How did you feel moving back from the US, UK, Canada, etc? Where you happy to be back home? Did you start missing abroad etc. Please share your experiences

i wouldnt say that i have moved back to nigeria but i just got back from a sort of test transmission where i spent about 5 months plus just to get myself used to it before taking the plunge.this coupled with the experience of some members of my family who have sucessfully moved back to nigeria will lead me to share a few pointers.
1.unless you have a surname ending with dangote or babangida or any of the 24carat names you are better off doing it in stages.
2.make sure you have drawn up a realistic plan of
a.what will you be doing for a job(means of livelihood)
b.transportation either a car which is better or budget for transportation(really expensive in nigeria)
c.accomodation(dont even venture out if you have not sorted this out)

once you have these basics sorted out the next stage is household stuffs,and then a generator which you can get cheap unless you dont mind roughing it at the end of the day depends on what order of priorities you put it.

you also have to be prepared for a shock,because you are used to things being on time but when you are in nigeria you have to exercise a whole lot of patience as everything moves atsnails speed,especially bureaucracy for instance i went to do a signature authentification for my shares at my bank and a document just to show that was my signature which wouldnt have taken a week here in uk or the united states takes at least 3 weeks in nigeria which was really frustrating but you will eventually get used to it.

watch out for people aroung you as 9 out of ten are out to scam you in one way or another,dont get me wrong im not saying an average nigerian is a scammer but just like every other country only worse,the mechanic the carpenter,generator repairing etc will sooner scam you than tell you the truth about services so be on the look out.

make sure you have the job and accomodation situation sorted before you go after this budget for funds to be spent for at least 3-6 months independent of any financial expectations. dont go back to nigeria on the strenght of promises or you will be dissappointed.

i am sorry i have not arranged it in chronological order but i am a bit tired mentally and im just multi taking and typing as its coming of my head,ask questions and i will try my best to answer them based on my experience in the 5 months plus and my brother's experience

lucabrasi:

i wouldnt say that i have moved back to nigeria but i just got back from a sort of test transmission where i spent about 5 months plus just to get myself used to it before taking the plunge.this coupled with the experience of some members of my family who have sucessfully moved back to nigeria will lead me to share a few pointers.
1.unless you have a surname ending with dangote or babangida or any of the 24carat names you are better off doing it in stages.
2.make sure you have drawn up a realistic plan of
a.what will you be doing for a job(means of livelihood)
b.transportation either a car which is better or budget for transportation(really expensive in nigeria)
c.accomodation(dont even venture out if you have not sorted this out)

once you have these basics sorted out the next stage is household stuffs,and then a generator which you can get cheap unless you dont mind roughing it at the end of the day depends on what order of priorities you put it.

you also have to be prepared for a shock,because you are used to things being on time but when you are in nigeria you have to exercise a whole lot of patience as everything moves atsnails speed,especially bureaucracy for instance i went to do a signature authentification for my shares at my bank and a document just to show that was my signature which wouldnt have taken a week here in uk or the united states takes at least 3 weeks in nigeria which was really frustrating but you will eventually get used to it.

watch out for people aroung you as 9 out of ten are out to scam you in one way or another,dont get me wrong im not saying an average nigerian is a scammer but just like every other country only worse,the mechanic the carpenter,generator repairing etc will sooner scam you than tell you the truth about services so be on the look out.

make sure you have the job and accomodation situation sorted before you go after this budget for funds to be spent for at least 3-6 months independent of any financial expectations. dont go back to nigeria on the strenght of promises or you will be dissappointed.

i am sorry i have not arranged it in chronological order but i am a bit tired mentally and im just multi taking and typing as its coming of my head,ask questions and i will try my best to answer them based on my experience in the 5 months plus and my brother's experience

. . . and it begins again

AjanleKoko:

. . . and it begins again

what begins again?

lucabrasi:

what begins again?

Another battleground thread.
Nigeria is great vs Nigeria is crap. An overplayed scenario on NL Travel section.

AjanleKoko:

Another battleground thread.
Nigeria is great vs Nigeria is crap. An overplayed scenario on NL Travel section.

i v been on here long enough so you r not speakn to a newbie check the date i registered on nland
the op asked about moving to nigeria and i was sharing my experiences based on a 5 months plus stay,unless ou will rather i told her its easy and then she discovers otherwise?

lucabrasi:

i v been on here long enough so you r not speakn to a newbie check the date i registered on nland
the op asked about moving to nigeria and i was sharing my experiences based on a 5 months plus stay,unless ou will rather i told her its easy and then she discovers otherwise?

