Nigeria: Day Three
‘We should get our friend a present’ says Greg my boss. He is speaking to Linus our driver about the police man in the middle of the street that guides traffic. He never makes us wait when we show up at the intersection because he knows we come from the Bayshore Suites and are therefore likely to tip him. Linus agrees that it is a good idea to give him a present. After asked by Greg what we should get him, Linus hesitates before saying 1000 Naira. Greg’s mouth opens a bit, and Linus, who thinks he has overstepped his bounds, quickly corrects by saying 500 Naira. I silently chuckle to myself, because I was thinking that he was going to get him something like a teddy bear or an ExxonMobil mouse pad. Greg was thinking correctly though, and told Linus, that 1000 was fine, he just thought we should give him more…
I spent the first two hours of the job today writing about my accounts. I have no problems with that, we end up working ten hours a day anyways so I call it even. Justino, a 70 year old Filipino man who looks 50 and has not intentions of retiring, just came in explaining that there was a major wreck on the way to work today. He nonchalantly explains that some guy got hit by a car, so they moved his dead body to the side of the rode and laid a cloth over him. ‘Life is so precious’ he says before logging in to his computer. This makes me think of the conversation I had with Greg the other day, where he told me the going rate for a human life in Lagos was around $40… maybe life is not that precious.
I just went to the restroom and there was a guy finishing up his business. We’re talking dropping kids off at the pool, not watering the flowers. We made eye contact as I prepared to wash my hands, and I scooted over for this young Nigerian guy to access the other sink. He came up to the mirror, brushed his hair, and then left! No hand washing. Now I hate to stereotype off of one data point, but that was nasty, and I am going to be monitoring cleanliness from now on. Note: I can only cast a small stone; I have been known to not wash my hands occasionally as well, but always after the number two.
Today I decided to go to the cafeteria by myself in hopes of forcing someone to sit and talk with me. The way it works in the Caf, if I did not clarify this yesterday, is people go through and get their food, and then try and find a seat wherever they can. Seats are in high demand, so if you sit by yourself, someone else or a group of others might come and share your table. So I head down and pause in front of the food display table to check out what they are offering. Goat stew for the national dish, and hamburger patties and pasta in gravy for the continental dish. The goat stew looks really good, and as I am mentally preparing myself to order it, I hear ‘Anthony!’ from behind me. I turn around and it is my cube mate Ladun. She comes over and inquires about why they sent me down to the cafeteria all by myself. After insisting that I chose that fate, she asks me what I plan on ordering. I guess my abnormal amount of time in front of the display case alerted her to my difficulty in choosing a dish. So I explain how I tried the food yesterday (to which she was very amazed) but told her that I was not really ready for it and did not finish it all. Then I said I was willing to try again today with the Goad Stew. Surprisingly, she recommended against it saying that it would prove too spicy for me to handle, and that I should get the hamburger patties. Around this time, I notice a very attractive young lady over Ladun’s shoulder, so I quickly agree to get the patties, and move on to the sign in sheet behind mystery woman. I decided that I would get whatever food selection she was getting. But despite my waiting in the middle of the two lines for her to make a choice, she ends up talking with some friends before getting her food. I noticed that her table of friends was full, so I went in line and put my hopes into following her to whatever table she sat at. Naturally, I get my food way before her, so I dilly dally until I see her moving. I guess I was paying too much attention, because I ended up knocking my huge water bottle into my meal. So while I am cleaning up my mess, I see that she has pulled a seat up to the table with her friends. Luckily, Ladun sees me looking around for another table and she waves me over to hers. The whole scene reminded me of the first day of high school. You want to sit with the cool kids but somehow you end up with the nice dorky people.
At the table with Ladun, I had my first real conversation about Nigeria. She told me about the different states, where she was from, how the politics work, the corruption, and what she thinks of the country’s problems. She spent some time in the UK, and I she said something memorable about it: “It’s interesting being in a place where the system works”. I guess I never really thought about it, but we DO come from a system that works. Your basic needs are provided, you have opportunities to accomplish most things, and your future is relatively secure. She was saying that here in Nigeria, the system does not work, and that no one really knows how to fix it. Her thoughts on the solution start with Power. [The following is research results combined with talk with Ladun and my own opinions] Nigeria produces 3500 MW of power. When compared with the 40,000MW of power that South Africa provides for its population roughly one-third the size of Nigeria, you begin to see the problem. Nigeria has for many years suffered from outages and shortages despite its access to natural resources like oil and gas. To reach industrial-nation levels for its population size, it will need roughly 100,000MW of power. Billions of dollars were poured into the power sector over the last couple of years (by the previous administration) but the current administration has discovered that the money was used for anything but power generation. According to Ladun, power generation actually fell during the last administrations revamp efforts. So why is power important? Not in the sense you would think, i.e. lights, cooking, be able to watch TV and get on the internet. Really power is necessary to generate investment in the country. No company will bring its manufacturing plant to Nigeria when it knows it will have plant shutdowns three times a day because of power shortages. Similarly, data and energy intensive industries like banking, chemical, metal plants, mining cannot come in and turn Nigeria into an industrial powerhouse. The people are who ultimately pay for this shortcoming, because instead of being employed by the plethora of companies that are attracted by the cheap and abundant work force, people are finding employment though odd jobs and side hustles. Something like 70 to 90 percent of government funding comes from oil, but if they were able to diversify this mix, total income would increase, and the country’s leverage on resource sharing agreements would greatly improve. But enough about the problem, how do you solve it? I don’t know.
