Africa Web TV in Nigeria (Day One)

Part 1

(Written at 38000 feet above the Sahara desert in a Lagos bound Air France airline)

Going to Nigeria for work feels really weird. But working with Africa Web TV means one has to be ready to go anywhere for a good story. When one is contracted to film some stories and documentaries in a country of one’s birth, that is always going to be an offer not to be refused.. Having been away for 6 years one is going back with mixed emotions. On one hand, one is curious about the state of the nation. On the other hand, one is going back on a tight schedule and might not even get to see or hear much. We’ll just have to wait and see. Nigeria has a way of throwing up nice stories. Fingers crossed.

Now to the point. We are travelling in a convoy of five; three of whom are Dutch born citizens. The good thing though is that all have been to Nigeria before so they know what to expect. Saves a lot of explanations. They know already that the only thing certain about our trip is that we are going and when we hope to come back. Every other thing in our 10 day itinerary is only certain after we have done it. They realise that patience is a virtue when in Nigeria. We might go there and achieve all we set out to achieve or we might come back without having achieved nada!

We know the plan is to land in Lagos and proceed to Port Harcourt. We also plan to do some work in Benin and visit the Niger-Delta to film a follow up to a documentary Comrade Sunny Ofehe (who is leading this trip) made a couple of years ago. We plan to film in Abuja and Lagos too. We plan to meet some governors and government officials both at local and at federal level. In between, we plan to do a couple of other things that will be released as a surprise later. These are the plans. In 10 days we shall see which of these plans we are about to realise. We are going with a very open mind. It would be exciting to gauge how Nigeria has been treating itself in our absence.

Part 2

(Back to life in Nigeria)

A lot has changed at the airport since the last visit. Maybe it was the time of arrival, but the queue seemed shorter and the air conditioner seemed to be working. We passed through immigration with the minimum of fuss. It was obvious that there was some renovation going on because we exited at a very different location. Oh yeah, two of our luggage did not arrived. But we got assurances that they would arrive later and they would get in touch with us.

It felt nice being driven through the streets of Ikeja, Lagos again. Our hotel for the night was a good and comfortable one hidden somewhere amongst some derelict buildings on the street of Opebi in Ikeja. You would not believe the this beautiful hotel is situated here. The rooms compare with any of those that one has seen in Europe. One major minus point is that when we ordered food, it took ages for the food to appear. The staff explained that they make everything fresh. That explained the delay. That is no excuse for an order to take 3 hours! The food was tasty though.

The Wi-Fi was a different story though. It is the slowest in the history of mankind and that is not even stretching the joke. Tomorrow we will leave for Port Harcourt where the first part of our work will begin. We were supposed to be at a South-South governors’ business conference for foreign investors as part of our itinerary but we heard on arrival that this has been cancelled. Many delegates from Europe who had already arrived will have to get over their disappointments and either enjoy doing nothing in Nigeria or going back with the next flights home. Some things never change!

Watch this space for the daily reports, pictures and more. Above all, keep your fingers crossed for us.