Once inside the airport we stood out quite easily. Nigeria is the largest black nation in the world in terms of population – at 189 million and growing. We were the only whites within view. There were a number of lines formed for the airline we were there to take – Air Peace. After trying to figure out which line were supposed to be in – because none of them said “Benin City” – I asked a man with an Air Peace vest on which line we should be in for Benin City and he indicated we were in the correct lane to get our boarding passes. We stood in this line for about 20 minutes before we were waved up to the counter. We handed him our passports and he began clicking away at the keyboard, taking longer than seemed necessary to process our boarding passes. Next he asked for our ticket number. Thankfully I had printed out our purchase receipt before we left home and it had the information he was looking for. After another several minutes he told us he was sorry, but this was a fraudulent ticket! I had purchased them online back in America and during the process had received several ‘fraud alerts’ from my credit card company before the transaction finally went through.
But after it processed I was able to print out this receipt that seemed perfectly legitimate.
We were sent over to the woman who handled business class passengers and I explained to her what the previous ticket agent had said. She clicked away at her computer and after a few minutes said she had identified the problem. It was not a fraudulent ticket, but the Nigerian bank put a hold on the charge to be sure it was me who made the purchase. She asked if I had the card along on which the charge was made. Thankfully I did and I gave it to her. I’m afraid that if I had not had that particular card along, we may have had to purchase another ticket. She said she would email the bank and if all checked out, in about 20 minutes we should receive a reply from the bank and be able to receive our boarding passes to fly to Benin City. It made me uncomfortable leaving our passports and credit card with her, and our two suitcases back with the other agent, but we had little choice under the circumstances.
While we waited amidst all the cacophony of the busy airport, we learned now Nigerians get someone’s attention.
It would do no good to yell to another because this would not stand out amidst all the noise. Instead they make a staccato hiss – “ssss” – sound that causes everyone to look around to the person making the sound. It is surprisingly effective. I’ll have to try this back home. :-)
It was a long twenty-minute wait. I had started my stopwatch when the agent told us we would have a reply in that time. But true to her word, after about 18 minutes she said it all checked out and we could go back to our original counter and get our boarding pass. We waited in line there another 10 minutes and then were able to get our passes, proceed through the hallway for a check of our recently acquired boarding pass and head on toward our gate. Since we had over two hours to wait in the airport, we had been coached in advance to go to the Gabfol Airport Lounge to await our flight, which we did.
We had never been in an airport lounge before, so this was an education itself. Here you can pay a fee to enter the lounge and they give you a soft drink and snack and you can order food similar to a small restaurant. There were about 30 comfortable lounge chairs (faux leather!), free Wi-Fi, satellite television, and virtually no one there. Pam and I were the only ones there for the first thirty minutes of our wait. Since we hadn’t had lunch, I placed an order for jollof rice and chicken. Pam and I shared it as the portions of rice are typically huge. I asked the attendant when we would need to go out to the boarding gate and she said she, “I will take care of you.” I’m not sure what this meant, but was confident all would be fine.
Our boarding passes said boarding closed at 14:55 (2:55 pm) and as that time rolled around, we got pretty nervous that we had been forgotten about and would miss the flight. Pam looked at me with a bit a bit of trepidation and said, “I don’t want to spend the night in this airport!” Of course, neither did I! At 14:54 our hostess called us over and asked for our boarding passes and said all was ready. She sent us out the back door which went directly outside into an open air hallway toward the tarmac. There were two armed guards at the end where it emptied onto an alley that ran between the building and the tarmac. They waved us ahead and pointed us to a man standing next to a pickup truck who waved us over. We got in and he drove us directly out to the plane! There, the last number of passengers were getting on the plane. All was well, but we were stressed, totally unfamiliar with all that was going on.
One interesting thing about luggage on these flights. Instead of the luggage being taken at check-in and loaded onto the plane, here the luggage is taken at check-in, then at some point before the plane leaves is driven out to the plane and lined up on the tarmac. Before you get on the plane you have to go over and point out your suitcases and then the fellows separate them out for loading onto the plane. Don’t know how this would work if it were raining!
We expected the flight to Benin City would be on a rather small prop plane but it was a surprisingly large plane – an aging Boeing 737 – with three seat on either side of the aisle. The plane was about half full, well worn, somewhat dirty and with many sounds not heard from newer planes. But it flew straight and true and landed in Benin City in less than an hour without a hitch. As many people as live in Nigeria, there is a surprising amount of what appears to be wilderness. Much green was flown over before coming to Benin City. The city is much the same size as Accra, Ghana – with an estimated 1.5 million residents.
Nigeria is divided into 36 states plus the federal capitol territory (similar to Washington D.C). Edo State is located west of the Niger River – from which the nation takes its name. About half of Edo’s eastern border is the Niger River (pronounced ‘nigh-jer’). Folks my age and older probably have memory of the news reports of the Nigerian civil war in the late 1960’s where much of the eastern region of present Nigeria tried to part from Nigeria and call itself the nation of Biafra. While it was a bloody and violent war, it was probably overshadowed in the US press by the war in Vietnam. Those trying to form Biafra were mostly from the Igbo tribe – one of the three largest ethnic groups in Nigeria. The other two largest ethnic groups are the Yoruba and the Hausa. These three make up something like 70 % of the population. In addition to these are another nearly 250 ethnic groups (tribes) that make up Nigeria. The Hausa, mostly in the northern part of the nation are Sunni Muslims. This is the area that has had the problems with the fringe group calling itself Boca Haram. The Yoruba generally practice traditional African tribal religion and the Igbo people today are largely Christian with quite a hodge-podge of traditional ideas mixed in.
As we exit the plane, we board a bus to take us to the terminal. After a short wait for our luggage, we head for the exit. We are met at the exit onto the street by three smiling faces members who have come to greet us and bring us to the feast location – Nigerians Osas Aghimien and Edafe Ajenure, and American Cody Kitts. At first, I assumed that the Nigerians were fellows at the airport looking to make a bit of money handling your bags for you. Cody assured us that these men ‘are with us!’ And with us they are! Osas is one of the key members serving in the local congregation and helping with Feast arrangements. Edafe is a song leader and emceed the talent show later in the Feast. We made the short ten minute drive to the hotel quickly and easily through some pretty poverty stricken areas. It is good to be here safely with God’s people keeping His Feast.
2025-02-11