This is Nigeria - about traffic and visa

Travelling to Abuja should take 7-8 hours. We left Ilorin at 6.30 so we would be in Abuja in time and I could go to the embassy of Benin Republic to apply for visa. But well, this is Nigeria! So, no, I didn’t manage…

Just outside Ilorin, our driver started to drive in a weird way, stepping on the brake all the time. After 3 hours he stopped to ‘repair something on the brake’. It took him 15 minutes or so and all passengers were ok with it. Our halfway stop took one hour instead on 30 minutes as a mechanic had to ‘repair something on the brake’. People started complaining a bit, but not too much. Then, we drove 30 minutes and the driver stopped again. Then it turned out the car was really broken and we could not continue.

This is Nigeria, so of course people try to fix it (failed), try to fix it again (failed) and try to fix it again (failed). After 3 hours, the passengers told the driver he had to arrange us another car to travel. To shorten the few hours of waiting and discussion into a few sentences; the driver arranged us another car, and offered the driver half of the money. What the driver agreed with. But, he had to pick the money in Abuja but the new driver has no permission to enter Abuja so he could not go there. The bus company said they will arrange something to solve this and then switched off their phones. So we ended up paying extra to the new driver, to be dropped somewhere outside Abuja. In the end, we made it to the hotel at 8 instead of 3. In case we forgot it, this is Nigeria!

 

My visa application had to wait till next day. But I had to give training first, so could only make it after the training. And this is Nigeria, so…

‘A visa? Now? At this time? It is already 4!’ The simple fact that the embassy should be open till 5, doesn’t change anything, there is no way to get a visa ‘at this time’.  It took quite some time to find the embassy in, the address mentioned online is not the address of the embassy and the phone numbers don’t work (no, they just closed the lines so you can’t call them, this is Nigeria). But now that I made it, it seems like I can’t apply for the visa.

I explain the security guy that I live in Ilorin (Ilorin!? Really? Why?) and that there is no way to get to Abuja in the morning from there. So in the end, he gave me two forms to fill in and bring the next morning (At 8, ok, what time does the embassy open? At 8.30... I think…).  

Visa is ready

So next morning I arrived at the embassy at 8.20. The same security guy tells me no-one arrived yet and that it might be late before anyone arrives (remember, this is Nigeria!). But I can leave all my documents with him and call him later that day to see if my visa is done. As I did not really have other options, I had to give training at 9 again, I decided to do it like this. And well, apparently this is a normal procedure (it’s Nigeria in the end) and at 4 I could pick up my passport, with my multi-entry visa for Benin!

Interesting fact; they also stamped a visa in my passport which they cancelled. I expect some questions at the border! Hopefully the story that Jean Claude van Damme is my uncle (don’t I look like him?) will do the trick again.

But now, finally, I can make it. I plan to travel to Benin in a few weeks. If nothing happens in between, in the end, this is Nigeria!