months before. When asked about the food he said 'The worst food I had ever had!'. Then I sent mails to the guys who were staying at Okomu. They replied like this: 'Food is adjustable; Bring enough masala powders and dont forget to take some Pudin Hara tablets to save your stomach!'

So I was little worried about the food, and I carried enough masala powders, pickles and ofcourse Pudin Hara Tablets.

Tapioca and Yam (Kaachil in Malayalam) are the main food of Nigerians. Here they get very big ones of them. They eat them with any kind of meat, bush meat being the favourite. They can eat any animals and they cook them without using any spices.

One Day, while we were returning from our office to guest house, we saw a big snake trying to cross the road. Our driver Francis hit it with the car and killed it on the spot. He wanted to keep it inside the car to cook it later at his home. But we refused and asked hime to take it later. When we asked him 'Do you eat snakes?' he said smiling 'Yaa..its very sweet!'. For him everything was sweet! 'We also eat big rats and snails.. They are very sweet!'. We were really surprised to see a big shell of snail, which Francis keeps in his car. It was unbelievable for us when he said that, such big snails are avialble in plenty all over here and they live on trees not in water. With snakes they used to make soup or fry.

There are two cooks in our guest house kitchen. The head cook Mr.Thimothi and Mr.Kenris as assitant. They are preparing food for all the guest house inmates. Now besides we five Indians, there are some Europians and Nigerians, who all have their own tastes. So the cooks have a tough time. Some of my colleagues have been here since last 9 months. Earlier, the cooks were totally unaware of Indian tastes, and those first guys had to suffer a lot. They used to serve them half boiled big potatos and non spicy meat as main food. Now the cooks have learned to make rice and curries. So Iam lucky to have a wonderful menu these days.

First the break fast..It will be Corn Flakes and Toasted Bread with Butter or Jam. Then instead of ready tea, they will bring hot water, sugar, milk and tea powder. Since I'am not good at making tea, I keep on trying different quantity combinations, thus enjoying different tastes of tea every day.

Breakfast seemed allright during the first days. But when you eat the same thing every morning, you will naturally feel boring. But there was no way other than just thinking of those Masala Dosas, Puttu, Appam and other Kerala varities while eating the bread.

Lunch is also fine. Usually we take rice in different varities like Tomato rice, or Fried rice. Then there will be fish or chicken or beef sticks besides a vegetable curry and salad. The only problem I faced was the difficulty to get a small piece out of that big fried fish using knife and fork. when I mentioned the other guys, that the food is good, they all laughed and said: "Once the Masala Powders and spices you have brought from India gets finished, you'll know the real African tastes!'. It was true and to get pickles or masala powders we've to wait until someone visits us from our office. Here its available at Lagos, which is 300 KMs away.

For dinner, they used to serve us potato finger chips, noodles, yam or tapioca. And there will be some non veg items also.

The cooks used to prepare bush meat(antelopes or rabbits) along with typical nigerian dishes using yam and tapioca, for the other nigerian inmates. Whenever I get a chance, I used to taste it, but its not that tasty as they dont use any spices.

Kitchen is ours on all Sundays. We used to make chappathis and pooris with vegetable sabji or chicken masala. And there is one French guy in our guest house who is very much interested in Indian food. On all sundays, he'll join us and finishes off the pooris in minutes.

We will get chances to taste other varieties of food during Party days. Here all are party people and there will be atleast one party in a month. It will be arranged in the club house, and everyone used to come with their own dishes. We take pooris or noodles, which everyone will enjoy provided the curry is less spicy and hot. There is one lady from Indonesia who used to make very good dishes. Once during a party, she served me one item and said : 'This is Casava leaves and is good for health'. I took it but it tasted bitter. Since everyone was around, somehow I finished it. Later my friends told me that its the Tapioca leaves and they call it as Casava!

Since Lulu wanted to learn Indian cooking, last Sunday we conducted a combined party at her house. Some of my friends are very good in cooking and my job is limited to stirring the curry or frying the pooris. We made rice, chicken masala, chappathi, noodles, alu mutter and semiya payasam. It was a grant one. We all had our dinner in banana leaves and Lulu recorded the scenes in her handy cam saying that its a rare sight to see her husband (who is a British) having food using hands instead of fork and knife. Their two year old kid was busy enjoying the Payasam.

So thats all folks..Hope I had covered all the aspects regarding food.

Regards,
Sameer.

4. The Benin City and Language

2002 May 12, Sunday

Hi All,

I have many more things to tell you about the Benin City and its people. Think of a motor cycle used as a public taxi and carries more than 5 persons together. It's called Okada here.

Then about the Benin Language. It is intersting... see some words

Ekpen=Leopard
Erha=Father
Esu=Devil
Ewedo=Prison
Oba=King or Ruler
Obido=Personal Assistant

I was introduced to the game of golf from here. I have a lot to tell about it and about the people I am interacting always with.

And about the recreational facilities here including swimming pool, club house, Tennis Court, Table Tennis, etc.

Abraka is a beutiful tourist spot built around a stunning river. We had a great trip to this place.

I have details about all these in my hard copy diary and will update it here once I get enough free time.

Regards,
Sameer.