Calm yourself sir. I am most definitely not accusing you of anything.

my friend resigned from his work in 2008 ending, he parked his things and went back to nigeria simply because his document could not allow him to re-unite with his wife. since then he always claim that all is well in lagos with him.

comments not made in context of this OPs questions will be promptly deleted

okay, i am waiting for them to come and share their experience. untill free internet is allowed in nigeria.

Lacrissa:

How did you feel moving back from the US, UK, Canada, etc? Where you happy to be back home? Did you start missing abroad etc. Please share your experiences

I'm curious to know, why are you planning to move back? Business, personal, or purely sentimental reasons?

I tried it and regretted ever making such mistake,no matter the situation you find your self in Nigeria is not yet ripe for some body who has lived overseas for a long period of time.
Some Will tell you that there is no place better than home(yes i agree) but you should weigh your options properly before taking such decision.I bought a one way ticket in order not to run back abroad but i lasted only 2yrs in Nigeria and had to run back for my dear life.
Like a poster earlier asked,you know best your reasons of wanting to go back.

^^^i feel you and i have a member of my family who came back to the uk after roughly 2 years. from my research i discovered that one of the major reasons for this is not making proper plans to get a steady source of income both mid and long term.
dissappointment and broken promises from people who have promised heaven and earth.
having not tested the waters in a manner of speaking i.e spending some weeks/months and slowly adapting
failing to prepyourself for the hard slog ahead
because we have friends and family who have assured and encouraged us to come home we tend to believe them and act on this without the realisation that going on holidays is totally different from living there full time.
on my long trip last year,in order to get a feel of the everyday living i trained myself not to eat out at eateries everyday
accomodation and transportation has been sorted for me already but i trained myself to only go out for business and important stuffs i even tried public transport like i stated earlier.
and i have devised three different sources of income,if this does not work out or is a bit slow in the first couple of months,i am getting a job which i have also prepared for, once these things are prepared for in advance anything else that happens will not be your fault and will certainly happen to an individual living in nigeria as well.
three of my family have already moved back home and are doing fine,including friends,

AjanleKoko:

Calm yourself sir. I am most definitely not accusing you of anything.

no worries man its all good

i love this thread, please keep the story coming because many people are still planning to move home finally. they can learn from what is posted here.

Wow Finally my thread has some answers, didn't know. Thank you all that responded, now let me go read them

AjanleKoko:

I'm curious to know, why are you planning to move back? Business, personal, or purely sentimental reasons?

To serve (NYSC) for a year and possibly go abroad again for MBA

It will definitely be interesting to read the experiences of those that have moved back. Here's a link to Jide Salu's blog. He moved to Nigeria after about 20 years in the UK , I don't know the person, I just googled moving back to Nigeria or something of sorts someday and found it. Not sure it's been updated anymore but you can at least still read the first few months and years. Made interesting read for me then.

http://babajidesalu.posterous.com/archive/1/2009


And he's put together what to consider before moving back to Nigeria-
http://babajidesalu./2009/10/29/20-must-questions-to-ask-before-relocating/

more people will soon go home since the economy is getting worse everyday.

unipol:

more people will soon go home since the economy is getting worse everyday.

s that the best thing to do now? why not help rebuild the economy back the way it was when you came in!

Just passing-by!!!



Gbammm over and out

Lacrissa:

To serve (NYSC) for a year and possibly go abroad again for MBA

nnzz

Lol , Na wa ooo
so u are just planning to go for ur NYSC nd u seems like u are moving back forever.
mzn NYSC is one of one's best experience in life nd dont even bother asking anymore questions. Just go nd have fun
TO SERVE AND PROTECT WITH INTEGRITY

llbhuds:

nnzz

Lol , Na wa ooo
so u are just planning to go for your NYSC nd u seems like u are moving back forever.
mzn NYSC is one of one's best experience in life nd dont even bother asking anymore questions. Just go nd have fun
TO SERVE AND PROTECT WITH INTEGRITY

i bow oh.

