Nigeria Photo Contest Fifth Entry: Other

Hi all,

This photograph is by Fiona, who is brand new to Nigeria! She's just been here a week or so!

I liked this one because of the brilliant colors.

It is titled 'beads' and came from one of the markets in Abuja.

Best,
Alena

Nigeria Photo Contest Fourth Entry: Landscape

Dear Readers,

This photo is by Katherine. She was born and raised in Lagos, and now resides in Abuja. Her family has been here in Nigeria since 1972. I'm sure she's seen some big chances!

Her photograph was taken sometime last year on the road going to Gwarinpa.

What a beautiful scene! Make sure to COMMENT on the photo if you like it!

Best,
Alena

Nigeria Photo Contest Third Entry: Landscape

Dear Readers,

Make sure to COMMENT on the pictures you like so that I can tally your responses.

This photograph is from Laine Strutton, taken taken on the banks of the Obuasi River
(name of the village unknown) in the Niger Delta.

This could technically also fall under the people category, but I'm putting it in landscape for now.

Hope you like this one!

Best,
Alena

Nigeria Photo Contest Second Entry: People

Dear Readers,

Make sure to COMMENT on the pictures you like so that I can tally your responses.

This next photograph is from Sam Rosemarin, who used to work in Abuja.

"Olive farmer" Taken outside of Jos in July, 2008. Category: People



Hope you like this one!

Best,
Alena

Nigeria Photo Contest First Entry: People

Dear all,

This photograph was submitted by Simona--an Italian who's lived in Nigeria for 15 years!

The Post that gets the MOST COMMENTS for that category will be considered to be the winner! So if you LIKE this photograph, comment a lot!

This photograph was taken in January 2010 on Bauchi Road.

This photograph is titled: "No Standing."

Hope you enjoy this and the many other photographs!
Best,
Alena

What is the future of China-Japan relations?

By Francis Asprec, currently working in Sichuan, China. He holds a MSc from New York University in Global Affairs.

Some Background:

In the past month, tensions between China and Japan have escalated to new heights. The latest incident involves a Chinese fisherman who was detained by Japanese authorities and released after much pressure from the Chinese government.

In early September, Captain Zhan Qixiong, a Chinese fisherman, encountered trouble in the East China Sea when his boat was seized by Japanese patrol vessels. He was detained by Japanese authorities, with the possibility of being prosecuted. His arrest in Japan sparked outrage throughout China. China’s leaders threatened retaliation and economic sanctions if Japan did not release Mr. Zhan.

Eventually, he was released. While China felt victorious in getting Mr. Zhan back home, the relations between these neighboring countries is far from healed. China is still demanding an apology.

The Real Problem: Territory.

Captain Zhan sailed near Diayou, an island that China claims. The Japanese call those islands Senkaku and claim them. This dispute has dragged on for many years and nothing has been resolved.
Eyes On The Ground:

I witnessed a demonstration of more than 200 people in Chengdu, Sichuan, China. This demonstration called for Chinese people to boycott Japanese stores in Chengdu. These people wanted to express their anger and outrage and demanded that Japan apologize to China for this mishap. The demonstrators’ message was loud and clear. Half of Chunxi Lu (Road), a commercial street filled with shops, restaurants, and socializing, was blocked off.

Questions:

How can each country work on improving their relations?

Will there ever be a resolution towards the territorial dispute?

What lessons can be learned so far about China-Japan relations?

How are the world’s second and third largest economies going to resolve their problems?

These questions will continue to be asked. At the moment, there are no clear answers, but I firmly believe that China and Japan will work out their differences.

What do you think?

Best,
Francis

Nigeria Photo Contest!

Dear Readers!

To balance out my usually less than positive comments about the country of Nigeria, I want to have a photo contest of Nigeria pictures. I'll post the pictures up here, and ask you to vote on them and tell me which ones you like.

