Our group consisting of Lieze Dhont, Marlies Gentier, Charlotte Panis and Leen Willems have chosen to travel around the world starting from Nigeria on 14 February and ending in Norway at the end of May. Each week we will post our experiences on our Blog.
Monday 14 February 2011
Dear family and friends, through this way we want to let you know that we arrived well in Nigeria. Being tired after such a long trip we decided to catch up on some sleep and start with our visits tomorrow morning after having had breakfast.
Kisses from us all !
Tuesday 15 February 2011
Tuesday morning:
Good morning sunshinies in cold Belgium! Before we go to the city we want to post a quick message to say that we had a nice evening yesterday and slept very well. Tonight we will post again a message to describe our day.
Tuesday evening:
Good evening darlings! As promised we post another message so all of you can follow what we have done.
This morning the hotel organised a “conference” for foreigners to get to know their country better, so over there we got some general information. Because you don’t know not much about Nigeria will are happy to share it with you.
Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising thirty-six states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in the north. Its coast in the south lies on the Gulf of Guinea on the Atlantic Ocean. The time zone used in this country is UTC+1.
Abuja officially became Nigeria's capital on 12 December 1991, replacing Lagos. Because of the ethnic and religious divisions here, the capital had to be located in a neutral place: the centre of the country. It is also the headquarters of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the regional headquarters of OPEC. ECOWAS is a regional group of fifteen West African countries with the mission to promote economic integration across the region. OPEC is the abbreviation of “The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries”. This is an intergovernmental organization of twelve developing countries. One of the principal goals is the determination of the best means for safeguarding the organization's interests, individually and collectively. It also pursues ways and means of ensuring the stabilization of prices in international oil markets with a view to eliminating harmful and unnecessary fluctuations.
The name Nigeria was taken from the Niger River running through the country. Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa, the seventh most populous in the world, and the most populous in the world in which the majority of the population is black.
In terms of religion Nigeria is roughly split half and half between Muslims and Christians with a very small minority who practice traditional religion.
Politically seen is Nigeria a Federal Republic with executive power exercised by the president, who is elected by the people. Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan is the 14th and current president. He is both head of state (the chief public representative of a republic) and head of government (the chief officer of a government).
There are a lot of political parties within Nigeria but these are the most important ones: the dominant party, “People's Democratic Party (PDP)”, generally lies towards the right wing of the political spectrum. “All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP)” is a conservative political party, this means that this party emphasizes stability and continuity within their country. Last but not least the “Action Congress of Nigeria (AC)” is a classical liberal political party which controls the country’s most populous and richest state Lagos.
Weather and climate
Abuja experiences three weather conditions annually: a warm, humid rainy season and a blistering dry season. In between these two, there is a brief passing by the northeast trade wind, with the main feature of dust haze, intensified coldness and dryness.
The rainy season begins from April and ends in October, when daytime temperatures reach 28°C to 30 C and nighttime lows hover around 22 C to 23 C. In the dry season, daytime temperatures can soar as high as 40 C and nighttime temperatures can dip to 12°C. Even the chilliest nights can be followed by daytime temperatures above 30°C.
Wednesday 16 February 2011
This morning we visited the Millennium Tower, in the capital Abuja, which is currently under construction. When the Tower will be finished, its structure will appear 170 meters above the city.
Next we went to The Millennium Park, which is the largest public park in Abuja and was inaugurated by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom on the 4th December 2003.
The park is divided into two parts because a river runs through it. One side of the Park is dedicated to uncontaminated nature. Here you find Nigeria's mountain vegetation, savannah, deciduous forest, rainforest and brushwood as well as greenhouses for butterflies and tropical birds. The other side, corresponding to the main entrance, is dedicated to the scientific knowledge of the natural environment. This part of the Park has a very traditional and rigid Italian style garden layout. While entering the Park, you can see that a rectilinear path brings us into its green areas. A series of fountains which run alongside this path refreshes the public during the hottest days.
