Going to Vanuatu
When I received invitation from the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP) Secretariat in Brussels to cover the organisation’s Council of Ministers’ Meeting which held from June 11-15 in the small, beautiful Pacific island nation of the Republic of Vanuatu, I was naturally excited. Who wouldn’t be? I don’t think there is any […]
When I received invitation from the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP) Secretariat in Brussels to cover the organisation’s Council of Ministers’ Meeting which held from June 11-15 in the small, beautiful Pacific island nation of the Republic of Vanuatu, I was naturally excited. Who wouldn’t be? I don’t think there is any normal, healthy man who does not suffer from the fear of flying or from sea sickness (if he is to travel by sea) who does not like the prospect of visiting foreign lands or distant places. It is in the very nature of man to hunger after environment different from his own in which he thinks the grass there is greener than where he is.
Even if a prospective traveller is to undertake his journey by the more hazardous mode of transportation by land, unless one has a morbid fear of bandits or armed robbers who are not a modern creation but have always been a menace to society since even in the days of the Lord Jesus Christ, as attested to by the story of the Good Samaritan, there is no normal man I know of who will not be excited about the prospect of travelling to far flung corners of this beautiful planet either in search of business, pleasure or in satisfaction of curiosity. Who is it that hates to enjoy the prospect of eating exotic foods, seeing exotic sites and meeting with new and interesting people and learning new things? I know of no man.
But where on earth was Vanuatu? I called up a few of my well travelled friends to learn some vital intelligence about Vanuatu. But I drew a blank. Most have not heard of the country not to talk of providing me useful information that could whet my appetite or help me prepare for the trip.
It dawned on me that I had no option but to immediately go to the internet to learn something about Vanuatu. I used to hear of this country only during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meetings (CHOGM); beyond that, absolutely nothing else. Nobody hears about the exploits of Vanuatu sportsmen; the scholarship of its intellectuals; the talents of its artists; the beauty of its culture; the scheming and dexterity neither of her politicians and statesmen nor of anything else. I said to myself that this country seems to have one great distinction in that it is not notorious for any terrible shortcomings of its people nor is it famous for anything ennobling. It seems to be just there like that: an accident of history, a mistake by God and a place one can be indifferent to and not feel guilty because it is neither notorious nor famous for anything. Vanuatu has absolutely no bragging rights to any form of distinction in the world. And that is remarkable.
I Googled Vanuatu and out came a long feature on the country. To be honest, the Wikipedia entry on the island nation somehow dampened my initial enthusiasm. How couldn’t my sense of travelling adventure be depressed when I read the following entry ‘’Vanuatu is an island archipelago consisting of approximately 82 relatively small, geologically newer islands of volcanic origin (65 of them inhabited), with about 800 miles (1,300 km) north to south distance between the outermost islands’’. A country of volcanic origin? I asked myself. My heart sank. Has volcanic activities stopped or is the place sitting pretty still yet waiting to erupt any time it chooses?
On reading this, my mind went back to Mr Celestine Okafor, my Geography teacher in Form Three. I still remember him almost forty years later. We nicknamed him ‘’Brahmaputra’’ because of his frequent reference to this famous river in India as an example of a river which he said had a certain geographical feature which I have now forgotten. But his nickname has stuck in my small brain since my over four decades of encounter with him. He used to talk so much about molten magma, that tongue of fire that issues forth from the bowels of the earth following the devastation wrought by earthquakes and other volcanic activities. And here I was being told by Wikipedia about a country I was about to visit where I stood the possibility of being a victim of this natural phenomenon called molten magma.
The talk of volcanic activities in Vanuatu evoked in me images of devastating mudslides, relentless monsoon rains, hurricane, sudden caving in of the earth crust and all that. Frightening stuff, you will agree with me. What if any of these took place at the very time I am there and I am one of the unfortunate victims? What will happen to my beautiful and loving wife? What will happen to my brilliant and blessed children? What will become of my big dreams to become a great political leader in this land and become one of the greatest political evangelists of my generation?
