16 May 2007, by Nana Kofi Acquah in Accra, Ghana. One thing I love to bits about Nigeria, is how they welcome a guest. Normally, a driver from the agency I"m visiting comes to the airport holding a placard with my name inscribed on it. If they haven"t picked me up before, and haven"t received detailed briefing, they always tend to think Nana is the name of a woman till they meet me. After the initial confusion is cleared, then you discover how hospital and warm Nigerians can be. The driver makes sure my luggage is secure in his car and 'vrooom" we go.
 
It"s all action in Lagos. He wants to be sure there"s no gang trailing us so he drives like mad... and at this point, it is almost impossible to relax till the driver turns on his radio and juju music starts flowing. Juju music always gives my head a pleasant spin. I love it. It has soul. At this point I wish I could move to Lagos for a year or two. The driver pulls up at the hotel, and my tummy turns. At this point in my experience, it doesn"t matter which one, I haven"t pleasant experiences yet, I have no great memories.
My first time in Nigeria was in December 2001, I checked into this hotel (I won"t mention names here) and really felt haunted. You could tell that it had known better days or may be, the initial capital invested in putting it up was massive but nothing else had happened to it except the elements. The taps were rusty and barren. The carpet was stuffy and battered. The air conditioner would fit better in a museum. The staff were quite nice till I reported the following day that my money had been stolen from my room. Then they moved from indifferent to hostile. I was amazed.
 
The manager of the hotel was nowhere to be found, there was no one really to speak to. They couldn"t seem to even trace the person who cleaned my room in the morning. I figured may be, this is what you get for checking into a sub $100 hotel. So I decided I"d upgrade the next time I was in Lagos. Round two was a cutie of a hotel. I coughed out 160 US dollars a night and breakfast wasn"t part of the deal. If you wanted a shirt ironed, you cough out an extra. The hotel owner, a rather loud woman, at least attempted to make us comfortable the best way she knew how: "Yell praises on your customers". After spending my breakfast time warring off houseflies, I decided this hotel isn"t for me. I must get a better place next time.
Better place next time I said? Yeah sure. This hotel was offering a gym, swimming pool, internet connection in my room... and still no breakfast for $225; but because of the special relationship with the company I work for, I"d have to pay only $175. Very exciting offer I must say. Till I checked in. By the way, here"s the first hotel where I had to pay a deposit before being given my room key and I was reminded I would have to pay some more deposit the following morning since they needed to complete parts of the hotel soon. After journeying through a maze of uncompleted buildings, I"m ushered into room 4 and the cockroaches and mosquitoes kindly welcomed me to hades.
 
I rushed to the reception to complain and I was politely reminded that there was a can of insecticide in the room, if I wouldn"t mind spraying the room and coming to relax at the reception area for a while. What was supposed to be a week in Lagos, I shortened to three days. I should be going back to Nigeria anytime soon, and sincerely, I really don"t know what to expect. If you know better, how to land good hotels in Nigeria for between 100 and 200 dollars, why don"t you share with me?
 
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