Creative Nigerian Marketing Strategies

I must say, I still love driving in traffic and waiting to see something completely unexpected. I was in a go slow with a friend the other day, on our way to the grocery store. She was sitting in the back seat with me (as usual), and someone approached her side of the car attempting to sell something (as usual). He was holding up a string with some dead critters on it. I said "Is that?". My friend turned to see and said "RAAAATTSSS!! AHHHHHH!". It was hilarious, he waited for her to calm down, them held up another string. No dead rats this time, instead it was a string of bright coloured boxes with dead rats on them, called the Atomic Bomb. He was selling rat poison. I must say I thought that this kind of marketing was very very clever. You have to remember this is a street vendor! We then watched him go to the other cars and scare the living heck out of other people stuck in traffic. Sorry I didn't get a chance to take a photo, my girlfriend was freakin out, she didn't find it nearly as amusing as I did.

While at a Chinese market one day, I discovered a non-discrete door, selling bathroom use. The ladies got a kick out of it. So I snapped a photo with my phone.

Compliments of the Season

Christmas in Nigeria 2006. I must say the day itself turned out to be a lot of fun. Ryan and I cooked the traditional meal, for a few friends, also in Lagos for the holidays. The preparations, up to Christmas day, not so fun. A week before Christmas, all the grocery stores closed down, the only thing we could buy were fresh fruits and vegetables at the market. The rumors where that the government was hitting up the store owners to pay huge tariffs on their products being imported, (most are smuggled in). Rather than pay the government the stores closed. If they opened without paying they risked being thrown in jail. So here I am, trying to cook my first Christmas dinner, running around town, trying to find ingredients. I did manage to buy a turkey though! One of the store owners opened up really early in the morning (seven o'clock), and the word was out that if you needed a turkey, show up at that time, no later than seven thirty. I show up to the store, it appears closed, a guard comes to the car to see who is inside, and opens the gate. It felt like I was there on some shady drug deal! I did manage to get all the ingredients through the kindness of the ladies in our building (they have stock piles like you wouldn't believe). We did have a back up for the turkey, at Ryan's work , in the parkade, you could purchase a live one. The turkeys showed up in a back of a van, about five days before Christmas. When you purchased your turkey you would take him home (live) with a bag of food. I guess so you could fatten him up! This was my LAST LAST resort. Here are a few shots of the meal and friends! After we ate, we went and spent the evening drinking and socializing with our building mates.Fireworks where going off all night, across the beach we face. It was really cool.






Compliments of the Season is what everybody says here. Not Merry Christmas, not happy holidays. Just the very Hallmark "Compliments of The Season!". When you say Merry Christmas back, most people laugh or look at you a little funny. The streets and building were nicely decorated, our guards even decorated our gate! People were shooting off fireworks throughout the holidays, it was really amusing. At first we thought it was gunfire, then you could see the flashing in the sky.
Along with decorations and Christmas cheer, came out the creatures. One day after dropping off Ryan at lunch, my driver and I pulled out of the parkade. He said "Madam, Madam, Hyenas and Baboons!" I thought he was going crazy, then I saw them. A group of men where marching some baboons, and hyenas down the street, beating a drum and singing. I quickly told my driver to turn around so we could see them. The hyenas were big, much bigger than I imagined. The whole scene was amusing, but very sad at the same time. They had put pants on the baboon and would make him walk on two feet to the drum. The hyena was more stubborn and wouldn't move around as freely. The men were wipping him, he was bleeding from his ears, it was really sad. The group was looking for money (I didn't give any, not wanting to promote this). Unfortunately, me just stopping to look, promotes it.

Cajuns, Turkey and Shitrocks continued

Ryan and I were very fortunate to experience some real creole cajun food just last week. Our friend Todd invited us over, and he cooked an amazing meal for us (and about 15 other guests). I don't think I had ever eaten "real" cajun cooking like that, and man I am hooked. Todd is from Louisiana and is here working as a consultant. He was just recently home, and brought back with him all the necessary food and spices to cook some real hometown, cajun food. We had a really great time and were able to meet more people our own age! Believe it or not this is a challenge in Lagos. Here are a few photos of the evening.







Now was requested (I will leave you anonymous!) Photos of shit rock. Shit Rock is well if you haven't figured a shit rock. Ryan's work window looks out onto the lagoon, and well the place where many men like to do there business. You can see the rock if you look just above the billboard. The photo quality isn't all that great because it was taken with Ryan's phone.