The man or woman who did this entry on Vanuatu seems to have been hired by the enemies of that country to induce fear into the spines of some fearful folks for he said further: ‘’There are several active volcanoes in Vanuatu, including Lopevi, as well as several underwater ones. Volcanic activity is common with an ever-present danger of a major eruption; a recent nearby undersea eruption of 6.4 magnitude occurred in November 2008 with no casualties, and an eruption occurred in 1945’’.
The man who must be a specialist in what I call infofrightment was not done yet with his seeming mission to dissuade me from visiting Vanuatu for he observed further:’’ Vanuatu’s total area is (roughly 12,274 square kilometres (4,739 sq mi)) of which its land base is very limited (roughly 4,700 square kilometres (1,800 sq mi)); most of the islands are steep, with unstable soils, and little permanent freshwater.[ One estimate (2005) is only 9% of land is used for agriculture (7% permanent crops, 2% arable land). The shoreline is usually rocky with fringing reefs and no continental shelf, dropping rapidly into the ocean depths’’.
Having learnt some hardly cheering news about the geographical features of Vanuatu, I now sought some intelligence about the economy of the country. Perhaps, I said to myself, I will be comforted a little bit here. And what was I told by Wikipedia? Hardly anything to cheer a soul made to fear Vanuatu by a rendering of its physical geography. The author said: ‘’Economic development is hindered by dependence on relatively few commodity exports, vulnerability to natural disasters, and long distances between constituent islands and from main markets’’.
What sort of country is this that its story, as rendered in Wikipedia, does not sound so cheerful at all? Why does it have so many seemingly unending unedifying features? If it has such numerous natural disadvantages, why did God create it in the first place? Must a place like this exists and if so, for what purpose? If this place is so barren and so inhospitable for human habitation, why are people still living there? Why don’t they think of migrating to neighbouring countries like Australia, New Zealand or more liveable Pacific islands like the Solomon Island, Fiji and Papua New Guinea? I asked no one in particular. My not so small anger and frustration shifted to another direction: ‘’If a nation has this kind of profile, why did the bigwigs of the ACP decide that this is where their council meeting must hold?’’ I also asked myself.
In spite of the negative things I have read, I convinced myself that I will go to Vanuatu. But where on earth could I get a visa to be able to do so? I tried to find out from the Wikipedia story. And what did I gather? ‘’There is no Vanuatu High Commission or other Vanuatu Government office in Britain, but the British Friends of Vanuatu, based in London, provides support for Vanuatu visitors to the UK, and can often offer advice and contacts to persons seeking information about Vanuatu or wishing to visit, and welcomes new members (not necessarily resident in the UK) interested in Vanuatu’’. If this place does not have a High Commission even in Britain, its former co-colonial overlord, where then will I be able to get a visa to travel there? Now I was truly convinced that somebody out there was out to frustrate me or anyone else intent on visiting Vanuatu. But will I give up?
However, my spirit was revived a little when I read further on and came upon more interesting titbits such as: ‘’Vanuatu has a population of 221,506. Males outnumber females; in 1999, according to the Vanuatu Statistics Office, there were 95,682 males and 90,996 females’’. Now this place was becoming positively interesting. How will the love market in this country look like? I chuckled. In places where females outnumber males, it is the males who still chase the fair sex so in a place where the supply is naturally far shorter than the demand, how is the love stock market there like? Is it terribly bearish or bullish for the male ‘’investors’’? I wondered to myself.
It also occurred to me that gender activism must be very fierce in this place where even nature seems to have conspired against women. Where women have numerical advantage, men still ‘’oppress’’ them. What will it be like here where in addition to their natural oppressive tendencies, men, in addition, outnumber women numerically?
I was cheered up further when I read also that ‘’In 2006 the New Economic Foundation and Friends of the Earth environmentalist group published the Happy Planet Index which analysed data on levels of reported happiness, life expectancy and Ecological Footprint and estimated Vanuatu to be the most ecologically efficient country in the world in achieving high well-being. In spite of some of the truly frightening things said about it, this Vanuatu nation must be an interesting place to visit indeed. Armed with these curiosities and exotica about Vanuatu I became more determined to go to this country.
It is said that where there is a will, there will always be a way. And so it was with Mr Idang Alibi. I soon learnt that as an intending visitor from a fellow Commonwealth country and if armed with a valid return ticket, I did not require a visa to visit Vanuatu. One obstacle overcame. But a new challenge showed its face.
