Anyhow... I had barely arrived when I recognized a change in my mindset; I no longer appreciated the lack of okada bikes like I used to.
When I still had my car, the idea of okada being off Abuja's streets was a very welcome move by el-Mallam (more on him in a bit). It meant I could freely drive without expecting to crash into a bike with no other warning but a brief blur in my peripheral vision. But I couldn't help wishing for an okada the other day.
I went from area 7 to the GTBank branch at area 3 to send some money to my wife. Now normally, it would only take a few minutes for her to be able to pick it up. Unfortunately this time, even efter a long wait at an ATM, it still hadn't reflected in her account. So I had to make a return trip meaning I had to spend 200bucks on a cab round trip again only to be told it was posted just minutes before i walked through the bank metal detectors.
Total amount spent: 450bucks. Total amount I would have spent in KD: 150bucks! And I've only been here three days... that's not funny at all. Mistakes involving physical movement can be so painful to your wallet here.
For example, I wandered around looking for a decent cafe and wandered in and out of a few that had no facilities for laptop use. I then had to leave the last one after overhearing a guy asking someone over the phone that they would need to send money to process a visa and other documents ahead of the "all states governors meeting" tomorrow. No way I'm gonna start hanging out with yahoo boys in EFCC territory.
So anyway, I call a buddy to show me a decent cafe, but we cross wires and while I took a Keke Napep to his house and he drives over to pick me up. Money wasted? 80bucks. Now I'm in a 200buck an hour hotel cafe. Jeez!
On el-Mallam, a friend of mine bumped into him on a staircase the other day at his office. Men, the guy has been humbled. You would almost not notice him without the old entourage of police escorts and all the old FCT Ministerial paraphernalia. Apparently, el-Mallam is a QS and has his ofice in the same building of the company that cornered majority of the contracts in ABJ. Coincidence? Not in Naija. Word is they fronted for him big-time but who can prove it right?
Summary of my gist is that ABJ is taking some getting used to, but it sure beats Lagos on the traffic front.
L8rs
PS My boys Soul Quest are on course to win the African Regional Finals of the Malta Guinness Street Dance Contest. I hear their main competition is probably the crew from Ghana. But Ghana already won the Apprentice Africa so methinks thats enough for now. Right?
No comments:
Post a Comment