Due to Nigeria’s wide number of ethnic groups, tourism there focuses primarily on festivals, although it also features rain forests, savannah, waterfalls, and other natural attractions. Tourist spending in Nigeria fell from $2,6 billion in 2015 to $1,5 billion in 2017, most likely as a result of the rise of the Boko Haram insurgency in 2015.
Now, it is important to highlight some of the things that foreigners must avoid when they visit Nigeria.
Here are seven things Tourist ( foreigners) should never do when they come to Nigeria:
1. Avoid getting in Trouble with the police: As easy and law Abiding as it may sound. Do not get into troubles with the Nigerian police. Despite the myth that corruption runs high amongst the Nigerian police Everyday they try to proof us otherwise dismissing that Allegations and you don’t want to be used as a scape goat to others, Do you? Especially as a non Nigerian “ In pidgin language: dem go use u shine” be law Abiding and Don’t disobey the traffic lights, stay in your lane, park in designated Areas and you will be fine.
2. Do not drive in Lagos -Every megacity has traffic, but Lagos stands out because of its lack of upkeep and sound policies. Lagos’ roads, traffic lights, and public transport services are in poor condition, causing traffic congestion to intensify. As a Tourist, driving yourself might just be a bad idea in Lagos. You’ll need an Experienced driver or better still order a bolt to drive you around. The most convenient place for Tourists to visit in terms of a conducive, Free and good road in Nigeria might be Abuja “the capital of Nigeria” because of it’s traffic free liberty.
3. Do not wear camouflage – Do not wear Anything that looks like a military uniform in Nigeria. I don’t know where in the world you might be reading this Article from, maybe: India, The U.K or South Africa but in Nigeria the military guys picks offense if a civilian wears a piece of military clothing And you can get severely harassed at that instant and it won’t be a crime on their ends. Logically, I think it’s because they see their uniform as their badge of honor. They had to Spent so much time going to the military school and experienced hard training all to get this badge of honor and wearing it, is a big disrespect to them and their system . Although, we do not know if this reason is good enough and they are simply Assumptions because they haven’t come out to state their Actual reasons but don’t just wear anything that looks like a military clothing please because you don’t want military problems, like, we are talking about the Army !!! In Nigeria we don’t mess with the Army so just wear normal clothes.
4. Do not skip the lines: Do not skip the lines in banks, in malls, supermarkets no matter what the Emergency may be. Nigerians will pick offense and it might end up escalating into verbal or physical Aggression very Quickly For example; cuss at you or just try to get you out of their way Because there were on the line before you. If that must happen you may As well beg everyone on the Queue individually. Nigerians like permission so if you ask nicely they might just let it pass.
5. Do not take picture of people without their permission – if you’re a Tourist in Nigeria don’t ever make this mistake. You’re probably doing this from the purest of intentions with the motives of capturing the moment or maybe you want to take a picture of a particular building that seemed captivating to you and someone happens to be by the building and he sees you with a camera taking pictures of this building and just Assumes it’s him. This person will walk up to you and Demand you tell him why you’re doing what you are doing and might not believe the whole Tourist thing. This can escalate very Quickly to something else. Reasons for this might be because of the country’s level of insecurity. they are scared you might want a picture of them to lynch on them later or kidnap them or do something that can’t be good at all and in Addition, Nigeria is a very religious county that believes in witchcraft and black magic ( juju) and the reason for that picture might be because you want a picture of them in order to kill or harm them through diabolical means. So if you won’t ask, keep your cameras to your self baby. So they don’t get seized or broken.
6. Dress properly. Be well covered in certain Areas in Nigeria. “properly” might not be the perfect word because whatever people choose to wear is “proper” in their eyes but keep the shorts and mini skirt away from urban Areas like markets and bus stop (garage) because you might just be setting yourself up for a potential harassment. You will get unwanted Attention that ends up making you feel uncomfortable but you can still wear your bikini to the beach, pools. You can wear your beautiful mini skirts to big malls and supermarkets but keep it from the urban places because they are not exposed to things like that and the poor are the most religious in Nigeria.
7. Do not Tour the forest In the night or in the day time. Do not Tour the forest at any time. Especially if you’re alone and Without the necessary protection. Nigeria Suffers from insecurities which has grown over the years. so you better stay away from the Big trees and Bushes . Just leave them Alone.
Nigeria has a total of 371 ethnic groups . Fascinating right? Beautiful cultures and Extremely friendly people especially to foreigners. A Nigerian will go out of his or her way to make a foreigner feel comfortable in the expense of their comfortability.
So foreigners and non Nigerians are more likely to get Away with the odd stuffs and they often get the V.I.P treatment because you are new and you probably don’t know how we operate here.
