Patience is a great thing in Nigeria, but you will be rewarded if you can deal with long procedures. The procedure to collect the data needed for my study was time consuming and complex, because it was the first time that a third party was about to use the entire geo-dataset of the state. The client had to find out the sensitivity and confidential specifications before I could copy the data. The collection of aerial photographs and a high resolution elevation data of an entire state embrace many liability, privacy and sensitivity issues which should be taken into account and set straight prior to usage of the third party. Luckily, these specifications and conditions were sorted out after five weeks, so we could start with using the data last week!
The weekend which followed up this relieving week, I visited Benin for a long weekend together with a colleague. The contrast with Nigeria was directly recognizable after crossing the border. Benin has a far lower population density, and the traffic is less congested. Roads in Benin’s largest city Cotonou are better, and the city structure has a proper drainage system compared to Lagos in Nigeria.
We could stay over in the guesthouse of Royal Haskoning in Cotonou, where we have an office for the projects in Benin. Saturday we visited the site of one of the projects in Cotonou, the harbour. It was nice to see the similarities between the coastal projects being conducted in Lagos and Cotonou. Crow flies the distance between Lagos and Cotonou is just 120 km, and the coastal conditions are quite comparable. The differences between the countries are mainly expressed by social differences. The people in the streets are friendly and willing to help. I don’t know why I perceived it so positively. Maybe it appeared to me so positive because the African French language in the former French colony of Benin sounds not as offensive as Pidgin English in the former English colony of Nigeria. Besides, money seems not to be chat topic number 1 in Benin, whereas in Nigeria conversations are not taken seriously when it’s not about money.
July is most of the times is a dip in rainy season. I hope this dip holds on for some time, because it reduces commuting time in Lagos enormously. However, the second peak of rainy season is on its way, so we have to beat the weather and the traffic again.
The next coming weeks I will focus on the case study I conducted. The results will be taken up in the thesis, and in the Royal Haskoning project. Now I finally have the data and may use the data, I’m already looking forward to graduate!
