What should Dangote do?

Here's a question for you: Aliko Dangote, a Nigerian on the Forbes Wealthiest 500 list and the wealthiest African*, can do just about anything with his money.  But what would help Nigeria most?

Let's assume he can either
a) continue business as usual, invest/grow his company, etc.
b) divest about half of his stake in his companies (worth about $1.25B) and distribute it evenly among all Nigerians.  Pretend there is no corruption/skimming in the distribution.  Each Nigerian would get about $8.33, and Dangote would still be worth >$1B.

If Dangote decided his aim was to help Nigerians as much as possible by doing one of the two above actions, which do you think would help average Nigerians more?

Some reading that is tangentially related to the question:
-Economist article on how international aid is not shifting to match where poverty is
-WSJ article on the philosophy of the world's richest man
-ABC news that has some good quotes pertaining to Africa
-An Economist article on progress toward the Millennium Development Goals

Of course, there is a middle ground that is growing: social entrepreneurship.  I'll give a plug for Tegu, one such company.

*Why the asterisk?  Dangote is the wealthiest African who can show all his money.  It is accepted wisdom that former rulers embezzled billions.  By one count, $400B in oil money has been embezzled since Nigerian independence in 1960.  Today on the radio there was a news item about a former state governor who embezzled $292 million during his time in office.  It is widely assumed that Ibrahim Babangida, a former president (usually called "IBB") who is running to be president again in 2011, stole much of the $12B that disappeared during his time in office.  It would be unbelievable fraud anywhere, but is particularly egregious against the backdrop of average Nigerian life.

Nigerian newspapers, part 2

I have a few comments as follow-up to my previous article on newspapers.   Newspapers here are big and dense.  I’m not sure what the average article length is, but I would guess it is at least double the U.S. average. There isn’t a strict separation between news and opinion.  Articles tend to bury what could be a good news article under melodramatic stories; the article ends without digging into the next layer.  Writing styles seem to favor a Dickensonian verboseness, and the lofty vocabulary sometimes makes me think of a poor writer who dresses up a piece by using a thesaurus to upgrade most words.  After sorting through the stories and the lofty syntax, you frequently find very little news underneath. Here is a good example.

Ads are much more personality-driven.  Many ads have pictures of the company head, and many are posed as interviews with the head of a company about their background and extraordinary success.  Not sure if this is someone's ego coming out, if there is just more cult of personality around here, or if it is a reflection of the more relationship-based business world.

I’m also amazed by the amount of print produced.  The newspapers are all dense, and everyone prints something.  Two people in my small client office have self-published books or pamphlets.  Every organization has a newsletter or magazine.  My client produces a monthly 30-page company newspaper of incredibly dense 10-pt font.  A lot of the articles are “so and so had a meeting with such and such commission or bigwig” that quote each person’s pre-written niceties.

The latest one did have this gem, though.  They had a humor page, and they highlighted the Duggars from the U.S.

From an American perspective, perhaps the most entertaining part is that the Duggars would be highlighted in a section entitled "Something Queer."

Discrimination within Nigeria trumps that without?

Interesting comment in response to a Nigerian newspaper article titled Racial discrimination in the UK made me return to work here:

"Does this guy know that many Nigerians are treated better outside Nigeria than in Nigeria,if he cannot stand Racism,what will he say about the tribalism,nepotism and cronyism that is deeply rooted in the Yoruba? is it because he faced a little discrimination in UK that he is shouting,does he know how many Nigerians are denied opportunity because of ethnicity? pls let us at times think well before we talk,tribalism in Nigeria is worse than Racism anywhere"

As a side note, the headline is very misleading.  There are exactly two sentences about UK discrimination in the article.

Night on the town in Benin City

Three weeks ago (yes, I'm behind) my Nigerian colleague rolled off the project.  We had to go out and celebrate, of course.

Time Out is a bar/music venue.  The whole thing is outside under a canopy, which is very common.  Two guys had a food stand that sold two items.  One was peppered grilled meat chunks and onions, served in newspaper.  The other was ramen and fried egg – you chose a flavor of ramen packet and they cooked it with a fried egg on top.

Everything is better with a fried egg.

We just enjoyed ourselves and talked for a while.  A live band started at 9 that played something close to reggae.  We enjoyed it in the background and didn’t think much of it until we heard the singer/emcee give a shout out to our colleague by name; our drivers, who were having a drink at a table nearby, had called over the guy and asked him to do it.  It was fun and was a nice gesture by them.  My colleague didn’t notice it when it happened, so later the emcee did it again, this time saying, “This goes out to [colleague] from the UK!” even though he is Nigerian.  He wandered by our table and one of the clients who was with us took a picture of the group with the emcee behind us.  So far, so good.

