Last week I moved from Nigeria to Kenya, where I’m being hosted by Strathmore Business School (SBS), Strathmore University. Just as I got out of the plane, I could feel a difference: a nice freeze of fresh air, as opposed to the mass of humid, hot air that greeted me in Lagos. Weather played an important […]
Oil scarcity in an oil-rich country
Look at the pictures below. In one you’ll see the line for a gas station: it’s about two or so miles long, and as it gets closer to the station the line doubles. In the other picture, people wait at the station to fill plastic containers. The average waiting time is 3 to 4 hours […]
The ins-and-outs of real estate
Look at the picture below carefully and read the sign there. You’ll see one of the ins-and-outs of real estate in Nigeria – and I suspect that similar ones may appear in the rest of Africa: Yes, you got it right!: “This property is NOT for sale.” Unusual, isn’t it? Not so here, where you […]
Regulations in Nigeria are both clear and ambiguous
In a previous post, I talked about street vendors in Lagos. You may be surprised that street trading has been banned in the state. This is one of the first things I heard when I had just arrived here. How come street trading is banned, and you see street vendors all over? It’s an indicator […]
Driving and management styles in Nigeria
Driving in Lagos (and Nigeria) is quite something. The daily challenge on my way back home is to access the road: this requires crossing two lanes densely populated with cars, and then turn left. Once there, you have to watch for pedestrians who run across, vans loaded with people that overflow, and other cars aggressively […]
