Travel Tips for Nigeria

[SuperDuper! 230]

I was going to Nigeria to meet a sweet girl there, but I've given it a second thought, and cancelled my plans. Good luck to you, traveling there, I'm sure everything will be just fine.

*****

July 28, 2009

Police and Militants Clash in Nigeria

By ADAM NOSSITER

DAKAR, Senegal — Scores have been killed in violent clashes between the police and members of a fundamentalist Islamic sect in towns across northern Nigeria, a predominantly Muslim region that for years has had regular and often bloody outbreaks of sectarian unrest.

An obscure group opposed to Western education appears to be at the root of the current troubles. The Nigerian police accuse it of attacks on police stations in at least two states on Sunday and Monday.

In one state, Bauchi, at least 39 militants were killed on Sunday, according to a local police spokesman; in another, Yobe, fighters used fuel-laden motorcycles to bomb a police station, and then, armed with bows and poison arrows, they attacked officers, another police spokesman said.

At least 55 people have been killed in the two-day wave of violence, according to news reports. A spokesman for the national police, Emmanuel Ojukwu, refused to confirm the number of dead, saying only that “a few renegade elements attacked the police, and the police fought back.”

Mr. Ojukwu said there had also been skirmishes in the state of Borno, declining to characterize them; news reports quoted the country’s police inspector general, Ogbonna Onovo, as saying that militants were “battling with the police” there on Monday.

In the town of Potiskum, in Yobe, “people we believe to be Islamic fundamentalists” drove into the police station at 3 a.m., setting it on fire with the fuel carried by the motorcycles, said a police spokesman in Yobe, Mohammed Padah. A police officer and a fire safety officer were killed, Mr. Padah said; none of the militants were killed, though some were wounded, and some of the officers were wounded by the poison arrows, he said.

Though he insisted that the violence had been largely quelled by late Monday, Mr. Ojukwu, the national police spokesman, acknowledged that “a number of police officers from neighboring states” had been sent to “beef up” the police force in the affected areas. News reports indicated considerable violence may have occurred in the town of Maiduguri, capital of Borno state.

This latest violence differs from the interreligious clashes that have periodically flared up in a region where Islamic law has been imposed, with mixed success, over the last decade. Hundreds were killed in mob violence involving Christians and Muslims in the town of Jos last November, for instance. But in the new outbreak, armed militants appear to be targeting the Nigerian police, apparently because they are seen as captives of “Western education,” as a police spokesman in Bauchi, Mohammed Barau, put it.

On Monday, Mr. Barau said the militants were “religious fundamentalists” who were “popularly known as Boko Haram,” a Hausa expression meaning, “Western education is prohibited.” Mr. Padah, in Yobe, used a different name, saying the militants were known as “Yusufia,” a variation of a Muslim name. Mr. Ojukwu of the national police refused to assign a motive to the attacks, saying only that “they are elements who are not happy with the status quo or the peace of Nigeria.”

It was not clear late Monday whether the police had entirely quelled the uprising. “Efforts are being made to root them out,” said Mr. Padah. “We are gathering information about their location and strength.” Some 176 were arrested in Bauchi, were a curfew was declared.

Sunday’s violence in Bauchi was at least the second episode of religious violence in the state this year; in February as many as 14 were killed in fighting between Christians and Muslims. Mosques and churches were burned in the violence.

[KDOR 1]

Did u learn this too HOW FAR NOW?

WETIN DEY or WETIN DEY HAPPEN?

MY GUY?

FASHI? WHERE YOU DEY?

I WAN CHOP? NOTHING DEY HAPPEN?

I GBADUN YOU? WHERE YOU GO?

LATER LATER? YOU DON CHOP? YOU CHOP?

YOU GO SLEEP? YOU GO EAT?

IF YOU WANT MORE ASK ME LOL... I WILL BE IN LAGOS AGAIN MIDDLE OF NEXT MONTH TO MEET MY LOVE AGAIN AFTER 4 MONTHS.

[WhidbeyGirl 1]

I guess I was spoiled when I visited my husband. I had told him before I went I'm a very picky eater. So he had lots of spaghetti and rice for me. Occasionally we had chicken. I cooked a meatless stew one night, everyone enjoyed it. They LOVED pancakes and maple syrup!!! Oh and one night I made a goulash with irish potatoes and eggs. I don't eat seafood so was very worried I wouldn't have much to eat. But my sweetheart took good care of me.

[KDOR 1]

If you love that person u claim to be SWEET GIRL then you should have a second thought of seeing her again preferably on the WESTERN STATES of Nigeria.

The North is more of islamic extremist, the Niger-Delta minority militants are also violent there. But in the WESTERN, EASTERN, SOUTH EAST and SOUTH WEST are all peaceful to live for me i will advice you stay at the Nigeria capital city ABUJA because its more peaceful and has a got good security, also is LAGOS the NEW YORK of Nigeria. I was there in LAGOS feb/march and i will be there again. My husband is there, my heart is there, without him i am not complete and i MUST be there in less than 3 weeks.