Categories:

People

Landscape/Nature

Culture (probably similar to people, but this section is dedicated to cultural traditions)

Do you want to submit a photo? Send me a comment with a link to your photos or a message of interest and I'll do my best to post your photo.

You do NOT need to be a professional photographer. Also, there is no prize, other than winning the contest and getting some publicity on my blog. The real prize is reminding the world that Nigeria can also be a beautiful place.

I'll need your name, the place being photographed, date it was taken and any comment you would like on your picture.

Best,
Alena

A Few Good Blog Posts

Hey all,

Things are a little crazy here with my project picking up. Things are on track more or less.

Blogging seems to be the gift that keeps on giving...I click one post, that leads me to another, and I read other new and interesting things.

What's your favorite blog? Why? What makes a good blog?

Here are a few posts that caught my eye:

Time for Africans to Explore Africa

I saw this article through another blog: Africa Unchained

It also led me to: Top Places to Visit in West and Central Africa Why isn't Nigeria on this list? There are tons of neat places in Nigeria! Even parts of the Niger Delta are physically very beautiful!

Also there is: How to Write about Africa. This post is hilarious. I got this through a friend's blog: Mitchell Sipus

Hope you enjoy!

Best,
Alena

Electricity: Nigerians spend 13 Billion USD a Year, What will the Nigerian government spend to solve it?

Dear Readers,

I think I'm getting back on the blogging track.

This morning I was reading Friday's "The Punch" newspaper.

The cover story was "Nigerians spend $13bn on generators annually"

For those of you who haven't been to Nigeria, it is a country of contradictions. You can have great roads or poor roads. You can have all the champagne you want, but your electricity (if you have it) turns off several times a day (and then you hear the rumble of a diesel gas generator).

According to the story above, Nigerians spend roughly 13 BILLION USD a year on diesel generators. Note that this number doesn't include how much they pay for their electric bills (whether or not they get electricity).

President Goodluck Jonathan, who has been publicly condemning the power problem (and reiterating his administration's determination to solve it), addressed international power sector investors at a presidential retreat last week.

The strange thing is that he also said "from 2011, the Federal Government would cease further investments in power generation in distribution."

So, perhaps I misunderstood something. If power is a priority, then why stop paying to solve it?

Now, I understand working with the private sector to try and stem corruption and mismanagement. I also understand splitting the costs (private public partnerships) with the private sector to try and improve things.

What I don't understand the Nigerian government not paying to solve its own problems.

What do you think? If you have better information on this, please let me know.

Best,
Alena

Is Malaria a Good Excuse?

Hi Everyone,

Sorry I haven't posted in nearly a month. I had malaria and was under treatment for a week. Hope that's a good enough excuse :).

Some news stories that caught my eye today:

The Sources of Soviet Iranian Conduct
by KARIM SADJADPOUR. George Kennan, Henry Kissinger, Winston Churchill...still the standard in our foreign policy? Should containment be the plan for Iran? How will that work? An interesting piece, either way.

China's leaders meet to plan economic future China's next 5 year plan? Also, China discusses the rich-poor divide--a critical issue!

Another China story: China yuan warning ahead of US currency report

Hope you enjoy!
Alena

A Few Good Reads

Dear all,

I've been trying to stay current while out in the Niger Delta.

Articles I like:

Africa's Eastern Promise by Deborah Brautigam (this is one of the most even-keel articles I've seen on China in Africa)

Resume Search Optimization (okay, so I'm a resume nerd, but this was a neat explanation of the different between online applications and offline resumes)

"Africa's Children" is a series following 10 children from birth and tracking them as part of a test of the Millenium Development Goals.

An installment by a friend of mine: "Nigeria: Confidant Martins" by Shyamantha Asokan

Nigeria's banks: Lagos in limbo, also by Shyamantha Asokan

Books I've read while here that I recommend:

Untapped: The Scramble For Africa's Oil Wealth by John Ghazvinian. (He has a great sense of humor, examines this problem from many angles, AND his economic explanation of the oil curse is one of the clearest I've seen)

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe (this is technically a reread)

Say You're One of Them by Uwem Akpan (a little depressing, a series of stories told from the perspective of children, but not very happy stories)

China into Africa (a very good collection of a wide range of articles and perspectives)

What books do you recommend?

