Nigerian Police - Justice and Honor

So this weekend Jeff and I decided to take a drive out to the golf course to check up on a few machines we have out there on rent. Its about a 45 mins drive but can take up to 2 hours depending on traffic. Usually it's not a big deal driving out there, except for the fact our driver decided not to come to work. For those of you who dont know, in Lagos we have a driver. Not because we are living the life of the rich and famous, simply because its the cheapest way for us to get around. If Jeff drives we usually are pulled over multiple times by the Lastma (sick nigeria "traffic police") demanding usually 100's of dollars for absolutely no reason at all but our skin color. We have been fined for not having a fire extinguisher in the car, not having a tint permit for our windows that are barely even tinted, pulling over to fill up with gas, parking under the electricity lines, pretty much anything that the lastma can think of at the time. Unfortunately we deal with them way too much because they see caterpillar equipment and think its big money. Its sad but they really are nothing but thieves that will find any excuse in the book to absolutely rape you for money. The worst part is there's nothing you can do about it. If you argue, the more money they will demand or damage they will cause.

Anyways, now that I say that im going to sound like an idiot telling you Jeff drove out to the golf course. We didn't really have much of a choice and we were hoping that since it was a sat. there wouldn't be too many officers out. Luckily we got out there no problem and of course when we thought we were almost home free on they way home a vehicle full of hungry officers pulled up beside us flagging us down. We tried to play the "don't understand and wave back" card for a bit but they continued chasing our vehicle. We finally pulled over after they drove ahead of us and slammed on the brakes desperately trying to get us to pull over. Aren't the police suppose to keep things safe on the road, not be the hazard themselves? Definitely not in Lagos. We watched 2 men come storming over already yelling like we almost killed someone. Jeff rolled down the window a little and they absolutely gave it to him about having a broken light cover and left brake light. (Long story - Our old driver got in a accident a couple weeks ago, scratched up the back and broke the left brake light. Then didn't bring our vehicle back the rest of the day/all night - Hence our OLD driver.) Anyways, we really have ordered the part and are just waiting for it to get here. Plus we didn't think it was a big deal since i could probably count on one hand the number of vehicles here that actually have working lights. Thank goodness for windows and waving arms - thats what everyone uses instead. Of course though, since we are white, we get caught. I sat in the vehicle while jeff tried dealing with the officers. I have see this situations 100 times now and what usually happens is, the officer will give us a ridiculous fine we have to pay, which really is just money going straight into their pocket. Jeff will try bargaining the price down or trying any way to save us from being completely raped. So i was completely shock when the office actually went to his truck, grabbed a book and started writing out an actual ticket. Jeff told me when the officer said i will write you a ticket Jeff happily said ya, "ya sure, please do" obviously not thinking he actually had a pen, let alone a ticketing book. It took the officers a few min. to fill it all out while Jeff sat counting at least 10 vehicles that also had very visible broken brake lights. Jeff told the officer he must have a very busy day ahead of him if he really was going to pull over everyone with a broken light. Of course the officer had no interest in anyone but us. We were even more surprised when the officer didn't demand money right on the spot. He took Jeff's drivers license and told him the only way to get it back was to go to the office and pay the fine. That kind of sucks but we were SUPER shocked when the ticket was only 2000 Naira (about $13). That is by far the cheapest fine we have ever paid here. Anyways after the whole ordeal we drove away and watched them past at least 5 other vehicles with broken lights. Oh well - we got our entertainment out of it after reading the ticket. We were laughing our heads off at all the violations you can get ticketed for here. Your guess is as good as ours......



So maybe this looks normal to you or maybe it wouldn't be funny to anyone who hasn't lived here, but keep in mind that vehicles on the road here you would find parked behind the dump in north america. They seriously are barely holding together. You see people driving with 4 completely flat tires, trucks over flowing with fruit, rocks, tires, anything, plus about 15 people on top. Just the rickety oldest pieces of junk ever. Believe me our broken light cover is by far the least of anyone's worries. But like i said for us white folks, ANY excuse in the book.......