While playing cards at a neighbors one day I discovered do doo rock numero 2 (pardon the pun). The women I play cards with were out with binoculars looking at the construction workers (who sometimes work-out naked), when I discovered shit rock #2, this place is where well, they like to take care of business. If you can see on the side of the photo, the building being constructed it quite the deal. one is more fancy than the one outside Ryan's work, they have gone to the extent of building a platform. The building next door is built completely out of concrete. They use wooden tressles instead of scaffolding.

Cajuns, Turkey and Shit Rocks

Although a little late, I figured I would post the photos we have of our first American Thanks-giving. It just so happened to be celebrated in Nigeria! We attended the function at the American Embassy's guest quarters. The food was very good. They actually had butter ball turkeys flown in for the occaision! They served the whole works, even pumpkin pie. Rumors where flying about last year people not getting any pie as it was all eaten by the time they got to it in line. Ryan thought he would take precautionary measures and went straight for the pie, and took one of the largest pieces of pie I've ever seen. There were about twenty or thirty of us there, mostly people Ryan works with.

Traffic Nigerian Style

It has been about three weeks now, and I am starting to feel settled in. My days are filled with all sorts of different things, like cards, market shopping, meeting people for lunch etc. There have been many different functions with the holiday season coming up. We have put up a few lights and bought a few ornaments for the house to make it feel a little more festive. I am surprised how many buildings are decorated, it looks really nice.

With the holiday season approaching the traffic is getting worse and worse. Yesterday I spent a little over 4 hours in the car, traveling to see a friend, and back (a total distance of maybe 7kms)! The beauty of the go slows here is that you can buy almost anything while stuck in traffic. A cool drink, newspaper, sunglasses, complete guide to Shakespeare, toilet seat, hair shears, office chair, Halloween masks, dolls, engineering mathematics, three month old gossip columns, and fruit and vegetables. Most days it is a bunch of people selling a lot of the same thing, other days (my favorites) is when you see a huge variety of stuff. Although they are out trying to make a buck, the go-slow vendors often cause the traffic problems. I guess they need to ensure they have some customers.

I am starting to get used to the police checks. Every night usually after sundown the Nigerian police set up road block/check stops. At first I was really nervous about them, because they carry big guns, automatic assault rifles, but now (it is funny how it wears off) I have learned that they mostly just want money. They will wave you over, (because they see foreigners in the car) and say that your driver did something illegal, and you need to pay. Or they will just ask straight out "something for the boys?".. My driver usually just drives away. The first time I was like "whoa! What are you doing, they have guns". Nothing ever comes of it, they just wave as you drive away. Completely ridiculous. Now that the holiday season is coming they are hitting up people hard for extra doe. Our driver is really good at dealing with this sort of thing.

Our driver has Sunday off. To spend time with family and go to church. The roads are usually pretty quite so Ryan doesn't mind driving. A few weekends ago we were on our way to the beach and were pulled over for no reason. The police officer saw two foreigners in the car and thought he could make some extra money. Ryan pulled to ol' "don't understand you," card and drove away! When we arrived at the beach to meet up friends, we said we were late as we got pulled over and a good friend of mine said " Yup, Sunday, or I guess you can call it get whitey day!" The Nigerian government is trying its best to stop corruption, and according to some, has had some success over the past years.

The beach we went to the other weekend is about a 30 minute boat ride outside of Lagos. The beach house/hut is quite nice and the actual beach is big and clean. It is the "Mobil" beach house, and any employee has free access to the boat and hut. We went with a crew of about 20 and it was really fun. Lots of great food, and a really nice leisurely day. When you arrive to the dock, there are a bunch of people from the village waiting to carry your things. They are glad to do it for some extra cash. One of the women's club here actually raised money and built a school for the children of the community. When we arrived, Church was in session, and the sounds coming out of the building were amazing. All the families inside singing and dancing. As we walked I thought "wow, that SOUNDS like Africa". The village there is small, and most of the families, either fish or do some sort of crafts, trade that they can sell. The children are so cute, and always seem to have a smile on waving and laughing. Mid-day vendors usually visit the beach and sell different goods that either they have made or someone they know has made.




--DDQ