Best,
Alena

Networking Etiquette

Dear all,

I am something of a natural networker (minus my teenage years when I was a loner/introvert). I always have business cards (I had them in college, after college, graduate school, etc). I like to connect people to each other. I like to edit resumes. I have plenty of friends (in real life and on Facebook).

So, when it came time to look for a job after graduate school, I felt confident. I started early, I applied for jobs, I networked, I networked in different international cities, I wrote thank you cards, I thought out of the box and, most importantly, I followed through.

I finally had 5 interviews for 5 different jobs this past spring. 3 of those 5 interviews I got through networking. I also got all of my part-time-to-survive jobs from networking. So, I'm a pretty big fan of networking.

I am happy to help people when they contact me for ideas, and connect them to people who are in the field/position/sector/whatever they need. What I am NOT happy about, is when I put my own contacts out there (introduce person A to person B) and the person who wanted help, doesn't follow through.

I feel like that person is not only wasting my time, but hurting my network. My reputation in my network is a big part of the success of that network. So, if Person A flakes out on Person B, that reflects poorly on me.

So, if someone goes out of their way to help you, you should:
a) thank them and
b) don't waste their time.

If they introduce you to someone, even if you don't want to talk to that someone, write a polite note (including Person B!!), saying hello and explaining that, upon further thought, you want to pursue something else and thank you for your time.

I have had dozens of experiences where I introduce two people, and the person that wanted the introduction doesn't even reply for weeks or months. It drives me crazy.

If you ask someone for help and they give it to you, it's a slap in the face if you don't follow-through. Don't waste people's time if you're not going to do the work.

Thanks for listening!
Alena

God and Money.

Dear all,

Admittedly, I don't believe in God. I'm a Buddhist(www.sgi.org), born and raised, of a sect that has a very different concept of how the universe is connected (if I put it in deistic terms, I would say that each of us has something of god within us, but as a Nichiren Buddhist, its more accurate to say that all of us has an enlightened self, a Buddha nature, which I can go into at greater length elsewhere).

I've been in Nigeria for 3 months, and people spend a lot of time talking about God here. I've met plenty of devout-seeming Christians (I live in the South-South, a mostly Christian area). Sunday is a very lively day (Friday up North). It took me a few weeks to realize that the droning sound of NNNNNNNuuuuuuuunNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNuuuuuuuuhhhhhhh was actually someone on a speaker somewhere in the distance saying Hhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaalllllleeeeeeeeeeeeeelllllllluuuuuuuuuuuujjjjjjjjjjjaaaaaaaahhh
(hallelujah).

I still have yet to go to a church here, although I plan to before I leave. I've been happy to join a lively Buddhist community in Nigeria.

So, something that has been bothering me (and this bothers me in the US, too, its just more obvious here), is the assumption that God and his blessings mean money.

There are huge scandals and scams that involve churches and money here. When someone gets money, they think it comes from God, or at least thats the way it seems to me.

Last I checked, and please feel to correct me if I'm wrong, since this is not my religion, Jesus Christ, the son of God, was born poor, lived poor and died poor. Yes, he died for the sins of man, but not so that man could commit many more sins. Right?

If that is the son of God, then what of humans, in theory made in God's image?

Why is wealth a sign of God's blessings?? Aren't there plenty of wealthy sinners and poor martyrs? Does that mean that poor people are not God's favorites (assuming God has time to play favorites)? It doesn't make sense.

What do you think?

I do think money is important. You need it to live, but if you commit sins to get it, is it still God's gift?

