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Originally Posted by pranil It lloks like my company work may take to Nigeria (Abuja ) for few months. Any body has first hand experience/ tips on the car scene their.
I know it is left drive/ cheap petrol and all major brands available but any specific tips may be welcome |
Okay this is going to be tough.
1. Most (90%+) of the cars in Nigeria are cheap (and very old) imports from other countries. Usually in a dilapidated condition. Only large corporates (and there are very few of them) buy new cars.
2. Petrol is cheap, WHEN it is available. This is the world's 6th largest producer of Crude Oil and they have really high quality crude, but most of the time your driver (not you - god save you if you dont have a driver) will spend his nights in a queue outside a petrol station. He will get fuel by morning if you belong to an 'influential' company. Or if he has a gun.
3. Honda and Kia are the two big sellers there. It used to be Peuguot a few years back until Honda took over, and in the last 3-4 years Kia have taken the market from Honda.
4. Traffic jams normally ensure that a 6 km journey takes about 2-3 hours in rush hour. Traffic Jams are so bad that Nigeria's biggest retail chain consists of the street vendors who sell you everything from Tea to Toilet Brushes, Vegetables to Magazines and Snacks to Softdrinks while you're waiting in your car.
5. Of course, you can do your shopping ONLY if you're brave enough to open your windows. Usually you are brave enough to open the window a bit if you have a driver, but preferably if you have a security guard.
6. The roads are pretty bad. When it rains you will be driving through a lot of water, so you need a pretty water-tight car.
7. Watch out for the mini-buses (DANFOs) and the motorcycle-taxis (OKADAs). Both of these leave plenty of scars and scratches on other cars. The DANFOs are usually old Volkswagen or Mazda minibuses that are held together with rope, wire, rusty old bolts and a lot of willpower. Their rear doors and engine covers normally fly off and hit the cars behind (one flew OVER my wife's Civic once) so try not to tail them, especially if they are doing reasonably high speeds (40 kmph +).
8. You may also find DANFOs spewing smoke from their rear engines. When this happens, the driver's helper climbs to the rear, opens the hatch and the engine cover, and pours water into the radiator of the running vehicle. Boiling water may come spewing out towards your vehicle if you're behind.
9. HOLD UP: This usually happens if you're driving through the wrong areas. The local hoodlums, known as 'Area Boys' may stop your car and demand money. Give them everything you have - they mean no bodily harm. For this purpose, carry about 50 dollars in 10 dollar notes in your car - they're usually happy to see greenbacks and will let you go with a smile and a huge thank-you.
10. ARMED HOLD UP: Let them take your car. Dont bother about anything else. This car will then be driven (along with others that have been stolen that day) in convoy to the border of Benin. From Benin they are rolled-on to a ship (they have provided a very convenient RO-RO berth for roll-on, roll-off and the latter rarely happens).
11. Driver - Never trust your driver, no matter how good he seems to be. They steal instinctively, even if they mean no harm. One of my drivers stole my wife's mobilephone when she left it in the car. We traced the handset to his wife's number.
12. Peuguot - NEVER drive one of the old Peuguots, especially the 504s of the 80s that is the Nigerian equivalent of the Ambassador. They are made in Nigeria, and every 'Area Boy' knows how to 'fix' these cars. The popular method is to go under the car and remove a coupling after the fuel pump. You then have to pay up whatever they demand before they put that coupling back on.
As you can see, its not very glamorous. Dont bother with flashy cars as its a one-way ticket to car-jacking. One of our friends didnt listen to friendly advice and bought himself a Prado which was promptly stolen the next Sunday when he was on his way to church. Toyota cars have the highest car-jackability index.
Buy yourself a boring looking Honda Civic, and as soon as you get it put a few scratches on it and splash it with mud to make it look old.
FINALLY: I really hope you're not going to be working for Globacom, Conaco or any of Mike Adenuga's companies. Then you wont have the time to drive, even if you are given a car (which is a rarity).
PPS: Abuja is a lot better than Lagos. Almost another world, as it is a city created out of nowhere and therefore has large wide roads. The city looks like a huge (empty) parking lot.