2010-03-25: Last Day at Office in Calabar

Day 28

Thursday, 25th February, 2010

We were very relaxed after our presentation at the Executive Council yesterday. Today was our last day at the Office. For the last time, we got picked up at 8.15 AM from Axari Hotel, climbed 5 floors to the Investment Promotion Bureau. Greg and myself had collected gifts we got together and distributed them to all our colleagues. We also compiled all our deliverables into 2 Flash Disk which Greg had got from US and gave it to Edward and Mr. Ada. While we walked down the Office we hoped that they carry on with the recommendations that we made. It was good working here and was a learning experience for us as well. Hope we made a difference here, even a small one..

Greg and myself with Edward and his Business Development Team

Greg and myself with Mr. Celestine Ogar and Mr. Ignatius Atsu, both Directors at the Bureau.

On the way back I joined Greg, Laura, Jamie and Justin for lunch. They had been invited by the priest of St. Patrick's church. It was great meeting with them and listening to their stories of working in Nigeria.

2010-03-24: Presentation at Executive Council and Last Team Dinner

Day 27

Wednesday, 24th March, 2010

Team Presentation at Executive Council

It was a big day for the whole team as we were to do our final team presentation to the Executive Council (EXCO). The EXCO is like a State Cabinet and is presided by Governor. However, as the Governor is not in Office it is headed by Dy. Governor.

All of us were ready in our Business Suit and headed to the Governor's Office in the morning. We were asked to wait at the waiting lounge.

It was a time to recap for everyone and do last minutes touches on the presentation. Later we were asked to move to the EXCO hall. It was a very large hall with sitting arrangements of all members of the council with the seat of Governor at one end and the projector on the other. We set up our presentation and waited for the Dy. Governor.

After the Dy. Governor the session was started with state and national anthem. Ann Oden introduced all of us individually to the council. The welcome note was given by Greg followed by a 6 minute presentation of Investment Bureau. Later each team came forward one by one to present their recommendations. The session was very positively received by the council and was followed by a long string of Q&A. Towards the end we got an opportunity to get a photograph with Dy. Governor. I must admit we all felt really special being here and also relieved at the end of the session. It seemed the efforts for the past 3 and a half week has come to its fruitful end.

Last Team Dinner together

As Marijke is leaving on Thursday we decided to do our last team dinner together.

Everyone voted for the same Lebanese place, Freddys. We had a good time there and to our pleasant surprise Marijke took out a postcard from Holland for each of us with a personalized messages on them. We all were really touched with this gesture. We also thanked Jane and Becky from the Governor's Protocol Office for all their support throughout the trip. Oh, forgot to mention you that I have taken over the responsibility of money counting at the end of every dinner.

Back at Hotel I tried a Nigerian Shirt of one of our team-mate.... Looks good, isnt it.

2010-03-23: Dinner with Deputy Governor at Presidential Lodge

Day 26

Tuesday, 23rd March, 2010

Final presentation at the Investment Promotion Bureau

Today we had to do a final presentation at the Investment Promotion Bureau. Earlier in the day Remi and George (both from IBM Nigeria) joined us for a joint meeting with our Special Advisor, Mr. Gerald Ada, to discuss on the communication strategies between the Bureau and IBM. The meeting which was originally scheduled for 11AM started post lunch at around 2PM. Greg and myself presented our recommendations and summary of the work we delivered in the past 3 weeks to an audience of around 15 people. The presentation was well received and everyone appreciated our effort and IBM. We hope that they will set up a process to initiate work on the recommendations provided.

As tomorrow, we have our final presentation at the Executive Council, we did a dry run at the hotel. Some of the presentations were really good. Jamie made a straight-forward comment on the lack of essence of storytelling in some of the presentations, typically Aussie, but I guess everyone appreciated his forthright observations.

Dinner with Deputy Governor at Presidential Lodge

After our dry run, we quickly changed and went to Presidential Lodge for our team dinner with Dy. Governor. Ideally the dinner is hosted by the Governor, but since he had an accident 2 weeks back the Dy. Governor was hosting the dinner for us. (For folks uninitiated at India, the Governor is equivalent to the Chief Minister of a state.)