Best,
Alena

3 Months Into My Field Experience in Nigeria

Dear Readers,

This post could also be titled 'what I should have packed for Nigeria'

If I could start over again, I would have packed:
A tool kit
A how to fix anything book
easymac (my auntie sent me a carton of them)
A how to clean anything book
peanut butter
cheese
more DVDs and books
roach traps
cool little gifts for children

Things I am glad that I packed:
TUMs (yay calcium)
Lonely Planet Healthy Africa Travel Guide
multivitamins
my skype headset
my portable dvd player

Things I should have left at home:
some of the bug spray (i brought a lot)

best thing I bought early into my trip:
blackberry. guaranteed internet. cant be beat
portable sheets

best first lesson:
start with humor. nigerian's will out-confront me every time, so if i start with humor, a joke, whatever, people are way nicer to me (thanks cyril)

hope these notes are helpful to any other travelers on the continent!

best,
alena

The Oga Syndrome

Dear Readers,

If you've been to Nigeria, you've heard the term "Oga" it means 'Master' or 'boss' or can be a term of respect for someone older/of higher status than you.

Status is very important in Nigeria. I've seen countless interactions, where both parties are sizing the other up. I know Nigerians don't like likenesses to animals, but it strikes me as very animalistic.

An Oga is generally someone who has some kind of high status. However, you're usually an oga if you have a staff, have some money, or are perceived as having some money.

'Who is your Oga?' is sort of like 'Who is your Godfather' or 'Who controls you?'

With all hierarchical power structures there is abuse. This is very apparent in Nigeria. People fight their whole life, suffer lots of abuse, to become an oga. Then all that accumulated bitterness comes out in abusing your staff/whomever crosses your path.

Oga Syndrome: when you take this Master/Slave dynamic too seriously and forget to treat all people with respect.

A great article: Oga (Master) Syndrome

Now, I've become a mini-oga (I have an office, a staff, drivers, security, etc). I think my record is having the same staff member ask me for money 6 times in 6 different ways on the same day. I say 'no' politely each time. I can tell that it can get pretty annoying. I think MY 'ogas' (bosses) like me specifically because I don't ask them for money.

What makes a 'good' Oga?

Have you been accused of Oga syndrome?

Anyway, hope you enjoyed this piece.

Best,
Alena

Have Passport, Will Have Shared National Identity?

Dear Readers,

After a series of unfortunate mini-crises, I nearly had a meltdown. I really really need to have 1 day in Nigeria where no lecherous married man hits on me, no one tries to scam me and nothing breaks (I have a somewhat cynical theory that when a Nigerian tries to fix something, they start by breaking it more...).

Part of this breakdown is my newfound inability to communicate with my countrymen (Americans) about this experience (working in Nigeria, for Nigerians, with Nigerians...there are maybe a handful of foreigners in my temporary town).

Now, don't take this the wrong way, but it doesn't take much to be an 'Africa expert' in the US. I'd be curious to see how many such experts had spent more than 2 continuous months in an African country. I've only been to two--but I'm definitely the only American living in my town. Some pass through periodically, mostly oil workers and wayward academics.

The funny thing about being so isolated from other expats, is that I feel increasingly uncomfortable around my fellow expats--especially the ones who are just here to visit, or live within a cocoon (albeit a cocoon I sometimes envy--I'd do a lot for some real Chinese food, or regular access to decent bread and cheese).

I was asked by a friend who lives in the US, in the same wealthy suburb I spent one year of high school in (note to other expats, growing up moving around is great for kids--but please don't move them their senior year of hs), and I realized that I had no way to describe my experience to him.

This must sort of be what veterans feel--that even if people were interested and asked questions--you wouldn't know what to say. I can't even watch some US tv shows anymore because the ideal world depicted in those shows is so far from the reality...even the US reality, much less the Nigerian one.

Does embracing diversity of thought and culture mean that I'm actually more American?

I don't feel very Nigerian--I'm not. However, I do feel less and less in common with Americans, despite my passport.

I hope I learn enough here to be able to communicate back there.

