Nigeria: anywhere but here?
Updated on 25 October 2007
Blog: No country is all bad. We wanted to paint as rounded a picture of Nigeria as possible, to show the good and the bad...
There is just one travel guide-book to Nigeria. In its opening chapter it describes the surprisingly good air connections to the country - five jumbos fly between London and Lagos a day alone. But if that implies a flood of tourists to Africa's most populous country, don't - the guidebook warned - be fooled.
Nigeria is well-connected not because the world wants to visit, but because Nigerians want to be anywhere else but there. This - remember - is written in the guide-book.
But no country is all bad. We wanted to paint as rounded a picture of Nigeria as possible, to show the good and the bad; to give a window on Africa's most populous country and describe a country of over 120 million to one of less than 60.
Nigeria is well-connected not because the world wants to visit, but because Nigerians want to be anywhere else but there.
The only time Nigeria has really hit the UK news over the last few years is when militants in its southern Delta region have kidnapped British oil workers. In less than two years, more than 200 have been seized by groups who believe that they are not getting a fair deal when it comes to receiving proceeds from the oil industry.
Kidnapping for ransom is big business in the Delta: in the summer, the four-year-old daughter of a Briton living in Port Harcourt - the region's main town - was taken: a sign of the escalation of the crisis.
This, then, became the starting point for our trip, but rather than simple describe the violence, I wanted to explain one fundamental cause of it: the crippling corruption that stops the oil money reaching those that need it most.
London's Metropolitan police had just frozen the British assets of a state governor from Nigeria, believing they may have been bought with proceeds of crime in Nigeria. The first piece I'd do, then, was to look at the Nigerian end of this story - and try to track down the state governor against whom the allegations had been made.
All a bit heavy. And though corruption is a big - crippling - problem in Nigeria, I was anxious that we featured positive stories from Nigeria as well as highlighting its problems. So Nollywood. The third largest film industry in the world - a business, booming. We discovered that the largest film studio in Africa was on the point of opening in Nigeria's South-eastern Calabar province, and negotiated access.
I was anxious that we featured positive stories from Nigeria as well as highlighting its problems. So Nollywood. The third largest film industry in the world
It was an amazing place. Huge. Whether a huge catalyst, or a huge white elephant will become clear once the place starts pitching for business early next year... but, to me, it seemed to sum up the optimism in Nigeria's film industry.
On set in Lagos, producers and actors were cautiously optimistic about the complex: Nigeria could yet be a destination for Hollywood producers as well as the chief exporter of African film.
The Nollywood studio complex had taken us to Calabar. Near there, we heard about families who still put their daughters through a traditional ceremony that fattens up brides-to-be prior to marriage. Just as, in the UK, being thin is a sign of wealth - time and money to exercise and eat healthily - in the villages near Calabar, fat proves the absence of disease and that body in question is not subjected to working in the fields. I met Mary, just beginning the process, and realised that this traditional ceremony came with a disturbing parallel process.
The Nollywood set was in Lagos: a vast, hot, dirty, sprawling metropolis with, I quickly discovered, few redeeming features. The traffic there is particularly bad: being stuck can often BE a commuter's day, rather than just part of it.
From our hotel to the film set - perhaps a distance of ten miles - took us three hours to drive. When I suggested to our local fixer that we should have travelled by train, he look confused. Lagos, I was staggered to discover, has no pubic transport whatsoever.
Our fourth story was suddenly obvious: the introduction of public transport in a city that has none. There are plans for an integrated bus service - we went to a car park containing 78 buses, brand new, just off the boat from China. If they get used, water buses and even a metro system may follow: I wish the city authorities luck.
Lagos, I was staggered to discover, has no pubic transport whatsoever
Transport problems haven't put off Femi Kuti from making Lagos his home. Nigeria's most famous musician, and son of the equally celebrated Fela, Femi hosts Nigeria's largest live music club. It may be that, having to endure Lagos' traffic to get there, makes Kuti's crowd that much more determined to have fun once they arrive.
Whatever, when we arrived at a rehearsal we found a crowd in a near frenzy. Femi gave us a backstage interview in which we discussed politics as well as music. It's Kuti's comments on Hiv and Aids in Nigeria that proved the most unexpected; as voice of Nigerian youth, what he says matters.
What I hope my colleague Simon, our fixer Sunday and I achieved was that rounded picture I'd intended. Judge for yourself, all week on More4.