Ann Oden, our CDS representative, set the stage with a brief summary of the IBM CSC Program and introduced us to His Excellency Dy. Governor. The food and the dessert were great. After the Dy. Governor we clicked enough photographs to keep our fond memories alive of this wonderful assignment.

2010-03-22: Bringing smiles with Microsoft Excel

Day 25

Monday, 22nd March, 2010

Making small differences with Microsoft Office

A common theme that most teams found working with different MDA's (Ministries, Department and Agencies) was lack of exposure to IT tools. Their use of computers is mostly restricted to using Microsoft Office. And even then the use of Word and Excel is very basic and most of them are unaware of simple features in these products.

Thanks to Justin, he organised an Excel training at Axari Hotel last Friday. We requested 2 of our colleagues from Investment Promotion Bureau to join the training as well. Among them, Ema, is responsible for collecting Business Premises Registration Fees here. For the past 3 weeks he has been really helpful in making us understand the process of Business Registration and also facilitated a field visit for us. However, whenever we made request for any information I saw him struggle with compiling information in either Word and Excel. Thus, I feel obligated to train him on Excel so he can do his work in a more productive manner. After his training this morning I organised a session with him to walk him through different features which can help him on his day-to-day work. I cleaned up and reorganized the spreadsheet that he uses to store his data and used as a base file for our training exercise. With every exercise the smile on his face started growing. I could clearly see the feeling of him getting more empowered with Excel. I also compiled the step-by-step process in a word document which he can refer later promising him to show him more this Thursday.

We did the same with the Business Development Team here and helped them with Microsoft Word..

Its amazing how you can bring smile on faces with Word and Excel!

Thanking students from CRUTECH

Dan and Kei had been working with Cross River University of Technology (CRUTECH) and they arranged for three really bright students to assist various teams on their CSC assignment. The students helped the teams to make the website of CRUTECH and Department of Public Transportation. Donald helped us at the Investment Promotion Bureau build a prototype of their online Business Directory and Premises Registration Fee collection. He did a fabulous job in completing the prototype in less than a week. We were really impressed with his technical skills. Since the work done by the students were voluntary we decided to thank them by hosting a dinner. I hope the opportunity to work with IBM CSC team reflects good on their resume.

Donald in white shirt sitting third on the left row.

2010-03-21: Last weekend at Calabar

Day 23 and Day 24

This was our last weekend at Calabar. By the same time next week most of us will be already on our way back to our home countries. The past 3 weeks have been really enjoyful. Our hosts did a great job in keeping us busy throughout the weekends and it was good fun. During this time we got to see a lot in and around Calabar.

Saturday 20th March, 2010

The plan for Saturday was to go to another Monkey Conservation Project (CERCOPAN), Calabar Museum and a trip to Watt Market to pickup gifts.

A MONKEY SAGA

I felt I had already seen enough monkey on the 1st and 3rd Weekend and was not keen on going to CERCOPAN. However as this is the last weekend with the team I thought I will accompany them. CERCOPAN (Conservation, Education, Research) offers sanctuary to orphaned monkeys that have been victims of habitat loss and the bush meat trade. They work towards rehabilitating the monkeys in an environment that mimics their natural home. Our guide who is working here for more than 4 years presented an absolutely captivating saga for each group of monkey. It was the story of union, separation, trauma, growing up, overthrowing other for power and their social life among others. Every group has a clear leader who is generally referred to as alpha male or female and there is constant power tussle among them to be the alpha male. It was not much different from we humans. He also told that although hunters tries to sell them the monkeys but they never buy any or give anything in cash or kind because that may encourage them to hunt more monkeys.

The above photo shows a female monkey carrying a 3 day old baby.

The monkey saga was followed by a tour of Calabar Museum. The guide at Museum was completely opposite to the one at CERCOPAN. To complement that the aircon at the museum was not working and the lights were very dim. We wanted to get out of the museum as soon as possible.

