I think one of the best parts of my job is traveling around the world. Seeing the world has always been one of my goals; to see new cultures and experience things I never could in the USA.
My first business trip was to Nigeria. While we were in 98 degree weather and 100% humidity in Nigeria, it actually snowed in Houston! Who would have thunk. And because of the threat of Malaria, we always wore pants and long sleeved shirts; that got really hot. We were taking a look at different fabrication yards to assess their abilities and capacity for ExxonMobil work. I was the facilitator for this trip. my job involved studying which yards deserved a site visit, assembling the team from Houston, contacting the yards, and then creating our itinerary for the trip.
Oh, and the part of Nigeria we were in was a jungle! Anything you plant could grow.
This is one of the yards we wne to look at.
As you can imagine, there are some security issues that we had to deal with. Nigeria isn't the safest place, especially if you work in the Oil & Gas industry. An area called the Niger Delta specifically pinpoints attacks on employees of oil companies and will kidnap them for ransom. Their feeling is this: all the oil companies pay a lot of taxes to the government (which they feel is corrupt), but those taxes never make it back to the people, so they only way they are going to get their share is to steal it.
Each city had slightly different restrictions. Lagos, the megacity of Nigeria (~15 million people), was our first stop. If you are on Victoria Island, which is one of the richest areas of Nigeria, you can travel without armed escorts, and even travel by foot if you desire. This island is home to expats (ex-patriates: people who do not live in their home country), large international companies, and rich nationals. We saw cars that you barely see in the USA.
On Victoria island, we stayed in the building on the right. The one in between our hotel and the building being built on the left, is called Mobile House; the HQ of ExxonMobil in Nigeria.
Lagos is a major port for the country. This is the first time I have ever seen a port, let alone the place where they unload container ships.
This was my first time in a 3rd world country. And it opened my eyes. Most of the population in Lagos live in wood and tin shacks. Traffic is horrible and not controlled at all. On the "freeway" there are lanes, but no one abides by them. And the traffic will come to a stand still quite often, which makes it a great market; literally hundreds of people walk up and down the freeway selling thing from water and clothes to Tele-tubby blow up chairs and souvenirs. The roads were horrible and it sometimes better to drive in the dirt than the actual road. Several times we drove on the wrong side of the road to get around traffic; our lead vehicle would also go tell cars to slow down so we could get around (which didn't make our trip any faster since it was usually gridlock).
No McDonalds.
Read what it says above the woman. We aren't in Kansas anymore, Toto.
Yes, people live in these shacks. Most likely the majority of the population have these type of homes.
These are abandoned ships that have families living in them!
People in Nigeria loved spice on their food. For people who know me, they understand that I do not have an iron clad tongue. There was so much spice you didn't dare lick your lips. Whether or not I liked my food (most of what we ate was continental cuisine, meaning that it came from Europe and America), I literally though: "there are starving kids in Africa!" No longer was it a joke. I felt bad not finishing my food.
The people were happy and nice. Officials at airports were always looking for a "dash" or bribe. For us, they would say: "Did you bring me Christmas?"
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