Living in....Nigeria?

In My Humble Opinion
1

My husband is a pilot, and still in the “getting your hours” phase of his career. He has seen job posting for Virgin Nigeria, where he meets all of the theoretical requirements for the job. He hasn’t applied for it.

In all of our years together, the was the first flat-out “No way. Not a chance. Not gonna happen” that I’ve given. I like to think that I’m a open to new adventures kind of person, but to be honest, the very idea of Nigeria scares the crap out of me. I’d be living in Lagos, possibly without him for up to 20 days a month. I tried googling “living in Lagos”, and got crazy polarized info (it’s the garden of Eden where soft sea breezes will gently caress your cheek! No, it’s a living hell and you’ll be set on fire within the first hour!)

I started to wonder - is Nigeria really that bad? Am I just forming these impressions based on western media coverage? Or is my first instinct of “Stay the hell away” justified? I trust dopers - this is a pretty worldly group. Someone here must have first hand “feet on the street” experience there.
Any thoughts?

2

My aunt, uncle and cousin have lived in Nigeria for 14 years (they actually met in Nigeria)

They live in Jos, which is kind of in the middle - the interface between the Muslim north and Christian south. There have been times when we’ve worried for them, such as 2 years OK, when there was widespread religious rioting in their area, but mostly not.

They live in a guarded compound, and keep a guard dog for security. Travelling in the country side is less safe, but not outrageously so (e.g. my aunt drives an hour or so alone once a week to a hospital a bit out of the way (she’s a doctor)).

My cousin has lived there since he was 2, and is a relatively normal kid (well, as much as any 16 year old is). He’s had a good education via correspondence and the American boarding school in Jos (he’s a day boy). He has both expat friends and Nigerian friends (the school is about 50-50 expat-local)

We can’t send them anything other than paper letters in the mail (no books or gifts), because it will get stolen.

But overall, they seem to live a pretty normal life, and have a number of expat friends.

They are planning to return to Australia soon-ish so that my cousin can finish his schooling and prepare for university. But they love it, and to them it’s home.

Health-wise, they do get typhoid and malaria on a semi-regular basis (a few times a year), but they manage it with various medications, and it doesn’t worry them too much. I guess my aunt being a doctor it’s hard to say what they think of the hospitals etc. since they take care of themselves mostly.

Infrastructure is not quite what you’re used to, when they first went, they would have daily power outages, but it seems pretty reliable now, they have a reasonable mobile phone network etc, although calling Nigeria from Australia (or vice versa) is still brutally expensive. They don’t have broadband, but I don’t know if it’s because they can’t get it, or don’t think they need it (my aunt & uncle not being the most technical people in the world). They use dial-up for email.

Based on all they’ve told us (they send emails once a fortnight) I would love to go and visit them and spend time with them, but I don’t think living in Nigeria long term would be for me.

3

Robin - that’s freaky; my aunt, uncle, and cousins lived in Jos for 14 years also. A long time ago, though. They also loved it and they had a lot to compare it to, having also lived in the UAE, Greece, England, Canada, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, I think Lebanon, and several other exotic places. My aunt spoke very fondly of their time there for many years after they left.

I’d say do more research before flat-out rejecting the idea. I myself would jump at the chance to live there for a few years.

4

I’ve lived in West Africa, but not in Nigeria. My impression of Lagos is that it’s sort of the best and worst of everything. In other words, if you have money and can live in an upscale neighborhood, it’s probably all right – relatively safe and comfortable. I’d think your contact with the more squalid parts of Lagos would be minimal.

That said, it’s going out on a limb a little, and probably not strictly necessary to your husband’s career. And by the way, where does Virgin Nigeria fly to? If your husband is not going to be home very much, you could probably live in some other city than Lagos, or even some other country.

5

Lagos was one of those crappy posts in Africa that people in the Foreign Service dreaded being assigned to. Since the diplomatic community is pretty much isolated from unpleasantness, that means the place is a cultural and social wasteland, and probably dangerous to westerners from both a health aspect and a physical one. I would check for State Department travel advisories.

6

My SIL lived in Nigeria for a year 3 years ago doing a biological study. She liked it Ok but the people can be bizarre. One of the monkeys she was studying literally got arrested by the local police and thrown in jail because they believed that he was an escaped crimimal that turned himself into a monkey in order to avoid recapture. She had to go to the police station to plead his release. Apparenty, people turning themselves into animals is common and logical scenerio according to the beliefs of many Nigerians.

There is good money to be made there though. The coorsponece business is thriving. Your letter should read:

Regards,

I, JimmyFlair, have been retained as counsel in the dispensation of the estate of your late relative. The estate consists of one hundred billion trillion dollars. I can wire these funds into your bank account as soon as the legal bills, $195,683, are settled in this matter. Contact me to settle this matter to arrange the nominal payment and collect these funds.

