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101 THINGS YOU NEED TO RELOCATE TO NIGERIA
By Felix | March 3, 2008
I have been meaning to share a very interesting article I read from one of the daily’s titled 101 THINGS YOU NEED TO RELOCATE TO NIGERIA, this will especially interest Nigerians in diaspora. Enjoy!
“Don’t worry. A sprouting palm frond pointing skywards never makes it to the sky. It soon would relapse to join its mates.” - Igbo Proverb
The down side of Nigeria. Its economy has predominant characteristics of a third world’s. It is No. 35th on Transparency International’s rating on the list of the world’s most corrupt nations. It used to be No. 1. Thanks to the EFCC and ICPC. NITEL has now completely collapsed. Where NITEL failed, mediocre local independent telephone operators dominated by Indians are carting billions to the banks and their banks in India. NEPA is tottering.
The road networks are in a very, very dilapidated condition. The transportation system in Nigeria is in a big mess. Travel by road in Nigeria has seized to be a thing of joy. By air is expensive and froth with danger of air crash due to the preponderance of molue aircraft in the air. Still, it is expensive. A forty-five-minute flight to Abuja from Lagos costs between twelve and fifteen thousand Naira, ($90-$130) depending on the airline.
Crime is climbing because of joblessness, particularly among young school leavers. Politically motivated pen robbery is still with us. Economically induced robberies are on the rise too. Banks are now robbed in broad day light. You cannot open your favorite daily any morning without reading about a robbery incident here and there. Because it is not an election season, assassinations are on the wane - it looks like.
In spite of all, this is the best time to start thinking of relocating to Nigeria. Nigeria is changing. This is very fast. You begin to notice this at the airports - your first points of entry. The air cooling systems now work most of the time. The conveyor belts work too, most of the times that I have seen. Power systems at the airports fail intermittently but not as they used to do.
The people you meet either at departure lounges or on arrival halls are beginning to imbibe the culture of courtesy. Trolleys, though for hire are now available for the jaded traveler to cart away his luggage. Even the toilets are manned by professionals who say hi to you before use and after. (Sometimes they hide the tissue papers and make you pay for service.) Inside the airports, touting has been kept at bay. There are banks with ATM machines competing for the business of the Nigerian traveler, at most Nigerian airports now. Modern communications gadgets are on display at every nook and cranny displaying wares, arrival and departure times.
Before you relocate, make sure you have the wherewithal to get back to where you are relocating from - just in case. The reasons are too many. But the first you would notice is how far high on the economic ladder your mates have climbed. And as you know, economic progress has a twin brother climbing the same ladder - social mobility. Your contemporaries have moved and they did so slowly but sure-footedly while you were gone. Your mates dine at the most expensive restaurants and drive the latest model cars - not on credit.
Your mates have bought up properties in the choicest areas of the land. Your mates are to be found in, Wuse II, Asokoro and Maitama areas of Abuja. Your mates have occupied the choicest areas of Lagos, particularly the picturesque sites of Lekki, Victoria Garden City - fancifully called the VGC. Of course, your mates now use their Ikoyi and VI previous homes as offices. It is no more fanciful to say I live in Ikoyi or VI. There are new places of abode in the land - from Kaduna to Port Harcourt and from Enugu to Maiduguri, and your mates have taken them up while you were gone.
If you left over ten to twenty years ago and you are planning to be back, know that you have become unemployable. You have to be self-employed for a long while. Be sure you have enough resources to keep you going through the period it would take you to re-acquaint yourself with your “former” home. Things have really changed - changed for good for those who did not jet out and somehow changed for bad for those of us who took the next plane and left the country.
In Nigeria, your mates in the public and private sectors of the economy, particularly the banking and oil industry, have become highly placed. Most earn the equivalent of between 200,000 and 300,000 dollars a year plus other incentives to wit. There was an advert recently placed in one of the papers for a job opening which warned those not earning twenty million Naira and above, per annum, in their present job not to apply. Most have built their own houses in Nigeria. Most have more than two cars in their drive way. Most live in homes that smack of opulence, with every modern gadget ranging from large sized Plasma TVs to Microwaves.
Most have genuinely saved enough to send their children to some of the best educational institutions overseas, including to the Ivy Leagues. Most are share holders in most of the emerging markets that have been liberalized during the eight boom years (and counting) which we that left, have missed. Most of them have savings in liquid cash that run into tens of millions. Most have invested in the now, very lucrative Nigeria stock market. You would marvel when you have a snippet of what amount of shares your mates now hold. You would shiver in self pity.
