Abuja - Post Report Question and Answers
What do you wish you had known about this particular city/country before moving there?
How important it would be to actually have a bank account at a Nigerian bank so I could have a working credit card, instead of trying to make it through two years just with cash. Who knew a country with such a developed banking system could just... run out of banknotes? Lesson learned. - Jun 2024
That people are driving like there's no tomorrow. Some people tend to take the entire arm if you offer them a hand (not that that's an uncommon thing elsewhere, but I've experienced a lot of it here) - Sep 2019
Expect a lot of down time, peace and quiet and a home life. You won't go out that much. Ship anything for special dietary needs. Leave most of your 'good clothes' at home. Don't expect to have the 'Africa' experience here. It's not safari or savanna country. Or not, at least, that you can get to safely. - Feb 2019
The lack of travel opportunities, and even though there is no hazard pay, how dangerous it is. - Apr 2018
Car maintenance is an issue, and mechanics are poorly trained. Bring your own anti-freeze and oil filters, and learn to change them yourself. You can buy a car here, but there is no one to check it out, as sometimes you can get a car that has had no maintenance.
The US Embassy is putting in place an impossibly expensive program for using embassy vehicles for "other than official use," charging $1.25 per kilometer. So if you don't have a car you have to pay $20 to go to and from the Embassy (unless you take the daily shuttle which is $2 each way). So EFMs who need to take kids to the medical unit will need to pay a lot (that rate is per person). Because using taxis is not permitted, anyone who needs to get to the embassy is stuck. - Jun 2016
I wish I'd known how physically draining an assignment here would be. I wish I'd known that, despite its challenges, Nigeria would be very rewarding professionally and very manageable from a quality of life perspective. It's not a garden spot, but there are worse places. - Aug 2015
How poor the housing was going to be, the driving, the limits on our movements. - Jun 2015
If i had known about the apartment at 66, I would not have come, it is that dismal. - Nov 2014
Nothing really, being our second African posting - we were pretty prepared for it. - Aug 2014
How expensive it would be to travel out and how nearly impossible it is to get to anywhere else in Africa. - May 2014