Regards,
JimmyFlair Esquire

7

Along with several domestic routes, they fly regionally to Ghana, Senegal and internationally to London & Johannesburg.

Chances are we’d live in an expat community, so I imagine we’d be comfortable enough. However, truthfully I’d wonder if that would make us a target for robbery, etc?

I’m leaning towards not going (like 98% towards not going) but hey, I wanted to get some other feedback before entirely dismissing it.

8

Thanks all, particularly robinc308 and missbunny .

My mom went to South Africa two years ago. She loved it, but was quite shocked at how dangerous Johannesburg was, and how all of the locals seemed to accept that you’ll be the target of violence unless you take extreme measures to protect yourself. That’s kinda how I pictured Lagos, but slightly worse.

9

I have a student whose ex wife and child live in Nigeria. He mentioned that they went shopping with guards to prevent kidnapping, and had to bring everything they wanted imported with them as they could not get it shipped in.
I will be seeing him in class again within the week, I can get more info if you want.

10

A woman on your own most of the time - not to be sexist, realistic - presumably with no particular employment. No contacts.

This gives me the serious heebie jeebies. And it’s mostly the mostly single woman part. Life is still very male-dominated in much of Africa. And I would personally worry about getting sick and not personally knowing a Western Doc to call. You do NOT want to go into a hospital there.

I have a lot of friends who live and work in Africa. Most of them work in medicine or medical research, and have an instant infrastructure when they get there.

That said, my friends who live and work there love it and wouldn’t do anything else. They come back to the States only to plan the next trip back. If you were going to Kenya I could hook you up. (Although going to Kenya would not be such a great idea at the moment)

There’s my humble, contradictory, opinion.

11

Well, I have been to Ghana and Senegal, and they’re reasonably sane – Ghana especially. Mind you, it’s been some time since I’ve been there, but I don’t think it’s gotten appreciably worse. So maybe you could live in Ghana! Depending on the flight schedule, it might make sense. Plus, the cost of living is really low there, and if your husband gets wages that are comparable to those in the U.S., you might be able to really get ahead, especially if you can avoid paying U.S. taxes.

12

Or Mali. I lived there for two years in the 90s and there were zero problems. Air France flies in and out of there, but I wouldn’t recommend Air Mali.

13

This is the best story I’ve heard this week.

14

A friend of mine went there on the auspices of an engineering company last year.

He says he’s never been so freaked out. He arrived in Lagos and was told “Do not move from Arrivals, do not talk to anyone, do not do anything, until you have met your contact, who will be bearing a sign with your name on it. His name is ____ ____. Greet him and ask his name; if he does not give the correct name, stay put.”

From the moment he met his contact until he left, he was surrounded by security guards with AK47s - from the airport, he was in a people carrier with his host, and two or three armed guards, with a people carrier in front and back, full of armed guards, and three motorcycle outriders in front.

At a point from the airport to the city, there was a long underpass. The vehicles stopped a few hundred yards from the underpass, holding up the traffic behind them, and revved up, then blasted through at about 60 mph. He was told that there were hundreds or thousands of homeless people living under the road, and if you falter, they’ll jump all over your car and rob you.

He was there for nearly a week, and he said every journey was similar. He eventually went to the main point of his journey, which was meeting a government minister, a meeting that had taken weeks to set up and lots of bribes - but when he arrived, the guy was out playing golf.

I believe my friend; his visit was, however, at the time of repeated kidnappings of engineering and oil workers. I also suspect they were putting on a big show for him.

I’ve also met people who have backpacked and hitchhiked through the place on their own and had no problems, too.

15

Travel warning for Nigeria.

16

How does a US citizen avoid US taxes? I thought that the US was one of a few countries that taxed to all citizens no matter where they lived?

17

I’m by no means an expert on the subject, but my brother lives and works abroad, and doesn’t pay U.S. taxes, providing he doesn’t spend more than X days a year in the States.

Maybe someone with better information can chime in.

18

I see this title and I end up singing it in my head like the Apollo Creed entrance music…“Livin’ in Nigeria…”
Didn’t James Brown sing it?

19

Your first $80,000 or so of earned income is exempt from US taxes. You have to pay on anything above that.

20

My wife has been to Nigeria a couple times (one of her consulting clients is a major oil company), and experienced the same thing–SUV convoys, armed compounds, and lots of advisories (“if you’re in an accident, don’t unlock the door for police, emergency workers, or anyone without a [oil company] ID”).

She said the road congestion is so bad that you have to give yourself hours to get short distances in the major thoroughfares, and the homelessness and poverty defies belief. She’s well-traveled and accustomed to experiencing all sorts of weird/strange/disorienting customs and procedures that are part of international travel, but Nigeria is the only place that still kinda freaks her out, and it’s the only time I ever get genuinely worried when she goes abroad.

YMMV, of course, but she didn’t know anyone (outside of locals) who’d ever leave the compound without armored escort. Everyone she knows essentially thinks to do so would be absolutely nuts.