Elections

It is Saturday afternoon one thirty: First election Day here in Nigeria.  Nick has just received a sms to say Monday will be a holiday.  Why?  Because the election has been postponed.  Why? Because some the election papers did not reach some points in time, so they postponed the whole election.  Sounds simple…but it is not.

This election has been announced in September and the organizing committee assured everyone that it will take place in January.  Nobody believed that.  Anyhow it is now April and everything is in place.  Or so they thought.

This is the African country with the highest population count and a proper registration of its inhabitants has not been yet done.  Therefore the speculation that the population count is somewhere between 130 and 150 million people.  The people migrate across borders as well. 

An election registration was to take place in January.  The process turned out to be so complicated that despite having days off standing in queues many Nigerians never managed to get registered.  Two of our staff of four failed and now cannot vote.  (Secretly I suspect they might see that as a mixed blessing.) In spite of that they have over seventy million voters registered – about three times the number of South African registered voters.

The plan was that there would be three election Saturdays in a row.  The first today would have been the election of the government.  Next Saturday they will vote for the president and the following Saturday is to be the election for the different state governments.  That means they have to queue for three Saturdays in a row.  The planned process for today was that the people could start queuing at about seven thirty in the morning, but they have to be in the queue by twelve thirty.  Anyone not in the queue by then cannot vote.  Then the voting starts and the queues can move forward and hopefully give everyone a chance to vote by ten tonight.   Now they have to go and stand in queues again on Monday!!!.

Not only that, but the whole country is declared a no-movement day.  If you are not at the voting point you may not move anywhere.  All the shops are closed and all the borders to the country are closed.  And now they are going to do all that again on Monday!!!! And next week and the following week!!!!

Sunday afternoon, just heard that the first election day has now been postponed to next Saturday and the other election days will move on one each..  The problem is that two cities did start voting yesterday and now they have to reprint the voting papers.  Simple? No.  Over seventy million papers for the first day have to be printed in China and shipped here.  (Just imagine three times that amount of papers for the whole election process – a decimation of the tree population on mother earth)  The tender for the printing has only been awarded a week before the elections and now the printers complain they cannot finish it in time.  Can you blame them?

Monday:  Nick saw the election paper at his office today and it is full of errors!  Slap dash that how things are done in Nigeria.

I guess it is easy to criticize, but I would not want to organize this election for anything in the world.  The organizing committee worked very hard at it and a fortune has been spent on technical equipment and training of electoral officials.  Security has been put on high alert at polls and elsewhere as there are proof and rumors of political candidates who stock piled arms in catches.  Everyone is nervous.  But they are desperate to have free and fair elections.  I tried to find reasons for their election struggle: sheer numbers?  Not so, says Nick, India has over 1.2 billion voters and they can do it.

We and I guess most other expats will be spending a day watching TV in cool air-conditioned homes as it is blistering hot outside. And now the same is to happen the next three Saturdays.  Not that we complain too much, There will be cricket world cup final, rugby, the Epic Cape Mountain bike race and the swimming pool outside.  I guess it will be pretty much the same the next few weeks.



Never a dull moment.  Friday night come and “no-move” day started at 10pm.  About that time our lights flickered and the electricity vanished.  The way it went off gave Nick an idea it is not the usual outage.  We prepared ourselves for a whole weekend without power as it is “no-movement-day”.  Worst of all our gas ran out that Friday.  Therefore no coffee…and on top of it, it was our anniversary.  Lying in bed the next morning trying to figure out what we were going to do in the heat, no coffee, no TV, no  Pc’s, no restaurant dinner, etc and suddenly all the lights went on.  Cheers!  Heard later the week that there was a fire in the generator room.





Some time that morning a bomb went off somewhere in Abuja and about eight people died, and there were a few other skirmishes but they declared the election a success and relatively trouble free, even though some states still did not have papers and will have to do this election together with the last day of elections.  There was also a report of 117 ballot boxes that have been snatched, and a few more reports of rigging but overall they are pleased with how it went.  A surprising number of high power politicians have been voted out, including the speaker and it looks like the ruling party has lost a healthy amount of seats, wich bodes well for future parliament.  However the real dogfight is happening this coming Saturday…the presidential election.  The question is not so much who is going to be elected but rather if Goodluck Jonathan is going to make it or not.

On that note I will leave you.  Someone asked to see where we live.  As we are virtually under house arrest for the election I thought now a good time to show our abode.





