Nigeria for beginners (me)
I’m in Lagos to learn all about the region for an advertising brief, so I’m currently enjoying a crash course in all things Nigerian.
The one word I would use to describe the people of Lagos is relentless. They are all proudly out to get whatever they can, working really hard to make sure that when the big chance arrives, they are ready to take it. If you take your foot off the gas for a minute, someone else will step in and grab what you missed.
That might sound intense, and indeed it is, but with the population growing by 2000 a day, competition is fierce. It is also by far the richest nation in the continent, responsible for 60% of Africa’s GDP, so if you want to make it over here, you need to go to Nigeria, and, more specifically, Lagos.
For a microcosm illustration of this, check the traffic situation: if there is no traffic, a journey might take five minutes, but in rush hour it can take an hour or more. Unfortunately, rush hour takes up most of the day. People get up at 4am because it means they can get to work in an hour. If they got up at 5, the same journey would take three or four hours and they’d be late. But in the traffic, if you give an inch of space, the guy next to you will grab it. Most of the roads don’t have lanes, so it’s a bit of a free-for-all. Quite scary, but quite exciting, and their faith in god seems to see them through:
The other thing is that in some ways they are miles ahead of us in advertising terms. The conventional stuff might not be as sophisticated as ours, but Guinness actually made a movie based around their brand property several years ago, and this year they’ve managed to persuade Argentina to come and play a friendly with Nigeria in its home stadium, where Nigeria have not played for ten years. Find me a western client and campaign that has done anything that seismic.
So it’s pretty darn amazing; a country where the average wage is $4…
but the people are relentlessly optimistic:
Fascinating.
Played footy with a Nigerian from Lagos. Relentless to say the least. You’d have to get up pretty early on the morning‚Ķ
Is Dan Smith your suit?
Ben you would want to come to India, i am sure you would find it fascinating, though tad pretentious and wannabe.
If you’ve got decent life insurance, try a motorcycle taxi.
there’s nothing heroic in their “relentlessness”.
go to the harbour.
check how mothers offer her 10-14 year old daughters to sailors.
that’s Nigeria without a tour guide.
traffic reminds me a little of india.
no rules.
people just don’t crash into each other. like when you are walking down oxford st.
Alvanta, I think you’ll find that child prostitution happens all over the world, including in England. Is that down to relentlessness? Probably not.
Dan Smith is our ‘suit’.
I’m going nowhere near a motorcycle taxi. We talked about it a lot today, but I think my wife would not be happy about me doing that.
“I’m in Lagos for an advertising brief..”
Behave.
Saw this on cr blog. Nicely crafted.
http://www.creativereview.co.uk/cr-blog
Welcome to our wonderful city.
Have been living and working as an expat CD in these parts for a few years now. If you have time it would be interesting to meet, especially about your water project. A big ask for here admittedly. Then again, difficult is worth doing.
I guess you have my email.
Oh, and Okada is very much life threatening. But also rather exhilarating.
Beginners with M.E?
The 3-part BBC documentary on Lagos was tremendous – well worth a look if you’ve not seen it before.
your first time in africa? i was there a few years ago and it blew my mind. so different energywise. a different planet.
Yes, first time (not counting SA, which I’ve been to a couple if times). It was mind-blowing.
The Welcome To Lagos docs are excellent and can be found on Vimeo.
Can we talk about some ads please!!
ha, I’m coming to London for his wedding in a few weeks.
This must have been the most one sided champions league final in history?
http://keelbyunited.co.uk/Blog/Enemy_of_football.htm