The day ended with a trip to Watt market where I picked up some artifacts for back home.

Sunday 21st March, 2010

After seeing almost all of Calabar the only item left on our list was a boat ride on Calabar river. A boat ride was arranged for us on the 2nd weekend but got cancelled because some tourists were captured on boat in a nearby state and since than we did not get Security Clearance. However, this time after our (especially Greg's) continuous pestering Ann managed to convince the Police Marine and a boat trip was arranged for us to Creek Town.

Creek Town is known for Scottish missionary Mary Slesslor who lived here among Efik people between 1876 to 1915. She successfully fought against the killing of twins (which were then seen as evil and were generally abandoned).

The boat ride was really good and we got an opportunity to see the rapidly vanishing mangroves really close. Mangroves are vital to the ecosystem here and protects coastal areas from erosion and storm surge. They are being constantly cut for easy firewoods.

2010-03-19: Friday Night out at Calabar

Day 22

Friday, 19th March, 2010

Vicky and Drew have been trying to catch up with us at MacBite for Lunch and Ice-Cream for the past 1 week. But with the ever so common postponed and rescheduled meetings we managed to get together only today.

Later in the day I got a call from Drew and when I picked up the phone I heard sirens blaring at the background. The reception at our office is generally very bad so I went near the window to hear more clearly what Drew had to say. And when I looked out of the window I saw a yellow van on the road. Vicky and Drew are working for the Department of Public Transportation (DOPT) and always travel in a distinctive yellow van provided by them. So, I asked Drew if he is in the same van. As the sirens were blaring really loud I could barely listen to him, but somehow I figured out that he wants me to get a photo of him from top (Aerial View you see!!!) They were part of the motorcade to launch a new cab service started with the help of Investment Promotion Bureau and DOPT.

Today it was Lisa's 29th birthday. Well she told me that in US people continue celebrating their 29th birthday year on year, so I will leave at that. We went to Watt market to get some gifts for her. It was really hot and humid. We went to Slave Museum and picked up Remi from Airport on the way back. Remi has recently joined IBM and is also in charge of Corporate Citizenship program so it was her chance to meet the CSC Nigeria 3 team. Later in the evening we went to a Lebanese Restaurant, Freddy's, for our team dinner to celebrate Lisa's birthday. I had soup and a falafel plate. But I must admit it was nowhere near Ali's Falafel like I used to have in Lausanne. Boy I still miss the delicious Falafel of Ali's.

Jane had been wanting to take us to enjoy Calabar nightlife for the past 3 Friday's. Thus, we decided to give it a try although half of the group decided to head back. The rest of us stopped at Genny's a small but busy pub by the road before we hit out for night out. Our colleague Edward had suggested to join him at Jasper's. This was supposed to the most sought after place in Calabar as it was opening today. However, as it was getting late we went to Mirage first. It was nice, but seemed like a one-time-used-to-be-a-happening place. We did enjoy our time there and the high point for me was when they played the remixed version of "Hawa mein udta jaye, mera lal dupatta malmal ka" by Bombay Viking.

We went to Jasper's at around 12 and yes it was indeed the most sought after place for the night. Although, we did had difficulty entering in but Edward managed to convince them saying we are expats working as a volunteer in Cross River State. He also managed to get a couch emptied for us. I like the VIP treatments when I am outside India. Wish could get the same back home. The place was completely crowded and buzzing with music. After some time, I got a call from Everlyn. She said, "Rahul, can you please come outside, I need your help". As it was difficult to hear more in the loud music, I got worried for her and immediately rushed outside only to find that the van was stuck in a hole and the driver needed help to get it out. We danced and enjoyed our time till 2.30 AM before coming back to Hotel.

Calabar night out was kewl!!!!

2010-03-18: Calabar Traffic and Nigerian Flat Tyre Technique

Day 21

Thursday, 18th March, 2010

Traffic at Calabar is not particularly good and people say its worse in Lagos. Although there seems to be multiple agencies and many traffic personnel doing a good job, but the traffic still makes me scared.