The enormous Cotton Tree, a holy tree of Abuja, situated on one side of the Millennium Park, and is visually linked with the Aso Rock ("Aso" = "victorious"), the holy Rock of Abuja.
As you already know it is very hot in Abuja and that is why we took a swim in one of the huge pools in the park. Then we sunbathed for about two or three hours and had in meantime lunch. After being refreshed we went on to our next and last curiosity for today: The Abuja National Mosque.
The Abuja National Mosque, also known as the Nigerian National Mosque, is the national mosque of Nigeria, which is situated across the National Christian Centre. The mosque includes a library and a conference room. It was built in 1984 and opened now also its doors to the non-Muslim public.
Tomorrow we will visit the National Christian Centre and the Abuja National Stadium.
Sweat dreams –xx-
Thursday 17 February 2011
The National Church of Nigeria which was previously known as the Nigerian Ecumenical Centre and officially known as the National Christian Centre, is the primary Christian place of worship in Nigeria. The church was built around 1989 but it laid dormant for several years until 2004, when a committee ensured its speedy completion. The dedication, on the 2nd October 2005, coincided with the celebration of Nigeria’s 45th anniversary as an independent nation.
We found the interior very beautiful because it is built in a neo-gothic style and has several pivoted arches with a wide nave leading to the altar. The altar, placed at the centre of the church completes a full rotation every ten minutes. The pipe organ is fitted to the right wing of the church, close to which sits the choir. There are also stained glass windows which employ a simple but attractive mix of yellow, green and red colours.
When the church is not being used for Christian ceremonies, it is open to the public. Guided tours are available for anyone interested in having a look.
Afterwards we visited the Abuja National Stadium which serves as a home to the Nigerian National Football Team, the Super Eagles, as well as a center for various social, cultural, and religious events. The stadium is designed to accommodate 60,491 spectator seats covered by a lightweight roof construction. There is also a presidential lounge for 50 guests and viewing area.
Friday 18 February 2011
Good evening! J Here is today’s update: today we made a guided tour in Abuja which took the entire day. The tour started with a visit to the three arms zone housing the Aso Rock Presidential complex, National Assembly and the Supreme Court. Though entry is highly restricted, we had access to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Here, the brigade of guards is a 24-hour watch, with a colourful, ceremonial changing of the guard. From the three arms zone, we went on to the National children’s park and Zoo and Abuja Plant Nursery with a bright collection of flowers, fruit trees and beautiful plants. After some time savouring the beauty of the park, we moved to the IBB Golf and Country Club, where we had lunch in one of its very nice restaurants. Our last stop for this tour was Ushafa Village where we witnessed the making of local pots, which was very interesting. On our way to Ushafa, we also stopped over at the Usuma dam.
We had again a really nice day because we learned a lot and we were also amazed by all the beautiful and peaceful places in this country!
Saturday 19 February 2011
Today it is our penultimate day in Nigeria and Monday we leave for Niger. We are sure that we will miss this country and all the friendly people but nevertheless we made of this day another wonderful day.
We visited the American International School of Abuja (AISA). There we were told that the school was founded in 1993 when a group of parents and U.S. Embassy officials recognized the need for a school that would adequately prepare students who live in Nigeria to continue their education in American schools overseas. The faculty and administration are committed to individualizing the learning experiences as necessary to ensure the success of all students. The school currently offers classes for students in preschool (3-year-olds) through Grade 12 (17-18 years old).
Because we planned that we will enjoy even more our last day we decided go to the beach and have there a picnic. As we have to prepare ourselves and pack our suitcases to leave to the next country, we did not visit a lot today.
Goodnight & Cya 2morrow ! –xx-
Sunday 20 February 2011
Good morning! After a wonderful week this is unfortunately our last day in Nigeria. However, we will make definitively the best of it and we will not be too sad because our next adventure is waiting for us. As we told you last night we are going to the beach where we will have a picnic and later we also are going to shop until we drop.
The next time we will write something on our blog, we probably will be already in Niger.
Lots of tots from Leen and the others!
This is a link to an article on the BBC website. The article is about a bombing attack in Abuja on New Year's Day.