After lunch, I launched on a campaign to find friends, and emailed all the names that I had gathered before arriving here. These were names of Nigerians and African Americans that are here in Lagos who are friends of people that work at Exxon in Houston. The email went something like: I’m new, I am stuck in the hotel, and the white people I work with won’t let me out. Help. So far the response has been overwhelming, almost everyone one of them has agreed to help me out by taking me around or introducing me to the right people. In fact some have even stopped by and introduced themselves already.
We decided to take a different way home today to avoid that terrible hour and a half delay we had yesterday. Instead we got an hour long drive home, due to impromptu road closures, and people turning two way roads into one way roads. But today’s trip was awesome, because we were on a major road this time. It was like driving through a mall, so much stuff was being sold right outside the window. But the rules of street vendors is the same everywhere, don’t make eye contact, and politely wave no thanks. We were specifically targeted because my white boss is in the front seat and we are driving a shiny new car. This may be an inappropriate reference, but the balancing on the head thing is just like National Geographic said it would be. I swear the most amazing, lopsided, huge bundles of stuff are carried on the heads of these street vendors. Trays of peanuts, packages of pants, towers of fabrics, all balanced with ease. It made the ride home pretty awesome. Normally I pride myself in my sense of direction, but I am out of my league here. I cannot tell up from down in these convoluted streets.
After work I went to the gym for the first time, and that was really cool. It’s owned by the same people as the hotel, but it is open to the public. And it is a really good gym. My friend’s last day in country is today, so we went and got some food and drinks. We ended up having a good conversation about black people. It started from watching a soccer game where most of the players were black, despite representing a non-African nation. Why are your people so good at sports type talk? It ended with us coming to the conclusion, that if he really want’s to know what it feels like to be a minority, he should take a full time position (a year or two) in one of these countries we do business in. Being in another culture that you do not identify with is the essence of being a minority, and I think everybody needs that chance.
I spent the first two hours of the job today writing about my accounts. I have no problems with that, we end up working ten hours a day anyways so I call it even. Justino, a 70 year old Filipino man who looks 50 and has not intentions of retiring, just came in explaining that there was a major wreck on the way to work today. He nonchalantly explains that some guy got hit by a car, so they moved his dead body to the side of the rode and laid a cloth over him. ‘Life is so precious’ he says before logging in to his computer. This makes me think of the conversation I had with Greg the other day, where he told me the going rate for a human life in Lagos was around $40… maybe life is not that precious.
I just went to the restroom and there was a guy finishing up his business. We’re talking dropping kids off at the pool, not watering the flowers. We made eye contact as I prepared to wash my hands, and I scooted over for this young Nigerian guy to access the other sink. He came up to the mirror, brushed his hair, and then left! No hand washing. Now I hate to stereotype off of one data point, but that was nasty, and I am going to be monitoring cleanliness from now on. Note: I can only cast a small stone; I have been known to not wash my hands occasionally as well, but always after the number two.
Today I decided to go to the cafeteria by myself in hopes of forcing someone to sit and talk with me. The way it works in the Caf, if I did not clarify this yesterday, is people go through and get their food, and then try and find a seat wherever they can. Seats are in high demand, so if you sit by yourself, someone else or a group of others might come and share your table. So I head down and pause in front of the food display table to check out what they are offering. Goat stew for the national dish, and hamburger patties and pasta in gravy for the continental dish. The goat stew looks really good, and as I am mentally preparing myself to order it, I hear ‘Anthony!’ from behind me. I turn around and it is my cube mate Ladun. She comes over and inquires about why they sent me down to the cafeteria all by myself. After insisting that I chose that fate, she asks me what I plan on ordering. I guess my abnormal amount of time in front of the display case alerted her to my difficulty in choosing a dish. So I explain how I tried the food yesterday (to which she was very amazed) but told her that I was not really ready for it and did not finish it all. Then I said I was willing to try again today with the Goad Stew. Surprisingly, she recommended against it saying that it would prove too spicy for me to handle, and that I should get the hamburger patties. Around this time, I notice a very attractive young lady over Ladun’s shoulder, so I quickly agree to get the patties, and move on to the sign in sheet behind mystery woman. I decided that I would get whatever food selection she was getting. But despite my waiting in the middle of the two lines for her to make a choice, she ends up talking with some friends before getting her food. I noticed that her table of friends was full, so I went in line and put my hopes into following her to whatever table she sat at. Naturally, I get my food way before her, so I dilly dally until I see her moving. I guess I was paying too much attention, because I ended up knocking my huge water bottle into my meal. So while I am cleaning up my mess, I see that she has pulled a seat up to the table with her friends. Luckily, Ladun sees me looking around for another table and she waves me over to hers. The whole scene reminded me of the first day of high school. You want to sit with the cool kids but somehow you end up with the nice dorky people.
