Business trip to Nigeria

A little while ago I posted a request for advice concerning a business
trip to Nigeria. Frankly speaking, I was ****ting my pants having
heard all manner of appalling stories, so it was with a little
trepidation that I finally boarded the plane to Port Harcourt.

In fact everything worked out fine, and I'd like to thank the people
who told me to relax and not worry so much, especially Pat Anderson.
Of course I was looked after by my employer, so the exposure to danger
was pretty minimal, but as it was my first trip to Africa I was really
impressed by the sights - not nice tourist sights, but a vision of a
life 180 degrees different from mine.

Port Harcourt is, to a rough approximation, a slum. A slum filled with
people and traffic to bursting point, with streets lined with every
possible type of business from food sellers to barbers to shoe stalls
to churches. I have no idea if it would be safe to walk around the
streets, or if that would be sudden death - in fact my employer
wouldn't permit me to get out of the bus. Also I wasn't sure what the
local reaction would be to taking photos, so I just was able to grab
some surreptitious shots through the window of the bus. I'd welcome
further advice on these points. I'd also like to know what people do
as far as malaria protection is concerned - I took Atavaquone (?) but
I've experienced side effects and I wonder if people really take such
stuff over the long term.

I was careful with what I ate and drank, and had no tummy bugs - but
on the return flight I consumed to excess and now have the ****s in
consequence!

cheers,

J;

In message , Jeremy
writes
A little while ago I posted a request for advice concerning a business
trip to Nigeria. Frankly speaking, I was ****ting my pants having
heard all manner of appalling stories, so it was with a little
trepidation that I finally boarded the plane to Port Harcourt.

In fact everything worked out fine, and I'd like to thank the people
who told me to relax and not worry so much, especially Pat Anderson.
Of course I was looked after by my employer, so the exposure to danger
was pretty minimal, but as it was my first trip to Africa I was really
impressed by the sights - not nice tourist sights, but a vision of a
life 180 degrees different from mine.

Port Harcourt is, to a rough approximation, a slum. A slum filled with
people and traffic to bursting point, with streets lined with every
possible type of business from food sellers to barbers to shoe stalls
to churches. I have no idea if it would be safe to walk around the
streets, or if that would be sudden death - in fact my employer
wouldn't permit me to get out of the bus. Also I wasn't sure what the
local reaction would be to taking photos, so I just was able to grab
some surreptitious shots through the window of the bus. I'd welcome
further advice on these points. I'd also like to know what people do
as far as malaria protection is concerned - I took Atavaquone (?) but
I've experienced side effects and I wonder if people really take such
stuff over the long term.

I was careful with what I ate and drank, and had no tummy bugs - but
on the return flight I consumed to excess and now have the ****s in
consequence!

cheers,

J;
Dear Jeremy,
Good to know that you arrived back in one piece and that you have given
us some feed back! We want to know more of course, at least I`d be
interested.
Remind us how long you were there for, was it for six months or three
weeks? It`s a while since you told us you were going. It certainly
doesn`t sound as if much has changed there!
I think you could have walked around, preferably with a companion.
Taking photos, as long as they were not of airports or military
installations, would be OK. It is polite to ask people if they mind
being photographed.
We took Paludrine as an anti malarial but different drugs have come
out, so always take advice from the tropical diseases people. My
husband got malaria in PH and was very ill for six weeks. He had been
away from home for two weeks with his work and didn`t have me to remind
him to take his Paludrine, so he forgot one or two tablets. That is All
it takes!
In the long run you still need to keep your eyes open and don`t go
around with a show of wealth but I`m sure you enjoyed the experience.
Cheers!
Pat.
--
Pat Anderson

On Fri, 30 Apr 2004 09:40:52 +0100, Pat Anderson wrote:

In message , Jeremy
writes
A little while ago I posted a request for advice concerning a business
trip to Nigeria. Frankly speaking, I was ****ting my pants having
heard all manner of appalling stories, so it was with a little
trepidation that I finally boarded the plane to Port Harcourt.

In fact everything worked out fine, and I'd like to thank the people
who told me to relax and not worry so much, especially Pat Anderson.

Dear Jeremy,
Good to know that you arrived back in one piece and that you have given
us some feed back! We want to know more of course, at least I`d be
interested.

I was only there for a week, but it was a good experience. The first thing
that struck me, of course, was the heat! We arrived at about 5 in the
morning, and getting off the plane was weird, going from the cold into the
the hot - when I touched the outside of my jacket it was warm as though it
had just been ironed, even though the heat hadn't made it through to my
body yet. I used to live in Houston, so I'm somewhat used to heat and
humidity, but it was still weird.

The airport is pretty run down, but the bags came off very quickly. The
customs people made a half-hearted attempt to shake me down for a bribe
but gave up when I played dumb. We were met by a company representative
who showed us to our ancient bus, and after waiting around for a while -
especially for one of our number who had forgotten his passport at the
customs - we set off. We had an armed police escort in a jeep ahead of us
and a guy riding shotgun with ... err ... a machine gun. They made a hell
of a noise with sirens and horns, just to **** people off I think. We got
to the company camp in about half an hour of high speed driving through
the darkness.

At the camp we had a shower and breakfast - I was pleased to find it was
quite "British" - Weetabix, which was a nice change (I live in France so
we usually just have bread for breakfast!).

The the bus reappeared to take us to the office. It was now daylight, so
this was the first time I'd seen our surroundings. What a contrast from
the nice orderly camp! I was struck by the density of the population, the
density of traffic, and the activity. The road was utterly clogged by cars
and minibuses and motorbike taxis, and among it all people were walking,
or selling stuff - nuts, bananas, drinks, everything. The streets were
lined with tiny shacks housing every kind of business - loads of eating
places, mobile phone shops, shoes, car parts, a shack with piles of paint
tins outside. Of course there was filth everywhere also, but a lot of
people looked very clean and tidy, including immaculately turned out
children walking to school.

Driving is pretty much a contact sport. On a couple of occasions the cop
who was riding with us rolled down his window and beat other drivers on
the head with his stick.

Our trip was rather insulated, as visitors were not allowed out on their
own, but we did visit a small restaurant on one occasion to find that the
menu was fish and chips, chicken and chips, sausage egg beans and chips -
just like Sainsbury's cafeteria.

These comments probably seem pretty naive for readers experience in
travelling in Africa, but this was my first visit there. Just as I was
getting used to it and feeling comfortable - all the people I met (in a
work context, admittedly) were super friendly (and lots of cute girls:-) -
we set off back to the airport. The road was utterly clogged, so our
escort took us the WRONG way up a dual carriageway, sirens blaring,
against the flow of traffic. Africa has some surprises!

J;

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