Let nothing distrupt the power of love, look for some other peaceful location to meet.

[Pman's Wife 0]

DON'T EVER take a picture of local children in a village and show them their images. You will be SWARMED by every other kid in the village wanting to see himself in the camera!!

Don't do like my husband did with the soccer balls I brought for his nephews and put them in the back window of your car. You will be inundated with kids asking you to give them to you. You have two, so you can spare one.

If you go to a revenant, be prepared to be targeted by the aguns. Just go along with the locals and don't let him touch you.

DON'T ever order bush meat because you think you are adventurous and you want to try something local. GAG!!!!!

DON'T turn your nose up at squirrel or rabbit though. Some of the best meals I've had were squirrel and rabbit.

Be prepared to eat crabs with the shell on, and I'm not talking about softshell crabs.

Be aware that there are fat chickens available for foreigners, but the locals can't understand why you'd want to eat them. Everyone knows that skinny chickens taste better and the bone is the best part.

WOW. This has been such fun, but now I'm getting nostalgic.

Too funny-- and true GabiandVI! Gross with the crabs in their hard shells!!! OMG, lol! Those skinny chickens are tough! You'll chew for days to get anything out of them. Those chickens never 'fall off the bone' like they do in the west. You will struggle and contemplate vegetarianism!

I had the same camera/kids experience too. I kept hearing 'Auntie, let me see!' and 'Auntie, take another one!'

I thought rabbits and squirrels were bush meat. There's bushier meat ?

What is a revanent? What's an agun? May be regional...

[Pman's Wife 0]

Today I'm reminiscing on the food...

It was really hard to resist the urge to eat the food with 'proper utensils.' I'm proud to say I passed the test, but with little more than a C- at best because of the whole left-handed thing. Also, when I eat, the soup invariably ends up on my hand(s). I could never finish the "small-small" pounded yam and it also had signs of soup touching it when I got through. This never happened to Pman. I'm sure he has an A+ in etiquette. I'm on par with the kids when it comes to eating and always felt like I was getting it wrong/putting on a show

Did you have to eat pate with gumbo? I forget what the Yoruba call pate, fou fou, maybe? It's the polenta-like mush that is dipped in sauces. It is sometimes made with pounded yams, so that might be what you mean, but it also made with corn flour and other flours. In French speaking countries they call it pate, the French word for paste and/or pasta. It is the consistancy of paste. Usually it is bland, bland, bland. Blander than paste. At least paste has flavor. And gumbo is okra. Now, I'm from Louisiana, so I'm used to eating okra even if gumbo means something else, but our entire goal when preparing okra is to limit the amount of slime it makes to an absolute minimum. There are all sorts of tricks for doing this. In Benin, however, the goal is to get the okra to emit the greatest amount of slime possible. So when you eat pate with gumbo, you are dipping this tasteless, paste-like substance into a slimy substance and bringing the whole thing to your mouth. You know the gumbo is good if the skin of slime does not break as you raise your hand the two feet from the bowl on the floor to your mouth.

This dish usually includes small crabs still in their shell, a green of some sort, all prepared in that thick, red, palm oil. I did my best to eat it, but I just couldn't get much down. Thankfully, his family were very understanding. The sad thing is, his mother helped prepare it. She has since died at a very young age.

Now, red pate is delicious! But I guess we won't be eating much of that anymore. My husband has high blood pressure and "can't seem to get it under control." There's no way he has cut out the salt, but I surely will when he gets here. Which means, no red pate :-(

Okay yes, the pounded yam is as you described. Sometimes they pound other things and call it by different names (fufu, gari, etc), but it all ends up being your dipping utensil for the various soups. I struggled with the okra soup because of the slime too. Jeepers! I haven't seen a red fufu yet. How does it get red?

I'm going to 'pound' some potatoes into submission for my cuisine. Believe me when I say I'll put some butter and salt on it too instead of the bland fufu that relies solely on soup for flavor. When I make mashed potatoes and gravy, the potatoes can pretty much stand alone.

[GabiandVi 34]

Okay yes, the pounded yam is as you described. Sometimes they pound other things and call it by different names (fufu, gari, etc), but it all ends up being your dipping utensil for the various soups. I struggled with the okra soup because of the slime too. Jeepers! I haven't seen a red fufu yet. How does it get red?

I'm going to 'pound' some potatoes into submission for my cuisine. Believe me when I say I'll put some butter and salt on it too instead of the bland fufu that relies solely on soup for flavor. When I make mashed potatoes and gravy, the potatoes can pretty much stand alone.

I remember gari now. Which one is that? Cassava? That's my husband's favorite, but it wasn't available in China. He would bring bags of it in his suitcases. He'd eat it every couple of nights until it was gone.