At the table with Ladun, I had my first real conversation about Nigeria. She told me about the different states, where she was from, how the politics work, the corruption, and what she thinks of the country’s problems. She spent some time in the UK, and I she said something memorable about it: “It’s interesting being in a place where the system works”. I guess I never really thought about it, but we DO come from a system that works. Your basic needs are provided, you have opportunities to accomplish most things, and your future is relatively secure. She was saying that here in Nigeria, the system does not work, and that no one really knows how to fix it. Her thoughts on the solution start with Power. [The following is research results combined with talk with Ladun and my own opinions] Nigeria produces 3500 MW of power. When compared with the 40,000MW of power that South Africa provides for its population roughly one-third the size of Nigeria, you begin to see the problem. Nigeria has for many years suffered from outages and shortages despite its access to natural resources like oil and gas. To reach industrial-nation levels for its population size, it will need roughly 100,000MW of power. Billions of dollars were poured into the power sector over the last couple of years (by the previous administration) but the current administration has discovered that the money was used for anything but power generation. According to Ladun, power generation actually fell during the last administrations revamp efforts. So why is power important? Not in the sense you would think, i.e. lights, cooking, be able to watch TV and get on the internet. Really power is necessary to generate investment in the country. No company will bring its manufacturing plant to Nigeria when it knows it will have plant shutdowns three times a day because of power shortages. Similarly, data and energy intensive industries like banking, chemical, metal plants, mining cannot come in and turn Nigeria into an industrial powerhouse. The people are who ultimately pay for this shortcoming, because instead of being employed by the plethora of companies that are attracted by the cheap and abundant work force, people are finding employment though odd jobs and side hustles. Something like 70 to 90 percent of government funding comes from oil, but if they were able to diversify this mix, total income would increase, and the country’s leverage on resource sharing agreements would greatly improve. But enough about the problem, how do you solve it? I don’t know.
After lunch, I launched on a campaign to find friends, and emailed all the names that I had gathered before arriving here. These were names of Nigerians and African Americans that are here in Lagos who are friends of people that work at Exxon in Houston. The email went something like: I’m new, I am stuck in the hotel, and the white people I work with won’t let me out. Help. So far the response has been overwhelming, almost everyone one of them has agreed to help me out by taking me around or introducing me to the right people. In fact some have even stopped by and introduced themselves already.
We decided to take a different way home today to avoid that terrible hour and a half delay we had yesterday. Instead we got an hour long drive home, due to impromptu road closures, and people turning two way roads into one way roads. But today’s trip was awesome, because we were on a major road this time. It was like driving through a mall, so much stuff was being sold right outside the window. But the rules of street vendors is the same everywhere, don’t make eye contact, and politely wave no thanks. We were specifically targeted because my white boss is in the front seat and we are driving a shiny new car. This may be an inappropriate reference, but the balancing on the head thing is just like National Geographic said it would be. I swear the most amazing, lopsided, huge bundles of stuff are carried on the heads of these street vendors. Trays of peanuts, packages of pants, towers of fabrics, all balanced with ease. It made the ride home pretty awesome. Normally I pride myself in my sense of direction, but I am out of my league here. I cannot tell up from down in these convoluted streets.
After work I went to the gym for the first time, and that was really cool. It’s owned by the same people as the hotel, but it is open to the public. And it is a really good gym. My friend’s last day in country is today, so we went and got some food and drinks. We ended up having a good conversation about black people. It started from watching a soccer game where most of the players were black, despite representing a non-African nation. Why are your people so good at sports type talk? It ended with us coming to the conclusion, that if he really want’s to know what it feels like to be a minority, he should take a full time position (a year or two) in one of these countries we do business in. Being in another culture that you do not identify with is the essence of being a minority, and I think everybody needs that chance.
posted by Anthony Jackson at 2:42 AM
1 Comments:
These are interesting posts. I'm glad I stopped by.
Sakina
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