Arrival in Lagos

 

It has been a long time since I have written, my apologies!

I reached Lagos on the 23^rd of August 2009. The view from the plane while landing was lush green with a lot of rivers during our entrance to Lagos. I eventually found out, the airport does not have a ATC. A few folks stand outside on the tarmac and look up into the sky and advise if a plane is free to land or not. Not very comforting. The Airport had Bose speakers for a PA system, impressive! They could have been fake, but one could never tell.

 

The company sent me contacts of an Airport Protocol officer to get me through immigrations and the hassles of arriving. He got me to the front of the line, answered a few questions for me, had my passport stamped and walked me past the line into Nigerian country. He then took me thorough to the driver, Duru. This guy drove like a maniac, worse thank back in India.

 

I was surprised to see foreign cars from all over Europe, the Americas, and of course the Japanese were there. The drive to our residence was enlightening. The traffic was chaotic, the driver was aggressive and so was every one else on the road which offered me an acute amount of calm. I had a fair idea of where I was heading after spending a lot of time looking at the map at home: courtesy: Google Maps.

 

I reached the residence, our home away from home. It was a beautiful place, right on the river which was not too clean but still looked nice. I walked in not knowing what to expect and met Chuck. I was given a tour of the house and taken to my room. Tired, yet excited I tapped into chuck's experiences in Lagos so far. Assured that it was safe, and the place we lived in was close to an ex governor's place I went in for a shower, got some grub into the system and all I can remember is hitting the sack.

 

I about to hit the sack right now as well, got a long day of fishing lined up tomorrow. Will write more soon.

 

Attestation by the Ministry of External Affairs

The Ministry of external affairs setup shop in Nungambakkam a few months ago, which helped save the hassle of sending my documents to Delhi and having it wait through the queue of numerous others before having it attested. 

The Chennai arm of the MEA were simply fantastic! I walked in at 11:30 AM to submit my application and had it done right away. Received my attested copy at 12:30. They were very prompt and quick. 

STR Visa Application to Lagos, Nigeria

I am impressed with the speed at which the company i was joining worked. Couple of days after announcing results of the interview, i receive expedited copies of my offer letter along with documents to support my Visa application to the Nigerian Embassy in New Delhi.

Part of the process to apply for the visa is to have your educational documents attested by the HRD of the state government and then the Ministry of External Affairs from the central government. The state government attestation takes about 2 week. I got mine done at the secreteriat and just receicved my docuements today.

In the mean time, i got the yellow fever vaccination. This is a necessity and is for at the airport in Lagos.

Madras has a branch of the Ministry Of External Affairs operating out of some where in Nungambakkam. Saving that for Monday and hoping that goes well, after which i intend to submit the application for my Visa.