Not that this is something completely new to me as traffic in India can also get chaotic. But crossing the busy roads is difficult. Greg and myself attempt the feat everyday at lunchtime while we cross a busy crossing on our way to Macbite. Our ride to and from Office is also usually adventurous.

We also noticed many at times there are traffic personnel holding a wooden plank with large nails protruding out of it and they are ready to throw the wood at any coming vehicle to make it tyre flat. Although, this does not look like the most efficient way but somehow still manages to scare the drivers. I have been trying to take a picture or two of this flat-tyre-tool but my attempt to it was only successful today. Posting a couple of pictures of the same.

Another photo where a car and a bike is trying to cross the divider after the road was blocked to clear a fallen tree.

We were told that earlier there were bikes on the road used commercially to carry people. And the drivers were really erratic. Thus it was banned and replaced with taxis with financing and support from State Govt.

2010-03-17: Indian Culinary (Mis)adventure

Day 20

Wednesday, 17th March, 2010

Prince and Princess Suites, Calabar - Said to be an Indian Restaurant.

I have had some good and not so good experiences at Nigeria as far as food is concerned. There were times when I got really tasty food (1, 2) and at times I had to settle only for rice, chips and ketchup. This evening we decided to try Indian Food and boy... this was an experience. What I hoped to be a great evening with Indian delicacies turned out to be complete disaster and I came back without eating anything there.

Our colleague Vicky posted a superb blog on the experience. I copied her blog and pasted here. (Sorry!! Vicky, didnt ask your permission but I guess you should be cool as usual. Thanks!!)

We've had the opportunity to try many different types of food during our stay here in Calabar; grilled fish, traditional Nigerian soups and rice, pounded yam, but also Chinese and Lebanese food, though with a Nigerian twist. Tonight for our dinner out, we decided to explore the Indian cuisine here in Calabar.

Greg and Rahul had obtained the items on the menu for us beforehand. From our past experience at other restaurants, ordering beforehand shortens the wait for food upon arrival. Otherwise, our dinner usually turns into a 2-3 hour affair. Rahul helped us place the orders at 5:30. We left at 7:00 hungry.

The restaurant was in a hotel though it did not appear to be frequented by others. After our drink orders we eagerly but patiently waited for our food to arrive. Patience is a virtue that has been forged by eating out in Nigeria. An hour later, rice finally emerged from a dark room that appeared to be the kitchen (or at least lead to it). There were three plates of rice. Each portions were meant for one, but since we're sharing all the food we all took a small portion and snacked on it while we waited for the remainder of the food.

Another 30 minutes later, two chicken skewers with 3 pieces of Naan bread was served along with a small bowl of chicken curry. This too was divided up amongst our group. We started to wonder about the portions of the food being served. Certainly they do not expect 12 people to only eat these two dishes?

I looked at my watch, 9:00. No additional food has shown up on the table. Everyone was hungry but it became increasingly clear that the food we had ordered was not going to show up anytime soon. We notified the staff that we were not waiting any longer and wanted the bill. There was a huge frenzy and a small bowl of vegetable curry with a big plate of rice showed up.

When we had inquired about all the food that was ordered, we were told that certain items were not available and that the vegetable curry was the last dish. That was the straw that broke the camel's back and we all just wanted to leave at that point. One of the things I've noticed while dining out is that if you ordered something in advance that was not available, no indication is given upon arrival that the dish is not going to show up on the table. Had we known, we would usually order something else! Why this information is not communicated is something that I still don't understand. Miscommunication seems to be commonplace here in Nigeria, but that is a whole other topic for another post.

Our group collectively decided to head to a fast food place to eat after our ordeal at the restaurant. On our way to Mac Bite, our van was hit while going around the roundabout. The dinner saga continues! Luckily both vehicles were heading towards the same direction so it was just a slight bump. Our mission to get food was briefly delayed as the drivers exchanged words. We drove off after a few minutes and finally arrived at Mac Bite.

Everyone had their full and we finally returned back to the hotel at 10pm. That was some dinner adventure and one of my most eventful dinners yet!