If your mates joined politics, they have occupied the choicest of political positions in the land and made new friends that will be hard to dislodge. If you happen to have showed off to them in your hey days of “returning” from America, be rest assured they have not forgotten. They call us mercenaries in politics. It is now their turn to show you, that you can’t have it both ways. They have built a barricade and insulated themselves from outside interests - you the returnee being an outside interest that must be dreaded. If you have real or passing interest in politics, you must show it with extreme caution. They would like to invite you to political meetings and discussion only to put you to size… culled from one of the daily’s
… to be continued
Topics: nigeria |
March 4th, 2008 at 11:58 am
Correct. Atimes you wonder why do we all scramble to europe. Life in europe is only left to your imagination. Nigerian think its a bed of roses,but my country people it is not,cos the type of jobs that we involve ourselves in down here is nothing to write home about. Thats why when you first come to europe they tell you,welcome to the secret society.
March 4th, 2008 at 12:55 pm
lol @ at secret society .. not a secret no more huh.. Every country struggle in one shape or form. I come from the so called “free world” the “best place to live on earth” i struggle with the rest of the world as to why can we all be free and consider our home to be the best place to live, We dont own this land we walk on, we are just here for a short time to care for it, just wish most of those that are doing the walking would realize that n stop all this hate and war over things they dont own to begin with. i will continue to pray for our worlds peace n prosperity for all..hagd all xxx
March 4th, 2008 at 3:14 pm
You are right to some extent. Where i am, is not bed of roses but have got lot of naija’s that will prefer to die here than return back home. Have also seen a lot that go meet the police and beg for DEPORTATION back home. Those that have succeeded will make you feel like cash is been picked on the street.
But on the other hand it is Ironic to meet and share pleasantries with those in Authority who come visiting with no Multitudes of security men arround them, But who will give you that chance in Nigeria to go 100miles near Aso Rock? There are lot of Advantages travelling abroad than disadvantages, even if it is coutonou. Atleast it give us the wisdom to now try to think of doing transaction in Dollars which at the end, excess income will be go back to Nigeria(you know what that means to the economy, ask Western union).
March 4th, 2008 at 5:24 pm
Wonder why every one is leaving or trying to? i put it to you this way,you have a thing(what ever)it’s good but you have eyes for that which you don’t have yet,only upon acquiring do u realize its not a bed of roses after all.
Where ever you find yourself here on earth it takes work and dedication to make it,so y not do it here at home? STAY FOR NAIJA.
March 10th, 2008 at 2:53 pm
After all said and done,”home is home,
there is no place like ur mother land.
As for me am still loving this place ‘NAIJA’
March 13th, 2008 at 8:25 pm
Felix man…you’ve said it all.
For every Nigerian that succeeds here in the western world, there are 100 more who will never make it, in fact 200. For all the amenities people refer to here, the only reason they use as a convinient excuse, every other thing here is a sham and the reason those who rather stay back here do so is because they will never fit in back home. I’ve got relatives who left Nigeria since the 70s who came in 05/06 to try to fit in…it was just not possible. Other than that, a lot of these people do odd jobs and would not be able to face the reality of the situation in Nigeria so they’d rather stayed back.
A lot of countries in the West DO NOT LIKE BLACKS. In fact, even BLACKS themselves do not like other BLACKS. Ask why in London, blacks kill blacks…Jamaicans don’t like Africans, because they feel they are not the same as Africans! Imagine! Damilola Taylor, the young Nigerian boy killed in London in 05 was killed by young Carribean boys. So for those who think the WEST will accept you, good, but better for those who choose to make the best out of Nigeria.
March 19th, 2008 at 2:33 pm
i appreciate the ‘frank talk’ about our people in diaspora. Someone needs to ‘harrass’ them to think of coming back home and stop suffering. Do you know i met a guy i knew back then in Uyo, at Heathrow airport doing ’sentry’ work- A security guard. I greeted him and he ignored me. few mins later i was still in the queu,he came up to me and said, Tom sorry o, you know my supervisor was watching me. I’m like excuse me, would he stop you from answering me? he said’bros you wont understand’.I asked him do you enjoy this security job? How much are you paid per hour. e smilled and said honestly i dont1 the amount is just to keep body and soul together. So why dont you come back home? he said no i cant o. What will i do? AFTER 5 YEARS HERE?
June 1st, 2008 at 2:33 pm
D fact remains “home is home”no mata where ur from or where u r!!but d difference is our points of veiw,d way we see things n where we call home.
D way we see things automatically changes once u’ve gotten used to d system n the society in which u find urself!! d truth remains there r 2sides to a coin!!there r things u simply miss n would neva find elsewhere outside 9ja n on the other hand there r things we out here simply wish we could find wen ur back home!so its a give n take affair.In every society DWELLS SHADOWS OF MISCONDUCT N INEQUALITY;YET LOOKING DEEPER WE ARE YET TO DISCOVER D UNIQUENESS OF EACH SOCIETY.
IT ALL DEPENDS ON HOW WELL SOCIETY CHOSES TO TREAT U OR RATHER HOW WILLING U ARE TO KIP UP WIF D SOCIETY..
June 1st, 2008 at 2:37 pm
LIFE IS A BATTLE FIELD N ONLY D STRONGEST SURVIVE!! Its ur choice to make n make a better life whereva d wind blows u to..
X1