Abuja Day 3

Day 3 in Abuja has been slow, but rather relaxing. After confirming my travel plans to Kaduna for tomorrow, I made a few work-related calls (only about half of which actually went through as something seems to be up with the MTN network today). The biggest news of today is that I found the most wonderful place - Cafe Salamander - on the south side of the city (whereas I am living at the very northern end). It's a lovely place with free wireless, reliable electricity, yellow and orange painted walls, and everyone is even wearing purple shirts (my favorite color, for anyone who didn't know that already...). I ordered a salad (yes! vegetables!) and a coffee and have been working here blissfully quietly and peacefully almost all day. This works well as government offices are closed anyway today.

The ride (thanks once again to Onyeka) here was beautiful, as I saw a completely different, and much nicer, side of the city. There is a stunning view of Aso rock and the surrounding hills and forrests when traveling south along the western highway in the city. And there are a few public parks (though, sadly, residential areas were razed in order to create most of them, and I'm not sure if residents were compensated), that apparently have crocodiles in rivers inside them.

I've been thinking a bit about how the economy is so ethnicized here. (Not that this is so different from New York). All of the money-changers are Hausa men. And all of the car repair shops/gas stations/spare parts places are run by Igbos. While I can see how hiring within families perpetuates this ethnic division of labor, I find it puzzling how it all gets started in the first place. One hypothesis - offered to me by a Nigerian man who is an interior decorator whom I met at a dinner last night at an Indian restaurant/expat NGO-worker hangout - about the Igbo in particular is that they used to be dominant in the military under British rule, but after the civil war, they all lost their jobs and were forced to find other work. Totally banned from any government jobs, Igbos went into trade and started filling important niches. An interesting thought, at least. How trade wound up equalling spare parts is anyone's guess. I'm especially curious about the Hausa money-changers. One idea is that maybe they were given priviledged status in this area by the British (whom many say favored the Hausa in general government administration jobs).

Tonight, I'm supposed to try a local "fish bar" - an outdoor place where you can eat grilled whole fish and listen to music outdoors. Sounds quite nice. It will be a nice way to finish things off in Abuja before heading to do my real work for the next two months.