:d

I was born in Ithaca, New York, 1967 came back to Nigeria 1972 with my parents and younger brother. Lived in U.I and UNN, school in Naija, finished University in 1990 as a City Planner, NYSC followed left 1992 for LA,California. Came back 2004.
If you plan to come back to Nigeria, make sure you have enough funds for 2-3 years if you do not have to work.
1. bring your car... its cheaper. Japanese cars are better.
2. Abuja should be your destination, if you dont have connections or able to network in Lagos or anything serious to do. Driving, life style, clearner air, cheaper food and transportation, foods similar to what you find in the U.S are cheaper to get. Security wise better,
3. You need two yrs rent you need at least 2million-2.5million Naira UPFRONT. and another 1.5-2 m for food, health insurance for 1yr. if you can afford it 6-8million will build a two - three bedroom and extra 2 million for land.
4. Make sure you have a degree or some professional certifications, make it easier get a job or some consultancy job.
5. Acquire skills like carpentry, Metal working,glass blowing, interior decor etc
6. if you can ship all the stuff you can along with your car. cleaning material, Power tools, every dey use stuff like tupperware, even ziploc bags
7. All your books especially reference materials, these things may be nothing to you but means a lot in Nigeria.
8. Come for a test run... 2 months intervals two times for in 1 year. look for simple and cheap stuff that makes life easy in the US but not in Nigeria... California Car scents has been in the Nigerian Market for about 3yrs...
9. Look for companies that would like to make sales or expand to Nigeria but scared of the security situation. Be their front man.... Auto parts for American cars, cleaning products like Borax, Ziplock, tools like callipers construction stuff like damp seals etc....
10. if you can afford it, set up a business, bottled water, soaps for hotels,etc, find a niche objective is consumables to get you daily income....
11. DO NOT SEND FUNDS TO ANY RELATIVE AND DELEGATE THEM TO DO STUFF FOR YOU. ITS A 80 -20 LOSE GAMBLE...

Miss abroad? For what reason?

not this story again!! Have we not had enough of this?
OP, kindly use the search button. This has been played out severally in the past on this forum.

Moving back wasn't easy considering what i was in the news concerning Nigeria. In 2010, i decided to take a leap of faith and i finally moved back to Nigeria from Cotonou

I am currently abroad and i plan moving to home Nigeria someday.
I am already almost fulfilled abroad, what i mean is that i consider myself to have some skills i have gathered here, and it will be cool to build on that when i return.
I have bought a land, registered a business name etc, and i am planning of coming in stages before i move over finally.

Personally, if i am to advise anyone on moving over to Nigeria, it will be to move when you have a good foundation abroad already that you can return to if things dont go to plan. Set up a career first abroad, do some courses and save some money before you finally move.

ANother scary thing is that Nigerians can be parasitic, as in scamming. One needs to be careful of who one relates his home coming intention to.

God bless that Nigeria, its a place one can make it. But i see a lot of Nigerians scared of taking risks. You suggest they go into business and they say it is risky. Personally we need to be ready to loose money (wisely) if we want to make it financially and God on our side what ever we lay our hands on will prosper.

For me, it was really difficult at first(because i didn't come with too much money) but as years went by I was able to adapt and now am well settled married and doing greatly well. my first 6months was like hell, spending spending and spending without income, I was missing everything about yankee life, I was with family and a few friends but still felt lonely all the time, I was afraid of investing my little capital wrongly or being conned, as a single guy then I was missing my yankee babe. but everything started changing when I invested a little in transport biz and was getting daily income, gradually my income increased and I got an apartment, bought a private-car and then got a wife(no long relationship, just made a choice, pay the dowry and do the traditional wedding straight)......long story shaa
but am really comfortable and happy having settled down here in naija, even if you offer me a free visa to any country now am not interested. Nigeria is the best and sweetest country to live in, though a higher level of personal mental and habitual refinement is needed, otherwise you become like others who complain about everything around them.

so many you dont need to hear..

Well, for me, it was terrible in the first one month. I felt like returning especially because I hadn’t quitted my job in the UK (I only came on vacation). The way things were done became new to me again. The struggling and rushing mentality was unbearable for me. I literally wanted to return to the UK before my vacation was over. Suddenly, I met a former boss and we had a chat. That was how I got bigger job here in Nigeria. I went back and resigned in the UK and have been in Nigeria since then. I had so many times that I just felt like returning to UK especially with the epileptic power system in Nigeria and the rising noise of generator sets in every neighbourhood within Lagos. However, I have just learnt to enjoy the area called Naija just the way it is... Some may say Nigeria will get better soon. For me, it is different. Nigeria is not ready to even take the first step toward development. We are still far...

afam4eva: Moving back wasn't easy considering what i was in the news concerning Nigeria. In 2010, i decided to take a leap of faith and i finally moved back to Nigeria from Cotonou

you took a flight abi?