What are some unexpected things first-time visitors to Nigeria notice?

I visited Nigeria for my wife’s brother’s wedding a few years ago and there was so much that I didn’t expect. Here are just a few things.

1. People are really friendly. This is not just an offhand nicety, but everyone was genuinely nice to me as a stranger, greeting and offering help.

2. There ARE scams, but people don’t want you to fall for them. Nigeria is famous for it’s scams (419s) and before visiting you are made aware that it is a big deal, but for every scam I saw, there were 10 people that warned me about them beforehand. It seems the majority of people are embarrassed by them but have some to terms with them being part of life.

3. Everyone is invited to a party. If you know about a party, just turn up! It is not expected that you know the people hosting, but is expected that you can just go along if you know somebody.

4. Weddings are huge. Hundreds, even thousands of guests. Invites don’t seem to be a thing and again, anyone it appears can attend. Even people walking past on the street can just join in and be fed!

5. The rich are super, mega rich and the poor are very very poor. Some of the most expensive real estate in the world is in Lagos, with skyscrapers and plush hotels. But there are also so many people that live in squalor spitting distance away.

6. Nigerians LOVE the English Premier league. You will see busses and trucks painted in Arsenal, Manchester United, Chelsea etc. colours everywhere and bars are packed out when there is live English football on.

7. Busses often have preachers and/or sales people get on and loudly evangelise or sell their products. Even at 6am in the morning.

8. Christians and Muslims live together and interact together quite happily. The only people that have any issues (from my experience) are Athiests, which are treated like they have an illness.

9. Petrol is often a massive problem. As a foreigner you are aware that Nigeria is a big oil producing nation, but there are so many petrol shortages and sometimes many-mile-long queues at petrol stations, which change their prices accordingly, that you wouldn’t believe it.

10. Lots of buildings have ‘THIS BUILDING IS NOT FOR SALE’ written on them, as apparently a popular scam is to ‘sell’ somebody elses building without their knowledge!
Most busses don’t have a schedule, they leave when they are full, which can take hours. Also, what might seem like a buss station, with lots of the smaller busses touting for passengers, often isn’t. I remember being aboard a minibus that bolted off at high speed along with the 40 or 50 others that were in the same place the moment they heard a police siren!

11. Customer service is appalling in almost all restaurants and shops (aside perhaps from the super-high-end ones and weirdly KFC). It is not unusual to have to wake somebody to serve you, there is never any hurry to help you and there seems to be no pride in doing a good job. I know this sounds harsh, but this point is absolutely accurate from my experience. It appears in response, a culture of the customer becoming rude, loud and clicking fingers etc. to get service has emerged. I was always nice and polite, but rarely had the same granted back to me by the person I was paying.

These are just a few of the things I remembered, but I had a fantastic time there and will certainly be returning many times in the future. I certainly recommend you see for yourselves and don’t just believe the negative hype.

Adam Webb,
From Manchester UK.