We were a fun table and stuck out since we had 3 white guys, and the emcee started to hang around more.  Several clients were with us, and he put a female client on the spot to sing a few lines into the mic, which was fun but we all then wanted him to go away so we could enjoy in peace.  By this time our table was the center of attention, which is not something we wanted.

The emcee’s next move was to go around and ask the three white guys where we were from.  While it was obvious we weren’t from Nigeria, there was something about stating it publicly that made us feel acutely exposed, particularly when coupled with the attention the emcee had brought.  At this point one of the client guys called the emcee over and told him to go away and not do that, and the emcee said he didn’t mean to offend – into the microphone.  However, he didn’t go away until the guy gave him a tip to scram.  With the spotlight on us, we all looked at each other and knew it was time to leave, so that was the end of the night.

One of the clients has a theory that he really believes.  He says things are safe before 6pm (beginning of dusk) and after 9pm.  Why after 9pm?  “Because kidnappers are regular people, and after 9pm they all want to go and have a drink and have fun.”  I’m not sure if I should be reassured by my increased safety after 9pm or slightly disturbed that I may strike up a conversation at Time Out with a guy coming off a long day of kidnapping.

Lagos: Gateway to … Europe?

My Tunis trip highlights another oddity about Nigeria. Nigeria, and African cities in general, it seems, are very well connected… to Europe/Middle East. The flights there are better and more numerous than to the rest of Africa.

To get to Tunis, we had to connect through Paris. Our other connecting option was Cairo. This was a pain, but a bit nostalgic: I walked past a Terminal 2 café where my brother and I slept in the booths during an overnight layover in CDG once before.

I came expecting to bounce around central/western Africa quite a bit, but it is surprisingly difficult. From Lagos there are more direct flights to EU/ME than to other African countries. Even if a flight goes to where you want within Africa, you have to check the timetables because many flights do not fly every day. I have downloaded a good number of airline timetables. (It also tells you something about the size of the airlines, because that would be unthinkable for a large U.S. carrier).

It's like Oprah, James Carville, and a tracking device all in one person.  (Side note: Google the words "help find lost items" and you get some very weird results)

Visas are another difficulty. According to something I found on the internet, the only embassy in Benin City is Romanian, though I’m skeptical that even that exists. This means I have to be in Lagos or Benin to get a passport processed. I got a 2nd passport after my first month here and was ready to get a Ghanaian visa when I found out… that the Lagos consulate will only process visa requests for Nigerians. Very frustrating to have a great place that is nearby off limits.

I really like getting out of Benin City not necessarily because I don’t like what is here, but because I don’t have access to what I really want: the local experience. Life is surprisingly caged, mostly because of security hazards that don’t exist elsewhere. It’s better in Abuja, and of course much better outside of Nigeria.

Being in Benin City during the week, I find that I pick destinations for one (or both) of two reasons:
-Explore somewhere new/adventure
-Somewhere I can freely walk around outdoors and has a good gym/fresh food. I know, I’m demanding.

Tunis

Find a desert, add some people of Arab descent, give them French tendencies, and layer in a rich history all the way back to B.C. Where are you?  Possibly Tunis.

For me, one of the big attraction in Tunis was the doors.  Yes, the doors.  Go visit and your "huh?" will change to "ahhh..."

I headed to Tunis for a weekend recently and had a great time. I can definitely see a progression between Nigeria, Dakar, and Tunis. Tunis is strikingly French and Mediterranean feeling. Nigeria is most definitely not. Dakar is in between. They speak French, and there is some Mediterranean feel in the main palm-lined boulevard, but you don’t ever forget you are in Africa.

Another door.

Tunis is also home to the remains of Carthage. There isn’t much there anymore, but as I stood on amongst ruins looking out into the harbor, I couldn’t help but wonder what would be different if the Punic Wars had turned out differently.

I thoroughly enjoyed Tunis. The architecture that is exposed is what I would expect to find buried in layers on top of each other -- Roman ruins, old Arabic/Moorish souqs, more recent French Colonial stone buildings, and modern bland white/square block apartment complexes like you will find in the Middle East.

At the end of the first day we found ourselves near the main plaza (the Place d’Independence, which is also the name of the main square in Dakar). It is a wonderful place at night, and I thought that I was at a parallel-universe version of the Champes Elysee and Arc d’Triumpe. Lots of Tunisians sat on the rim of a large fountain in the middle of the central roundabout, watching the night. Couples and others were strolling down a wide, tree-lined boulevard lined with coffee shops. The night was crisp, and it was a perfect place to join some of the almost-all-male spectators and sit in the roundabout watching the procession. You could also watch the Tunisian traffic cops in almost comically French uniforms directing traffic with white-gloved hands, many with great mustaches.

The city is generally much cleaner than the other African cities, but not without its trash.

I have no words for this.