The Ancestors Court from Osun Crescent



The gate from our second story balcony







In front of our building





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The swimming pool



The clinic visit

I have been turning my energies more towards painting and drawing lately.  Even my PC came off second best and my writing has lagged behind badly.  But here goes…a few interesting observations during the last month or so which were amusing enough to record.

I had to visit the local clinic, due to a bout of asthma, which turned into an interesting experience, (the clinic, not the asthma). Just wished I had my sketch pad with me.  I had to wait outside the doctor’s room and was second in line after a Nigerian lady with a baby.  Soon after me a very distinguish looking white man arrived in a flowing Muslim kaftan with a very smart beautiful Nigerian lady, probably his wife.  They had an air of importance about them. When the doctor opened the door for the next patient, she (yes a woman, and Nigerian!) gave us all a look over and chose the white man to be her next patient.  A little later a whole bevy of pregnant Nigerian ladies arrived at various stages in their pregnancy, most of them beautiful dressed in their lovely close fitting Nigerian dresses with headscarves.  They must have been to a prenatal class and was due to see the doctor for a checkup afterwards.  Extra chairs arrived for them –which I thought very considerate of the hospital staff.  They were twittering amongst themselves about who will follow who in the line (all seem to have numbers) when the door open and sure enough, me with my white skin was asked to be next. I pointed out that the lady with the baby was before me. This meant I had to wait a bit longer which I did not mind as I was enjoying the scene. I could not help wondering about this unfair system and this from a female doctor.

Once inside, the doctor listened, asked a few questions and punched diagnosis and treatment into the computer – no paper work.  From there I had to go to the chemist down the passage and pay for the medication prescription that the pharmacist received online.  After that there was time for more observation while waiting for treatment (again from online prescription - the patient can be dumb or mute as long as he or she can pay the bill). The clinic sister’s little room was small and not private at all.  Nurses and patients walked in and out the whole time without knocking and treatment inside just carried on in this chaos.  I had to get an injection and she waited until it was quieter before escorting me in and closing the door.  She then stood with her back against the closed door to prevent anyone coming in and asked me to turn my back to her so that she could give me my jab.  Nobody tried to come in but I just visualized what could happen if someone would suddenly have pushed that door open with force. Ouch!

I got tired of our South African ladies complaining that they just want to go home and started organizing activities for them.  We went to the Nike arts and crafts centre to do some tie-dying and we are now doing beading once a week at someone’s house. Then I challenged them to start painting.  The first lesson of two were a bit uncertain until I gave a lesson on colour.  Now they are hooked.  We went to the local art shop where I directed them what to buy. I am actually amazed once again to see what  total beginners can do once they experience the joy of mixing colour and discover the freedom of expressing themselves on paper.  It is lovely to see how each individual’s character comes out in their work. They are very reluctant to leave my appartment on Thursdays and linger on and on. This must make a difference to them as I know from my own experience how you may be anywhere in the world, but when you create you are actually in …another world.  Shall I call it heaven? 

Expat ladies painting



 Swimming was next on line and I have been pushed into giving swimming lessons this morning for two Indian ladies and one South African lady who have just discovered the joy of cool water in this hot climate.  They all battle with water fobia and my main task was making them just relax in the water.  To see the joy they experience once they start moving around in the water is worth the effort, and we had great fun

A Dutch artist, Marthe van den Heyde has a small studio group on Saturday mornings, to which I managed to be invited.  She teaches a bit, but it is more like discussions, some directions and suggestions and the opportunity to work together with other like minded people.  I absolutely love it and can now experience what my students always experienced.  And yes I am also to experience the disappointment they felt when I left.  Marthe is leaving in May and I am to take over the class.  I don’t mind, actually I am delighted,.. except now I can’t paint in it any more.

Marthe is more than just a painter.  She is a photographer and managed to get some freelance work from the Nigerian government while her husband was stationed here.  Currently she is busy with a documentary on education for girls.  She flew to Columbia last week to record a system which worked very well there and which they want to introduce here.  In Columbia they started paying the mothers a small amount, (a big amount in the eyes of the impoverished) if a girl goes to school and attend more than 80 percent of the time.  The potential of changing a society’s mindset is enormous: such as combating child labour, respect for women, potential higher income for the girls’ later on and knowledge which will be passed on and improve the life of a whole community.  It is a system that has been implemented in quite a few underdeveloped countries where children and especially girls get no education.  Yes there are pitfalls but they have conditions in place and if run properly could be very effective.  Whether it will work here in Nigeria , will still have to be seen.  But something had to be done as over eight million children in Nigeria get no education at all at the moment.