As a traveller I cannot imagine any other country which I found as challenging as Nigeria. And as great to immerse into. Travelling in Nigeria means encountering lots of causes of migration: Hunger, overpopulation due to sky-high birthrates (there will be 400 million Nigerians in 2050, and 2.5 billion Africans in total), drought and desertification due to deforestation, destruction of livelihoods due to overfishing, ecological disaster in the Niger Delta, ethnic war and Islamic terror in the north, and corrupt politicians who nearly kill the great Nigerian entrepreneurial spirit. 

I don’t dare to be a prophet, but I believe in analysts saying that no amount of money, no development aid programme will eliminate these causes for leaving Africa, that it should not be considered as a refugee crisis but as the beginning of a mass exodus. Nigeria is the fifth largest oil exporter in the world but two thirds of its currently 230 million citizens are abjectly poor. I would blame nobody for trying to leave. 

When I was travelling in Nigeria in 2005, it was too dangerous to travel outside Abuja, the capital. It was too dangerous to even reach legendary Kano, once a main hub of trans-Saharan trade. And it was almost too dangerous to even arrive in Lagos: Weary travellers of course had pre-arranged pick-up by their hotel, and were happy to read their respective name on a plate held by the alleged hotel driver in the arrival hall: „EKO HOTEL Mr. Guido Baumann“. Just to be robbed of all belongings just a few kilometers behind the airport. The alleged driver t had just copied the sign of the genuine driver who was still and unknowingly waiting for his guest at the airport. Welcome to the world capital of scams. Leaving Lagos to the airport without using an armoured car was dangerous, too.

But who wants leave Lagos? I love frenetic Lagos just from one visit and ever since, I want to go back and at least spend a week. Lagos is Nigeria’s get-rich-loud-and-proud boom-boom city where drama unfolds on every corner and simply observing is not an option: Built on water, oil and islands, it’s just wonderful going from one bar to another by boat, heading to a posh beach club for sunset, eating fantastic sushi. Nigerians and their I-will-survive-spirit impressed me in Lagos, they impressed me in New York and my Nigerian friend Adewale Sani impressed me in Kenya. Just mention that you are form Nigeria and you leave a mark.

For me there is no better song to convey the Lagos vibe than “La Fete“ from Falz, the Nigerian rapper:

I can make your life just a little better
Have you ever been to Lagos?
Have you been with a guy from my city?
Hakuna Matata, I like your matter, ko ma titi
You can do a magic, e fi mi le, je vous duansi
Ehh, tous e mami fik
Mo like style e gan, on seanti, madamme massel

Celo momo, lo momo de fek La Fête

The great book “Chronicles from the Land of the happiest People on Earth“  dwarfs an exciting portrait of Nigeria’s political elite. Author Wole Soyinka who destroyed his greenvard when Trump ws elected president, is a staunch critic of corrupt authoritarian regimes everywhere. I like his advice;

Wake Up every Day armed with your convictions. It’s great to wake up in Lagos.