The people were friendly. One guy found us wandering in the wrong direction and walked with us for about 10 minutes until he got us to our destination. We instinctively were prepared to tip him, but he turned on his heel and walked off without hesitation, obviously not expecting a tip. We had a basic conversation in English, and I suspect his motivation was a combination of friendliness and a chance to exercise his English.

If the strolling people at night were strongly male-dominated, the market offerings were not. We spent part of a morning wandering the narrow alleys of a market. It was a very Arab market and I enjoyed the walk. We started off in an area obviously patronized by locals, because the shops sold basic kitchen goods, clothes, etc. What struck me most was 99% of the clothes were for girls. I recall one or two stalls selling t-shirts and polos for men, but otherwise it was stall after stall of girls’ clothing, with lots of tight jeans on slim plastic hips.

We ended in a tourist area, and I got to sit outside a shop while my colleague went looking for something. I decided that owning a stall in an Arab market has some great perks: there is usually a good banter between shop owners when not busy, and they get to watch a mix of people all day long.

Tunisian cafe.  Everyone gathered to watch the football game and enjoy a shisha.

It was then off to the Bardo Museum, which is full of mosaics. When I say “full,” I mean that all of the floors are lined with them in addition to all of the walls in this three-story building covered in them. I really like mosaics, so this was great. They were mostly floor mosaics, so many had more pattern than story (in contrast to ceiling mosaics in Byzantine churches).

Yet another door, this one to Oz!

We also burned part of an afternoon at a café. All of the chairs were oriented toward the TV once the soccer game came on. People smoked cigarettes and shisha and talked as if the day would never end. One thing I noted both here and at the cafes on the main boulevard was that no one was on an iPhone, blackberry, computer, etc. Anyone who was alone at a table was either reading or just watching the crowd. The weather was perfect, and I don’t think I’ve enjoyed sitting around at cafes that much since Vienna.

The only downside to the city was that smoking is allowed everywhere, including inside the airport and in the hotels.

Tunis is a steal. I was surprised since I would assume the many European tourists would make things more expensive than they were. A taxi cost 0.03 dinars for 1/10 km. That’s about $0.32 per mile. Contrast that with Germany, where a taxi cost $4.80/mile. Then again, there are no Benz taxis in Tunis.

Overall, I would definitely go back to Tunis for a relaxing weekend with some history. I would also like to drive deeper into Tunisia to explore the Berber areas.

 One more door as a bonus for reading this whole entry.

The foundation for corruption

From some team room talk this week I got a few more examples of Nigerian government and tribal politics. One person recounted a story from Edo state where a market had burned down. The administrative head of the area wanted it rebuilt in a different area where there were more of his tribe in order to bring the wealth that way. From a business standpoint it didn’t make much sense as there were not as many customers and it was not as well connected. The administrator built a shopping center and offered everyone who moved a free place initially and about $1000. Everyone moved there for about three months in order to claim the money, and then moved back when the repairs to the original center were completed.

You can’t run for certain state government positions here unless you were born in the state. I think a lot of this is linked to a general dislike for non-locals moving in. This may be some regionalism/tribalism, but it is also economics: the majority of state revenues are disbursements from the federal government, so more people in a state means the money doesn’t go as far. I assume that the money is reapportioned periodically by census, but this doesn’t change short-term disparities and no one believes the census count. (Wikipedia, if I remember correctly, has a whole paragraph devoted to the differing counts of the number of people in Lagos.)

Read about Nigeria in the newspaper, both from within the country and from without, and you can’t escape the political patronage. Everyone acknowledges and dislikes the system, but it is self-enforcing – when people get political power, it is “their turn.”

I tend to think that one key problem is that everyone wants to be a politician. Politics pays better than almost any other profession, and not just from corruption – I’ve been told that Nigerian senators make more than U.S. senators, and that in a country where 40% of the population doesn’t have electricity to speak of. When being a politician is that attractive, a lot of people go into politics for themselves, not for altruism.

Again, I heartily recommend the Financial Times report on Nigeria at 50 and the McKinsey report on Africa as primers.

It's the little things

Actual phone conversation this morning at my hotel at 6:10am.

“Hello, sir.”
“Yes?”
“Can I bring your laundry now?”
“Please bring it at 6:30 like I wrote on the paper.”
“Hello, sir.” [This means, “I don’t understand, so I’m hitting restart”]
“Yes?”
“I want to bring your laundry now.”
“NO, please bring it at 6:30, which is what I wrote on the sheet.”
“OK sir.”

I didn't manage to snap this in time, but it had a bumper sticker that read "Pimp My Ride Naija"

Pictographs did me no good

Attached are two bathroom signs. Take a look and then guess which is the guy’s and which is the girl’s.  Hopefully you did a better job than I did originally.