Best,
Alena

Another Perspective on the Cordoba House

Dear Readers,

Now, I thought this article, "Andrew Jackson's America" by Ta-Nehisi Coates, was a bit all over the place, but the last paragraph really caught my eye.

"The prospect of Muslims assimilating will not subdue them. To the contrary, the last thing they want is their kid competing with yours. Their hypocrisy is stunning: These are the ghosts who burned black Wall Street, who pilfered the "Five Civilized Tribes," who recoil at gays attempting to build family. And so on. They claim to fear the immigrant clinging to his language. No. What they fear is the immigrant learning theirs. Much like Barack Obama scares them more than any New Black Panther, Cordoba House is more terrifying than any iteration of radical jihad. In Obama's case, it shows how well blacks know America, how essential we are to the thing. In the case of Muslims, it shows how well they have caught on."

Personally, I have no problem a house affiliated with any religion being built anywhere in the world. I also think that how the US handles its inter-religious, inter-ethnic debates is very telling for our past and our future.

What do you think?

Best,
Alena

In Nigeria, everything is Now or Never.

Dear Readers,

I am now 2 months into my consulting work in Nigeria. I've learned a lot in that time and I'm pleased to say that my project is on track.

I also am pleased to note that the more difficult things I encounter, the more determined I am to overcome them. It is very good to learn these things about oneself.

I have limits, just like any other creature on this earth, but thanks to my supportive loved ones and my Buddhist practice, I've risen above and am ever more resolved to live by my principles.

One thing I've learned about doing business in Nigeria is that everything is now or never. If someone shows up to fix something in your home or office, they won't call ahead, they'll just show up. If you are on your way out of the door, they'll insist on doing whatever it is right now, and there's no opportunity to reschedule to a time that is convenient.

The same thing goes for official meetings with VIPs. If there's an opening in time, you have to jump on it, go as fast as you can to it, and if you delay, you'll miss it. Yes, there is an official appointment schedule, but its very challenging to be on it, and its not the way to get the meetings you need.

Nigeria is Now or Never. It's all about seizing the window of opportunity. It can't be good on the blood pressure. :)

Best,
Alena

China, India, Megacities, Oil and Energy, and Absentee Leadership

Dear Readers,

I read these stories in Foreign Policy Magazine online. They were interesting, although 'where did they get the numbers' is a useful question.

Megacities BY RICHARD DOBBS. This compares the expected growth of China and India's rising urban population.

The Oil and the Glory: A series of stories about the oil and gas industry across the globe.

Gone Fishing, by Brian Fung. A list of Absentee leaders during a crisis. I'm not sure how fair these descriptions are, but its interesting reading.

Hope you enjoy them!
Alena

What are our options?

Dear Readers,

I participated in a discussion, one you may hear in any part of the world, that could easily be titled ‘what is wrong with the world today?’ Obviously none of us were basing our arguments on anything well-researched, it was much more on personal opinion and experience.

That aside, since I was the youngest one in the group, and the only one around to defend ‘my generation,’ I was pleased when the older generation stated ‘well, whatever is wrong with today, it’s our fault’. Which, for the way time works, past begets present, present begets future, is true. However, this got me thinking about time, generations, what may change between those things, etc.

Do I think there’s been a ‘shift in values’? I don’t know. Even though my generation and the next might have ‘different values’, what does that mean? My generation is the most likely to volunteer their time, which is a nice value. Many also state that my generation is more focused on the individual, which may be the case, but the first statement puts the second in question.

I think that one of the greatest things that the current two generations (let’s say everyone under 35) possess is options. You can be a woman, a minority, disabled, whatever, and mostly be able to pursue the career of your choice, with the education of your choice. Obviously not every gets to do this, perhaps only the elites within those groups, but it is still out there.

My thoughts about all these options is, where did we learn to make good decisions? There are endless possibilities with toothpaste, tv channels, careers, websites, social networks, etc. How do we choose? Do we know how to make good decisions that will positively impact ourselves AND our societies?

What do you think?

Best,
Alena