Rent....

When I first moved over here I believed it would be simply a matter of finding a good flat or house and like England putting a deposit for a month then pay the monthly rent. Oh how naïve I was!

The rental system here in Lagos is quite frankly ridiculous. To live in a place of similar comparison to UK standards in a relatively secure and comfortable location should be in areas like the lekki peninsular or Oniru estate, which are 'up and coming' areas. Rental prices vary but increase year on year- highbrow locations such as Ikoyi or Victoria Island can be twice the price of the peninsular. Fair enough, if your earning a reasonable salary or so I thought:

The problem and it is a large one is that rental must be paid for two years upfront in cash. A monthly charge is pretty much non existent. When prices start from Around 3 million naira per year you can see the issue. For those un familiar with naira that's around 12 thousand pounds sterling. Yet it doesn't stop there: one must then suffer the charges of your property agent who takes a maximum of 10% of the rental fee, there is then a 10% legal fee to be paid.

So just to recap:

3 million naira per yer

X 2 years = 6 million

10% agency fee & 10% legal fee = 1.2 million naira

So that's around 7.2 million naira or 29 thousand pounds sterling to be paid upfront. After that all you have to find is money to buy a generator to power the house when not if the electric fails and of course your furniture. Only then are you able to live in an approximate comfort to your life in England.

And so I realised it was a little unrealistic to manage to rent if I wanted to live in as much comfort as the UK. Thanks to my wife's family I was most welcome at their place and for a number of reasons have realised that I will be here for a while longer!

Phone promo...

And so Ibadan, geographically the second biggest city in Africa, was the location for one of the many Gameshows of the 9jillions promo of Etisalat  this Saturday, where the lucky few competitors would walk away with over a million Naira each, they and many like them would also have the opportunity to take part in a final show where the biggest prize fund in Africa $1million would be up for grabs. Of course I should mention at this point they are a client of mine!


The attendance was as you would expect for a country whose population aspires to riches, packed. And you could feel the tension as individuals waited to see if their number would be picked.

Over 11 million Naira is given out at these events to owners of an Etisalat line, and the 5th GSM company to enter into Nigeria is pushing hard to gain market share and catch up with the competition, so hard in fact that the other GSM companies have started their own promos to catch up.
The good thing about these promotions is that the consumer has a real opportunity to better themselves financially, and this in a country where often it is your connections that help rather than luck. Hopefully the promos can in the long run assist in a redistribution of wealth into many hands. At the least it will certainly help those who win to kick start a business or pay some school fees...

Party season begins...

Ramadan is over and the warm up to Christmas is here, and with it comes the party season.
After a month where Nigeria and Lagos is relatively quiet due to fasting, the party season has started with a vengeance.
Nigerians love to hold a party and for the highbrow section of society there is always the task of better thy neighbour.
The brash competitiveness of Nigerians comes out in force.
The finest halls are hired and often millions of Naira (around 250 naira - £1) is spent on venue, decorations, food, ushers, drink, entertainers of the moment and party favours. This season is filled with birthdays, weddings and any other excuse. It is big business in itself.

One such bash was a party for a leading Oil and Gas company director this weekend. The guest list read like a who's who of Nigeria's oil producing elite and the champagne was flowing.
What was more than interesting was that a larger proportion of the guests were connected to some well known individuals here in Nigeria who are under investigation for various fraudulent business practices. But they seemed more than comfortable with the champagne in hand.

It gave me an uncomfortable feeling to know that this was occurring in a country where the UN statistics point to around four fifths the population existing on less than 2 dollars a day. The hotel where this happened charges 3 times my drivers monthly salary for a room per night.
My wife made an interesting comment drawing parallels between 18th century France and Nigeria today, where the elite numbers in the few thousand and controls 99% of the wealth how can fairness and justice for the many occur while the few enjoy their champagnes and canapes... Until there is a drastic change here there will be a vast gulf between the have and have nots...