Here in Nigeria, lots of women wear this head gear that looks like a male peacock tail – a hat that fans out in the back. At the airport one time I took a look at the first door I came to, decided that it was depicting someone wearing that, and then went into the other room. My head told me with 80% confidence that I had chosen correctly, but my gut wasn’t as sure.

After I had left (without encountering anyone) I watched a guy enter the other door. Oops.

Next time I follow the almost universal rule of thumb: if there are no urinals, it’s not a guy’s room.

A newly international economy and the second oldest profession

In describing hotels I mentioned a second bar at the Sheraton Abuja. Only two types of men enter the Elephant Bar: the clueless newbie and the man looking to buy some female company. There is a bathroom right around the corner, and there is a constant stream of ladies going in/out to touch up their lipstick or whatever else.

Bad camera photo, but this is luggage for one one Nigerian.

You would be surprised how many find work. You can watch them leave, usually in the company of graying, partially balding older white guy with a bit of a gut. It ties into something that I see around more than I thought, and which is both fascinating and a bit disgusting. I see a good number of white guys of the same ilk with significantly younger black girls in tow that are obviously more than one night squeezes. They could be married, but I highly doubt it in most cases. I think it’s a classic mistress case; she certainly isn’t with the guy for his looks most of the time, so it has to be the money and the chance to get out of the country a bit. The best place to see this is at airports, watching young, tall, trim black girls pull their matching Louis Vuitton bags behind their men. Most of guys look European.

There is a fair contingent of unattached, salty oil roughnecks who work in Nigeria for prolonged periods, get paid very well, and have nothing to do around here. Maybe this accounts for some of it. I’m assuming I have a fairly good grasp the typical girl’s story, but the guys are more puzzling.

Hasta ... un tiempo muy largo

In case this wasn’t already obvious to some people back home, staying in touch from Benin City is more difficult than I anticipated. In order to make a call back home three things must align:
1) Time zones – I am 5 hours ahead of ET
2) Good internet connection (3G)
3) My availability

#1 means that during the week I can’t really make any calls to anyone working in the U.S. until after 10pm Nigeria. #2 means that about 75% of the weeknights are out. #3 means that about 66% of weekend nights are out between nights spent on planes and getting back late (or sleeping off the night on the plane).

Phone service is also consistently bad. About 30% of my local calls go through, and sometimes there are several hours with no phone service. I think it is my particular carrier (Zain) in Benin City. Things are better in Abuja or Lagos.

I need some help

I will finally ask a question that has bugged me for at least 5 years.
I've pondered it and made speculations, but I cannot come up with the
definitive answer without an awkward question. So I will ask my blog
audience, which is much less awkward.

Drumroll, please: what do most Europeans and Africans use to wash
themselves on the road? Most European and African hotels don't have
wash clothes. I would assume no one travels with a loofah, and
definitely not over here. What's left? A good hand lather and rinse?

I must admit I've put much less thought into much more serious things.

Happy(?) 50th anniversary, Nigeria

As noted previously, this past Friday was the 50th anniversary of Nigeria gained self-rule from Britain. The Financial Times had a great 20-odd page special on Nigeria at 50, which I highly recommend. It gives a very good overview of the politics and the current election, problems with the power grid, the oil and mobile phone economies, etc., all with better research than I have access to.

I had already planned a trip to Munich when I found out, and I considered canceling my trip to stick around and see the celebrations. However, I asked around and found out it wasn’t a big deal. Only one person I talked to planned to go to any events that day, and they were going to a church event. The general apathy was striking.

When I asked why, I got a lot of answers along the lines of, “what do we have to show for 50 years?” This was a common theme in newspapers, too. Columnists openly questioned whether Nigeria has moved forward as much as was anticipated 50 years ago.

I’ve talked about Nigerian optimism, and some of these same comments came from people that I thought of as generally patriotic/optimistic about Nigeria. Perhaps the answer may lie in a more nuanced view. People are optimistic about Nigeria’s people, its resources, and its economic opportunities. But everyone recognizes that government is currently a drag, not an enabler. The 50th anniversary is seen as a political anniversary and closely tied to the government, and no one thinks the government is doing a good job. I suspect that if there were some private celebration of economic progress and power, it would be much better subscribed.

One event served to highlight lingering political problems rather than progress. There were several car bombings in Abuja (the capital) very near the hub of the celebrations, and 7 or 8 people were killed. A Delta independence movement claimed responsibility.

Happy 50th, Nigeria!

Today marks the 50th anniversary of Nigerian independence from
Britain. Congrats to all Nigerians out there.

Abuja is so packed that two of my colleagues had to share a room last
night because everything was full.

It wasn't totally smooth, though. There were reports of a small
explosion and some gunshots in Abuja's main plaza.

More on Nigerian reactions soon.