Red pate is made when you add that spicy tomato sauce to the flour with the water. It's so tasty! Yum!

My husband's friends loved mashed potatoes because they reminded them some of pate, but my husband didn't take to it. He also wasn't bowled over by grits like I thought he would be. But when he came to the US and found corn flour in the stores, he was as excited as a 5-year-old on Christmas morning. He was disappointed in our okra, though. Too small.

[Pman's Wife 0]

Okay yes, the pounded yam is as you described. Sometimes they pound other things and call it by different names (fufu, gari, etc), but it all ends up being your dipping utensil for the various soups. I struggled with the okra soup because of the slime too. Jeepers! I haven't seen a red fufu yet. How does it get red?

I'm going to 'pound' some potatoes into submission for my cuisine. Believe me when I say I'll put some butter and salt on it too instead of the bland fufu that relies solely on soup for flavor. When I make mashed potatoes and gravy, the potatoes can pretty much stand alone.

I remember gari now. Which one is that? Cassava? That's my husband's favorite, but it wasn't available in China. He would bring bags of it in his suitcases. He'd eat it every couple of nights until it was gone.

Red pate is made when you add that spicy tomato sauce to the flour with the water. It's so tasty! Yum!

My husband's friends loved mashed potatoes because they reminded them some of pate, but my husband didn't take to it. He also wasn't bowled over by grits like I thought he would be. But when he came to the US and found corn flour in the stores, he was as excited as a 5-year-old on Christmas morning. He was disappointed in our okra, though. Too small.

Okay, I have to find this red pate. I don't know what gari is made of, but it is courser and darker than the others... kinda gritty. I think fufu is the cassava. My dad used to grow these big okras. They just seem like things you shouldn't eat, but my sister swears they make for an easy time in the delivery room. It's such an acquired taste though, especially with all the slime left in them.

How do you get the slime out in Louisiana? I'd think heavy rinsing, but doesn't that kill the "flavor?"

Funny with him bringing bags of it in his suitcase! I'm like that with certain caribbean foods. I gotta have it

I want to cheer you on GabiandVi, but I can't tell what you're working towards on the visa journey. Good luck and all the best to you any how.

[GabiandVi 34]

Okay yes, the pounded yam is as you described. Sometimes they pound other things and call it by different names (fufu, gari, etc), but it all ends up being your dipping utensil for the various soups. I struggled with the okra soup because of the slime too. Jeepers! I haven't seen a red fufu yet. How does it get red?

I'm going to 'pound' some potatoes into submission for my cuisine. Believe me when I say I'll put some butter and salt on it too instead of the bland fufu that relies solely on soup for flavor. When I make mashed potatoes and gravy, the potatoes can pretty much stand alone.

I remember gari now. Which one is that? Cassava? That's my husband's favorite, but it wasn't available in China. He would bring bags of it in his suitcases. He'd eat it every couple of nights until it was gone.

Red pate is made when you add that spicy tomato sauce to the flour with the water. It's so tasty! Yum!

My husband's friends loved mashed potatoes because they reminded them some of pate, but my husband didn't take to it. He also wasn't bowled over by grits like I thought he would be. But when he came to the US and found corn flour in the stores, he was as excited as a 5-year-old on Christmas morning. He was disappointed in our okra, though. Too small.

Okay, I have to find this red pate. I don't know what gari is made of, but it is courser and darker than the others... kinda gritty. I think fufu is the cassava. My dad used to grow these big okras. They just seem like things you shouldn't eat, but my sister swears they make for an easy time in the delivery room. It's such an acquired taste though, especially with all the slime left in them.

How do you get the slime out in Louisiana? I'd think heavy rinsing, but doesn't that kill the "flavor?"

Funny with him bringing bags of it in his suitcase! I'm like that with certain caribbean foods. I gotta have it

I want to cheer you on GabiandVi, but I can't tell what you're working towards on the visa journey. Good luck and all the best to you any how.

Thanks for the good wishes. We haven't actually started the visa process yet. Long story, but we had some setbacks due to his financial commitments in his country. He took money from the government to do some jobs, so he can't leave until the jobs are done or it would be considered absconding. Anyway, we will be going for the IR-1. Problem is that we've been apart for a long time now. I've learned to handle the time and the distance, but I'm not sure how NVC will understand it.

We use cold, cold water to limit the slime. We float the okra in cold water until we slice it and then immediately cook it. Or we don't slice it. (Have you ever had pickled okra? Yum.) Now, if we are using it to make gumbo, we don't worry about limiting the slime. The purpose of using it is to thicken the gumbo. We either thicken it with okra, file, or both.

Yeah. He would also bring okra in his suitcase. (I've cautioned him to NOT EVER do this when coming to the States.) Finally, in the last year in China, we discovered the name for okra and could get the local Western supermarket to have it on hand if we needed it.