NIGERIA: Lagos: Lagos Lagoon

If you're in Lagos for the first time... you would notice a huge body of water while crossing from Lagos Mainland to Lagos Island, vice versa. It's so huge that it must be one of the largest lake in West Africa, right? Wrong...

That is, my friend the Lagos Lagoon. Yes, a lagoon. More specifically, an inland lagoon. It's very much inland that I thought it was a lake with murky water. Even the Portuguese who came ashore in the 1400s got it all wrong. They named the place Lagos, built some trading post along the shore of the "new" found place and the name stuck! The original name, Èkó still in use too, by the Yoruba. After all, we are in Yoruba land. 

 Map of Lagos state and the huge inland lagoon, Lagos Lagoon

NIGERIA: Oyo State: Trip to Ibadan

A phone call by a fellow Malaysian, Haji Wan Zamri inviting me to a short trip to Ibadan. The purpose of the trip was to visit a school, a few mosque/masjid and some water well which were donated by the people back in Malaysia. I said 'Yes' and in turn invited Amaludin and Huda to follow us too.

The usual route to take would be the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. It seemed that a few areas of the expressway had received a new fresh coat of road pavement. There's a lot going on at the moment on the expressway. Some areas the road are busy with lorries making interstate travel laden with goods, then you have the danfos (passenger van) and all manner of vehicles (US and Japanese made SUVs and sedans). 

Some parts of the expressway we managed to speed up, and some was just a slow paced due to vehicles that broke down in the middle of the road. Broken axle, overheat, puncture etc...take your pick. There were also settlements which would slow down the traffic due to people selling and buying by the roadside. 

The journey took about 3hr plus and behold, the town of Ibadan in Oyo state. Welcome!!! Geographically (size) it is the biggest town in Nigeria and at one time, in the 60's it was 2nd most populous town after Cairo. In terms of size for my readers in Malaysia, you can put 2 states of Malacca in Ibadan town. That is just the town, not Oyo state mind you.

Ibadan town

FC WAMCO Luncheon and Long Service Award Ceremony - DEC'16

It was time for the company luncheon event! (December 2016)


White was the theme colour for the event and a month before it, we bought ourselves some white fabric at a nearby mall. Madam called our favourite tailor to have us measured and design a set of outfit for the function. We got ours just a week later.


The luncheon was to recognise the long service employees and to bid farewell to Mr. Rahul Colaco, the MD who'll be serving the company elsewhere. We are happy for him, but also sad as we arrived on the same day to Lagos, Nigeria in 2015. My eldest and his are of the same age and went to the same school, same band and played the same sports game.


The luncheon went well. The emcee was quick on jokes and kept the guests entertained. Then the long service award ceremony for staffs that had served 10,15,20 and even 25 years with the company. Mrs. Ore Famurewa, Head of the Corporate Communication had served 20years with the company!


After each long service recognition, they would dance! Yes, dance to the local tune. Oh my...they really love to dance. Any single space available, they would just stand up and dance. One or two I saw "danced" while seated. The WAMCO band performance was admirable and music comes natural to them, I guess.


This was our last function for 2016 and may 2017 brings prosperity to the company and country.