14 days in Dubai means years away from Nigeria

One day, five days and even two weeks in Dubai, I could not hear “park there, open your boot, where is your particulars?” From all indications, their police were not that type. No roadblocks anywhere in the emirate. I saw the emirate police about four times driving in their cars and when I went to […]

One day, five days and even two weeks in Dubai, I could not hear “park there, open your boot, where is your particulars?” From all indications, their police were not that type. No roadblocks anywhere in the emirate. I saw the emirate police about four times driving in their cars and when I went to the police command in Dubai but I have not seen any of them with gun. I am not sure they ever recorded a case of stray bullet there.
Not just the police, even the ‘Area boys’ if any, do not seem to be active. I have not seen or heard any case of street fight in Dubai or Abu Dhabi the only two cities in the emirate that I visited. Worst still, I have not witnessed or heard of theft case around. Go to any shop with your money, stand anywhere in the market or on the street, count your money and put it back in your pocket, you will not hear ‘Onle, Barawo or Onye Oshi’ anywhere.
“Kai, this country is too quiet for my liking. Since I came, I have not seen a street beggar, no street hawking, you cannot also see any roadside kiosk or Mama put (local food vendor anywhere. I am tired of eating chicken precook (a special delicacy) commonly found in most of the restaurant,” I told a Dubai based Kenyan national, Mr. Ismael.
“Look, the entire emirate is covered by CCTV cameras. Even if you drive rough with a car, the next thing you will see is a fine posted to your phone through SMS and you must go and pay. When you park at a ‘No parking area, the same thing applies. You cannot still anywhere and escape. They will trace you through the CCTV cameras. Even the private shops and even un-developed lands are covered by CCTV,” Ismael said.
“But don’t you think is because the United Arab Emirate (UAE) is a small country that is why they are able to police it effectively? I understand the emirate has a population of about 8 million people though less than 20 percent of that population is indigenes. The rest are visitors,” I observed.
“I was in Kano for one and a half years. Why didn’t the police made the security in Kano or any smaller community in Nigeria or in my country, Kenya as perfect as Dubai or any part of the emirate? The police here are not corrupt. They are not violent to anybody and they are very intelligent and are less seen on the streets. But we believe a good number of them are moving about in plain clothes. They are not easily noticed,” he said.
Hmmm, the more you move about in Dubai the more you realize that you are truly far away from our Nigeria where a female Chief Superintendent of Immigration assisted by about 15 other officers at the Murtala Muhammad international airport, Lagos were seen arranging passengers on queue during our departure as against the three immigration officers manning a counter each at Dubai airport that cleared us on both arrival and departure. Yet, everything was orderly and neat.
Tourist attractions:
Though the UAE like Nigeria is a major oil producing country, the emirate did not over rely on its oil as its major source of revenue. The emirate invested a lot in tourism and is now making a lot of revenue as one of the world’s major tourism attractions.
Starting from the artificial lake drawn through Dubai, the several tunnels used by vehicles and trains some of which passes through the sea while others serve as runways for aircrafts, Dubai is housing Burj Khalifa, the “tallest building on earth” standing at 829.8m (2,722 ft) and the only 7-star hotel in the world, Burj Al Arab respectively.
Desert Safari is another place of interest at the outskirt of Dubai that every visitor would like to visit. Desert Safari is a combination of the ancient Arabian tradition as well as modern culture of the people of the emirate. Visit to the desert must be with 4-wheel drive jeeps through the large expanse of sand and the visit terminates at Arabian Night Tours where tours are entertained with belly dance and free dinner and soft drinks are also served.
Another place of interest to tourists is the Dubai creeks where boats load goods and passengers to the neighboring Iran republic. While the creeks in Nigeria have been taken over by criminal activities such as armed robbery, rape and kidnaps by jobless armed youths, the creeks in Dubai are tourists attraction centers where people go for site seeing and relaxation.
While the well to do tourists hire helicopters and small aircrafts to fly around and watch Dubai and other cities from the air and in most cases use parachutes and drop from the flying aircrafts at a land near the Dubai sea as part of leisure, other tourists go on sea cruise with assorted boats.
Driving around town in electric trains that are not man by human drivers is yet another form of relaxation. There are several train stations in the town with a train arriving at any of the stations after few 5 minutes. Though no driver is manning them, the train automatically slow down at bends and stop at every station as they are programmed.
The commercial taxi system of the country is also a perfect one. While there are un-painted taxi cabs for the big guys, the colour taxi cabs that are all neat with air conditions are equipped with meters that count what the passenger should pay. All the taxi cabs in the emirate go on drop and not the system where different passengers going towards the same direction are conveyed, in most cases with over load.
Dubai has a large number of bus stops strategically located in the city. Built with glasses and furnished with chairs for passengers waiting for buses, all the bus stops have functional air conditions for the comfort of the waiting passengers. “What a good sleeping and resting place for Nigerian numerous street mad men and area boys? But none in Dubai to litter them. Oh, my beloved Nigeria, I missed you.”
One thing I have not been able to clear about the UAE is whether there are masses in the country or not? I mean people that are not rich. My confusion started when I requested to be taken to the area where the masses of Dubai live and I was taken to an estate made up of duplexes. “Government of the emirate built these estates for the indigenes that cannot afford a house for themselves. Each duplex is occupied by a family. You can see that flowers and economic trees have also been planted around the buildings to beautify them,” a resident, Zayd Al Hussain said.
Looking at the duplex built for the poor in Dubai reminds me of the duplex in the largest estate in West Africa, Gwarimpa estate in Abuja where some ministers, chief executives of federal government agencies and highly placed persons live in duplexes with less architectural designs compared to the ones in Nigeria.