Because of the distance and the travel route booked for me, I needed to transit through either Australia or New Zealand in which case I required a transit visa. To overcome this new challenge, I called upon the Holy Spirit to guide my choice and He ministered to me to go through Australia. I repaired to Lobito Crescent in Wuse 2, Abuja, office premises of VFS, a South African- based company to which European nations have outsourced their visa matters. When I presented my papers, the officer who received them told me that the only way I could get a transit visa within so short a time (five days to my departure date) was if I presented in person my peculiar case to the Australian High Commission in Oak Centre in Maitama, Abuja.
My hope of travelling to Vanuatu dimmed again. But buoyed up by the feeling that as a child of God favour was always my portion, I went and presented my case. The lady in charge, a Nigerian called Tonia, said she was not very confident I will be able to get a visa as the Note Verbal I got from the Vanuatu Embassy in Brussels to support my visa application will not suffice as it was not from the Foreign Ministry here in Nigeria. She nevertheless said she will send my request to VFS in South Africa. I silently rejected her earlier statement that my case seemed hopeless and welcomed with great faith, her later pledge that she will send my case to the appropriate quarters. I said to myself that as a child of the Covenant there was no way I will not receive a positive response from South Africa. A few days later, my faith was rewarded as I was called to receive my passport and the electronic visa enclosed in it.
Armed with a transit visa to Australia, i was now set for my journey to Vanuatu. Come a few days to my departure date and a new problem propped up once again. This time around, it was from the quarters of the troubled aviation industry in Nigeria. Air Nigeria, which had been booked for me to travel by to Lagos on the first leg of my journey, had an internal problem with her pilots who refused to fly. And if I did not catch this flight to Lagos in order to catch Emirates Airlines flight to Dubai and then to Sydney, Australia, I stood the chance of missing the entire journey to which I had become psychologically primped to undertake. I did some quick thinking: I bought an Aero Contractors ticket and with my wife and my Man of God, driving us, I immediately headed for the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport, Abuja.
I got to their check-in counter only to be told that I needed to reschedule my flight as there was no space for me on the 12 noon flight I had bought ticket for. A sophisticated tout, who stood nearby and saw how disappointed I was at been denied that flight and how desperate I appeared to be to get to Lagos before 5 pm that day, approached me and made me an offer. He said a cousin of his who bought a ticket for the 1.pm flight to Lagos will be unable to make the journey and seeing how desperate I was to travel to Lagos he could get me his cousin’s ticket if I was ready to go with his comrade to get me an ID card that would bear the name of his cousin. If there is anything I hate utterly, it is lack of straight dealing, so I promptly rejected that offer by the tout even if such a principled stand will cost me the trip to Vanuatu. I later learnt that in spite of the serious security challenge facing our country, full ticket racketeering reminiscent of the dark days of the old Nigeria Airways, the Flying Elephant, desperate passengers can use other people’s ticket provided they are ready to procure oluwole or fake identity cards and give a generous tip to the touts. Most of the airlines’ ticketing officers will tell you their flights are fully booked only for you to watch as tickets are sold to those who were wise enough to know the Nigerian way of doing things. But that was hardly my most important worry at that moment when what faced me was how to get to Lagos in good enough time in order not to miss the entire trip.
Quick thinking was once again called forth from me. I approached other airlines’ counters to find out which one had a flight for 1pm. Blessed child of God that I am, Chanchangi Airlines was booking passengers for that flight time. But it looked like as one solution emerged for me a new challenge also followed soon after it. The challenge this time around was how to raise N22, 000 on the spot for the ticket after spending what I had buying a ticket for a flight that was denied me. I had to quickly launch an appeal fund for a new ticket with my wife as chief launcher; my Man of God as the co-chair and my humble self as a distressed on-looker. My wife surrendered a part of her housekeeping allowance; the Man of God chipped in something and I added some of the local currency I had reserved for incidentals to make up the money. That done, I paid for the Chanchangi ticket.