Earlier when I went on to place the order, the lady taking the order didn't knew the difference between Mutton and Muttar. She was asking me the recipe for the items listed on the menu. And the appetizers (pakoda and papad) never arrived. To top it all towards the end they had the audacity to pretend to serve everything I ordered. Ufff!!!!!

2010-03-15: Trip to Obudu - Part II (A little bit of Switzerland in Nigeria)

Day 17 and 18

Sunday 14th March, 2010

Last night all of us were really tired after a long 10+ hour bus ride. (Read my previous post..) The only thing on my mind was to eat and go to bed. I was pleasantly surprised to see our accommodation. We were booked in Mountain Villa each containing 3 rooms with attached bathroom and common dining and lounge areas with a huge balcony. Later, we were told that these were the newest villa in the Ranch and have been imported from Finland. Per Night tariff for the Villa is 60,000 NGN (around 20K INR).

I woke up early in the morning and had a good walk around the Ranch. Obudu Mountain Resort is at 1576 meters above sea level and had a cool climate. It was pretty misty in the morning and the cool breeze on the mountain resort gave me the feeling of being back at Switzerland. It is hard to imagine such good weather in Nigeria unless you have been here.

After breakfast we set out for a tour of Ranch on the Bus.

The facilities at the Villa were very impressive with world class conference rooms, presidential suites, tennis courts, canopy walks, horse riding facility, games room and many more amenities.

The experience was absolutely fantastic and worth every bit of anticipation for the last 2 weeks.

There were also couple of firsts for me at the Ranch:

Playing Tennis

Horse Riding (Well 2nd, the first time was when I was getting married)

Canopy Walk

Saw a Strawberry Shrub

We also celebrated Kei's birthday at night. Vicky did an impressive job of writing Kei with candles. Kei experienced the birthday bumps for the first time in his life.

Monday 15th March, 2010

On the way back from Ranch we took the cable car. The cable car is said to be the longest in the world. On the way down the scenery was breathtakingly beautiful and we realized what we missed last night.

We also stopped at the Drill Monkey Ranch. More info on the rehab program in my previous post.. This facility is an extension of the Breeding Centre in Calabar City. The monkey's and guerrilla's are trained to be sent back into the jungle here.

As we had lots of time on the bus, we also completed an hour long team exercise. We tried making a vegetarian salad with a mix of Local and International Cuisine. It was fun!!

2010-03-13: Trip to Obudu - Part I (Bus on Fire!!!)

Day 15 and 16

Friday 12th March, 2010
The coveted trip to Obudu Mountain Resort seemed more elusive as we got an sms from Ann saying although all arrangements are in place there is a final approval waiting. And she did not sound very optimistic on the trip. Although, Jane was still hopeful and said even if they manage to get an approval by 11 AM we can still head towards Obudu. So, we went to Office in anticipation that the trip may still happen and any time we may have to rush back to pack and leave. But as time went on the optimism started to fade. We came back early to hotel and decided to work from here.



Late in the evening we got the good news that all arrangements have been made, all approvals are in place and yes, finally, we are going to Obudu tomorrow morning.


Saturday 13th March, 2010
All excited, I got up early, packed my stuffs, had breakfast and was there in the lobby by 9 AM as planned. However, we started only after 10. I should have got used to the usual 1 hour delay by now and could have stolen an extra hour sleep.

We were escorted by mobile policemen armed with machine guns. There was one cop sitting in the front sit of the bus and a van escorted us all the way. The whole feeling of driving in a foreign country with 15 IBMers from 10 different countries and escorted by security personnel made us feel very VIP. After all we are the guest of Governor here and working for his different ministries. The other advantage was we were getting free pass at all the checkpoints.


The moment we were outside Calabar city we could feel the scenery changing with even more greenery. I loved the ubiquitous mango trees with lots of low hanging green mangoes laden on them. The roads were not so good and there were plenty of potholes. All in all, it was not very different than driving in my home state of Jharkhand in India.


