I'm not (that) crazy...

...despite what you might think. I mean I am kind of crazy, but in a nutty good way. I travel to random countries alone. I don't have the same filter that some people have due to cultural and religious inhibitions. I just exist. I am (that was meant to sound deep and existential but if it sounds douchey ... yeah, I can see that)

A few days ago, I returned to Nigeria. It was right after I heard of the massacre of an estimated 2000 people by Boko Haram in a place called Baga, in North Eastern Nigeria, and, the use of a 10-year old girl as a bomb carrier (I have an issue with the term suicide-bomber because suicide implies that she chose her fate, which she did not). Both of these, particularly the latter,  finally caused me to crack and renege my previous stance on blogging about political and cultural issues in Nigeria. I am still working on a post that will articulate what I feel  particularly on the Nigerian response indifference to this issue, which I hope to share later.

But... I'm writing this post to address all the friends that probably think I am crazy to return to a country that is experiencing countless tragedies on such a grand scale. As many people said to me, "between Ebola and Boko Haram, is there nowhere else you'd rather be?". Friends and family offered to find me jobs in the states, or even live with them (for a time I'm sure, if you meant indefinitely let me know I may take you up on your offers). I seriously thought about it... and I wanted to explain to everyone who is so wonderful to care about me why I came back (or didn't run away in the first place), although I almost ditched my flight and absconded in Paris... I'll address the two separately.

An important thing to know is that I live in the capital city of Nigeria, Abuja, situated in the geographical center of the country. It is also technically the religious center as well - the country being approximately half & half Muslim and Christian, with the south(bottom half) being mostly Christian and the north (top) being mostly Muslim. It's actually a decent city (by African standards). Abuja is where all the diplomats, government politicians and many international workers (NGOs etc) live. It's in Nigeria's best interest to keep it as safe as possible. It's also the most developed city in Nigeria (although Lagosians may disagree and/or say their city is more fun - the latter is true).

Actual pictures of Abuja (photo credit: www.naijametro.com)

Ebola:
Ebola has been completely eradicated in Nigeria. In fact, I consider this one of the few successes of government to date, at least since I moved here.

According to Wikipedia (additional emphasis, underlining & italics mine, all dates are from 2014)

 On 22 September, the Nigeria health ministry announced, "As of today, there is no case of Ebola in Nigeria. All listed contacts who were under surveillance have been followed up for 21 days." According to the WHO, 19 cases and 7 deaths* had been confirmed, along with the imported case, who also died.

The WHO's representative in Nigeria officially declared Nigeria to be Ebola free on 20 October after no new active cases were reported in the follow up contacts, stating it was a "spectacular success story" 

The only parts of Nigeria that had Ebola

First of all, 19 cases and 7 deaths is amazing considering the population size of Nigeria (technically, no deaths are amazing, and it is horrible that anyone died, but I mean comparatively). That's out of 173 million people in the country. I've seen how closely people are jam-packed in the city of Lagos, Trust me when I say it could have been much worse. 

But even while it was in the country, there was not much threat to me. Lagos and/or Port Harcourt are approximately 700 km (~435 miles) away from Abuja. I suppose one fluke escapee on a plane could have caused massive havoc in the city, and I did worry about that, but alls well that ends well 

Boko Haram:

So unless you live under a rock, at this point you've probably heard of the terrorist group, Boko Haram. In fact, Boko Haram has probably killed as many  people as ISIS (or the Islamist State, or whatever the hell they call themselves. To give you some more (depressing) perspective, the territory Boko Haram has captured is the size of Slovakia, with about 1.7 million people in it...

So is there danger where you are? 

Click to enlarge 

• Red Circle- Where I live
• Purple lines - Where I've travelled (2x or more) for work
• Blue/Purple circle - cities that previously had Ebola
• Black circle - Baga, the area destroyed by Boko Haram

The short answer is yes, there is some...There have been bombings in Kaduna, Kano, and Jos which are not too far away and even Abuja (where I live). But in general Nigeria is a huge country. There is no immediate indication to me that I am in danger in Abuja. Just as there was no way to know who in Paris was in danger (RE: Charlie Hebdo). 

I closely follow travel warnings as given by the international community (including the US government/UN), and in general I am unlikely to be in places that would be threatened. Basically, if the US decides it is unsafe enough to evacuate all their employees I'll get out too. In the diagram you can see that Abuja is in the green. Everything in red is currently considered a travel risk, with some parts of it under control by Boko Haram*. I have had to travel to some places in the yellow area (Sokoto) but that has been suspended for the time being, due to the upcoming elections. In the meantime, keep all the people being affected in your thoughts please. They need it more than I.

UN Advice on Travel in Nigeria

*I previously accidentally claimed the entire area in red was controlled by Boko Haram, which is untrue. Some friends were nice enough to correct me, which I've updated to reflect that.