This day was June 7, a few days after the unfortunate Dana Airline crash in which all on board was killed and anyone who flew by any of our domestic airlines was so full of apprehension. When we boarded the flight, the prayer warrior spirit in me came up. I prayed all through the about one hour flight to Lagos calling on God and his angels to prevent any mishap from coming upon me or anyone else on that flight. God heard my fervent prayer: we had a safe landing. As soon as the plane came to a full stop, I called excitedly to relay the happy news to my obviously relieved wife back in Abuja.
Later on that night in Lagos when I boarded Emirates Airlines that will fly me to Dubai for 7 hours 35 minutes after which another Emirates plane will use 14 hours 55 minutes to take me to Sydney for an eventual 3- hour flight to Port Vila, capital of Vanuatu, I couldn’t help but remind myself of the wry observation that it is curiosity that kills the cat. I said that if I got to Vanuatu and was consumed by volcanic activity or any other mishap for which this country, according to Wikipedia, seems disposed, what will I have to tell God and the hosts of heaven when I get to that domain of eternal bliss that I spent a total of about 27 hours (one day and 3 hours) to fly to this place to do?
After what looked like a journey from planet earth to possibly the next one, the 14 hours plus Emirates flight from Dubai to Sydney, Australia landed at about 7 am local time. But my pleasant ordeal was not about to end any time soon yet for I had over 12 hours (half a day) to wait at the Sydney Airport before the final leg of the journey to Vanuatu could take place.
I soon discovered that I was one of the early birds to the Sydney Airport destined for the ACP meeting in Port Vila, Vanuatu because as the day progressed, more and more people from all corners of the earth started trickling in as more flights arrived Sydney. If you saw any face that was not Caucasian it was most likely that he was from one of the 79-member country of the ACP bound for Vanuatu for the big meeting. The Sydney Airport that day witnessed a conglomeration of faces and features she probably had not witnessed since its establishment because there were black Africans from the mother continent, blacks from the Diaspora, Melanesians, Asians and assorted varieties of the human race who congregated in Sydney that day with one purpose in mind: to proceed to Vanuatu for what I was later to learn the Vanuatuans call ‘’the big meeting’’.
When at about 9. 30 pm Sydney time the Air Vanuatu flight was called, the Boeing 737 plane had a full complement of passengers destined for Vanuatu. As soon as the plane took off and passengers were served, I ate and fell into deep sleep as a result of the tiredness from the long flight from Dubai and the more than half a day of extremely boring, extremely tiresome transit wait at the Sydney Airport. I was awoken from my well deserved sleep when the booming voice of the pilot announced that we were ready to land at the Port Vila, Vanuatu Airport. The moment my feet came in contact with Vanuatu soil at about 1. am local time, I said a silent prayer thanking God for his mercies and asking Him to release to me whatever blessing he had for me in the country I just came to.
A few minutes later, we were at the arrival hall. A special queue was formed for delegates arriving for ‘’the big meeting’’.
All segments of the Vanuatu society were obviously mobilised and trained to prepare for this meeting and to leave nothing to chance. The airport people played their role well as we went quickly through the polite and dutiful immigration officials who were obviously delighted to see the delegates and anyone connected to the 95th session of the ACP Council of Ministers’ Meeting and the 37th session of the ACP-EU Council of Ministers’ Meeting.
It was clear that the Government and people of Vanuatu took very seriously the hosting of that meeting in which representatives of over a billion people on earth were coming to their country to discuss the future and well-being of the 79-member country organisation. There was a brief airport ceremony consisting of drumming, singing and dancing. It was clear that we attendees of the big meeting were held in high esteem like royalty. Each of us was decorated with beads hung over our neck like some beneficiaries of very important chieftaincy titles in Nigeria.
After the airport ceremony we were driven in long buses to our respective hotels. It was at about 2. am local time on Sunday June 9, that I was checked- in to my hotel room. While going in, I asked for direction to any nearby church I could attend as soon as the day fully broke. Little did it I know that due to sheer tiredness, I will not be able to go to any church service for as soon I laid my head on the bed, I did not wake up from my sleep until 4.00 pm that fateful Sunday June 9! I was like that man in one of Chinua Achebe’s novels who slept from one market week to another!
For my impression of Vanuatu and other titbits read my piece Oh Big Nigeria, Go to Small Vanuatu and learn Organisation and Order! which will be published in your favourite paper Sunday Trust next week.