The Nigerian experience is physical, emotional, and sometimes international. No one knows it better than our features on #TheAbroadLife, a series where we detail and explore Nigerian experiences while living abroad.
Today’s #AbroadLife features a Nigerian software engineer working with Volvo in Sweden. During a vacation in Poland, he experienced harassment and was unceremoniously ejected from his hotel for simply asking for basic services. He shares his story with us and discusses why he may never return to Poland again.
What were your motivations for “Japa-ing” in the first place?
I was not necessarily looking at moving abroad at the beginning. I had a good-paying, remote job working from Nigeria. However, I experienced limitations and frustrations that made me consider the Japa route. Money in your pocket can be very annoying when you cannot get basic things at affordable rates, like electricity, internet and safety, to say the least. I also had this situation where the police extorted me. I consider that one of my last straws.
WOW! What happened?
So here’s the thing. In 2021, I had just moved to Lagos and stayed with a friend until I could find a place for myself in 2022. I wasn’t particular about the distance from town, as I only needed a quiet, big area. I finally got a place like that around Kola, at Alimosho.
When setting up the place, I called on the services of a carpenter to do wardrobes for me. I paid him 60-70% of the total bill in advance for the work he was to do, and he disappeared for two months. When I finally contacted him, he gave me stories. This was for something he was supposed to deliver in three weeks. I gave him another month, but he still didn’t show. After weeks of pushing and shoving, he gave me wardrobes that were not satisfactory, and I then asked for a refund.
Can you imagine that this man reported me to the police and told them many lies about me? The police then came to my place and told me that the District Police Officer wanted to see me for what had been filed as a “civil disagreement”.
When I got to the police station, I was approached multiple times by policemen speaking Yoruba, and each time I mentioned that I didn’t speak or understand Yoruba, they left me. I waited from morning until 10 p.m. when some of the police officers drove me away to a different area that I knew nothing about. They then forced me at gunpoint to transfer money to them. I managed to do it, but getting over what happened took me a while.
Luckily, a new job offer came (which is the job I have with Volvo now). They arranged my visa and all the other details. The only thing I did was do data “capturing” at the Swedish embassy.
Why did you choose Poland for your vacation?
I went there because I have people there. I have a friend doing a Master’s degree and a friend based in Poland with his wife and kids. So my rationale was, “Since you have people there, why don’t you make this the first out-of-country visit?” I mean, I could have gone to Stockholm or anywhere in Sweden. But I needed the out-of-country experience and to see my long-time friends.
Nice! How did the vacation go?
My friend in Poland told me that if I pay the hotel bills physically, it’s usually cheaper than paying online. So, on a Saturday, I sent the money to her, and she helped me book a hotel in Gdynia. I then booked my round trip and went to the airport, but my flight was delayed for an hour. We then landed at around 12:15 a.m. or thereabouts on Sunday morning. I took a Bolt cab to the hotel. I met my friend, who showed me my room and key (no one was at the reception desk), and she later left with the Bolt driver since her place was quite a distance from the hotel.
Later that morning, I got my friend to call a taxi to church (since I didn’t speak Polish). I met more faces at the church, including my nursery school classmate, whom I hadn’t met for several years. I then returned to the hotel and took a walk in the evening.
I’d say everything remained calm until Tuesday morning. Being someone strict on hygiene, I couldn’t use the two towels that hadn’t been changed since my arrival. I also wondered why no cleaner had been in my room since my arrival. And most importantly, I now needed hot water. I couldn’t do without it.
With these questions in mind, I went downstairs to look for someone, and lo and behold, there was a man at the reception desk this time. Using Google Translate (as I couldn’t understand Polish), I politely asked for hot water, which they said would be ready in ten minutes. I also asked for the towels to be changed and cleaned, and the man scoffed at me. He said that I shouldn’t expect much, as the hotel wasn’t “5-star”, which was absurd to me…
Wait what?
Yes o. I would need to pay extra for those basic services to be rendered.
I was appalled, but even then, I returned to my room and told my friend, who had booked it for me, what had happened.
Not long after, two ladies flung the door of my room open and started to push me back towards the reception. Through Google Translate, I realised they thought the room I had paid for was for two people instead of one.
I tried to explain that she was only my friend who helped me book, but all to no avail. They thought I was lying. It even reached the point where I dared them to look through CCTV footage to show that I was the only person and call the police, but they weren’t convinced. I should also say that while looking at the CCTV footage, I peeked at the register, and I also happened to be the only black man in the hotel, or at least in that wing anyway. They “helped me” pack my luggage and bring it downstairs, insulting me and calling me words like “cheating black nigger”. I had to look then for another hotel in another town in Poland to spend the rest of my visit.
Only after I could settle in did I realise that my watch and some money were missing, and these items were in my box before the incident.
So sorry about this. I hope this didn’t ruin your entire stay.
No, it didn’t. I still visited some landmarks in Poland but didn’t stay long after that. I left a day after the incident.
Would you ever go back to Poland?
No, and I’ll never ask someone to book a hotel for me. Not because I don’t want them to, but because I don’t want them in the crossfire when I take legal action. The people of Poland need to fix up one thing—their hospitality.