In between we stopped at Agbokim Waterfall. It was an hours drive to the fall from the highway on a dirt road. It seemed like a big fall but with the dry season there were only 2 or 3 streams of water coming down. Although, we got to pose on what looked like the dry rocks which should be covered with water during rainy season. When we reached the waterfall some of the villagers came running towards us. They obviously didnt seemed very amused seeing so many foreigners there. However, Ann and the security personnel did a good job in pacifying him. While we were leaving he even suggested to go to the other side of the fall and enjoy the beauty from there.


We passed through many villages on the way. I could feel, like any developing country how different is the village life from city life. Women and young girls carrying heavy stuff on their head, huts made of clay and haystacks, trees and bushes being burnt. But the common theme in all villages was women and children were also so excited to see us pass through and wave their hands.

Further ahead on our trip, we saw our mobile security van racing towards us and shouting to "Stop and Get Out". For a moment I was really scared and thought they got information of problems ahead. Nigeria certainly is not one of the safest places today with communal violence in Central Nigeria and other disputes in Niger Delta. We saw smoke coming out of two tyres at the back. We rushed to get water bottles from the other vehicle to doze the fire. We found 2 fire extinguishers as well but they did not work. Actually, in a rush to reach the Ranch before 6 the driver was speeding and the frequent brakes because of potholes took the toll on brakes and it got burnt. With no signals on mobile network the only option left was to let it cool down and then head really slow. And this time Justin kept a good eye on the speedometer not to allow it to speed. On getting the mobile reception, Jane called at Ranch and they sent a bus to pick us up from the Air Strip at Obudu. We reached Obudu around 10. What was supposed to be around 6 hours drive took us almost 12 hours to reach there.

And yes, it was Kei's 29th birthday. The original plan was to party at Ranch but as the prospect of reaching the Ranch on time started looking bleak, we celebrated his birthday on the Air Strip.

2010-03-11: Field Visit, Happy Food and Nollywood Night

Day 14

Thursday 11th March, 2010

The Investment Bureau collects Business Premises Registration from every commercial business owning a premises in Cross River State. As part of the assignment we are trying to automate the Business Premises and convert it into a database for efficient management. To suggest further improvements in the business process and to get more insight we went on a field trip with 3 employees from Bureau responsible for the task. We were told that the staffs suffer from severe resource crunch and no vehicle or stationeries are provided to them. They use their own vehicle to go to these businesses and thus ignore a large no. of businesses which are far from Calabar. Additionally a total of 3 staff to man the complete severally inadequate. There are also instances where more than one area are managed by a single person. Also, they have to use their own paper to print forms and serve Demand Notice to businesses. We were also told that only a handful of business pay the Premises Renewal charges themselves.

Greg and myself hopped into the car and went with them to city outskirts to collect the fees. We stopped by some shop and the employees started collecting information and serving Demand Notice. Most of the business in this area (almost a village) were really small and the Registration Charge of 3000 NGN seemed too big for them, without any real benefit or incentives to them, apart from legal compulsion. I was wondering how many of these will actually pay the fee. The process also seemed inefficient. Once the Demand Notice is served, they have to go to a bank to deposit the fees and then take the teller to the Bureau to get the records updated. As it started raining we did not spend much time in the field and came back to Office. After coming back we started rethinking our strategies and noted the inputs from today for our future recommendations. Certainly, internet, business directory and online resources do not make much sense to them.

Evening, we went to a Chinese Restaurant, Happy Food, for Dinner. The restaurant had a nice red ambiance with good decorations. The food was also really good. And for the first time in Calabar had a good chilled beer.

On the way back we stopped by a food joint to get some pop-corns for later. As the popcorn was taking a lot time to pop, we sat down for more beer. The place seemed busy and happening with some good music playing. All of us had good fun there and took lots of pictures.

Drew organized a Nollywood movie night at the Hotel. The sound at hall was really bad and we could hardly follow the dialogues for "Royal Love". It seemed like a tribal love story set in a remote village. Honestly the movie was quite boring with lot of screaming, shouting and random scenes. However, all of us were taking turns to draw our own interpretations and it was good fun.