It's taken a few days to read the entire West Africa thread but I finally finished. In 1987 my wife and I moved to Nigeria to fly for a farm in Agenebode, Benin state (I think). We were both in our mid 20's and were going overseas to make big money and retire at an early age and live the big life. The company was Nigerian Bottling owned by the Leventis. We're from the south but we had never seen poverty like we saw there. And the smell.
Shortly after arriving in Lagos I went to the air board to get my Nigerian pilots licence and was nearly arrested when they discovered that I had a farmers visa instead of a pilots visa. With much humility I explained to them I didn't know the ins and outs of Nigeria and was only doing as had been told by the big office. Seems that the pilot I was brought in to replace was still in country and he wasn't giving up so easy. they only had one pilot's visa.
So we loaded up all we brought and headed to the farm which was 8 hours away. The compound at the farm was decent. Plaster cinder block homes with a pool and a tennis court. There were several other Texas families already there running the farm. Could have been a great job. About 12,000 acres in production at the time with an old 600 A model Ag Cat to do the work in. Plenty of spares and a spare engine in the store.
We were there for a month and the Leventis decided to transfer us up north to another farm that was just beginning to be cleared. Since I was there as a farmer that's what I did. Or at least on paper. I ended up touring the country buying equipment for the farm. Traveled to Kaduna many times and would often stay in Abuja at a nice hotel (maybe the Sheraton) and could call the US from the room. It was a 10 hour trip from the farm to Kaduna around the bridges across the Niger but I started sending my driver around to a small village on the other side and I would take a small boat up stream that saved about four hours of travel time. Seems like it used to cost about 40 Nira for the trip in a long homemade boat with an out board motor for power.
Once while in Kaduna to pick up two tractors we had bought I noticed a lory parked in a dry river bed with two poles buried in the ground directly behind it. I asked my driver what that was all about and he said that at 11:30 there was to be an execution of two bandits. We went past the scene several times that morning and you would have thought they were giving away money because of all the people gathered on the road and down in the river bed. After lunch, the lory and all the people were gone but the two poles, bare of course, remained as evidence of what apparently happend there.
After six months in Nigeria the company decided to buy out my contract and we headed home. I was very dissappointed at the time but all has worked out for the best. I eventually got my RW rating and I still do ag work in both fixed wing and rotor.
Time has a way of smoothing out memories. Yes, Nigeria was a very poor and dirty country of which it's impossible to describe to someone that's never seen it. However, We had a great time on the beach at Lagos and seeing the country as we did. Would I do it again? Probably.
barryb