I impulsively decided on Morocco as my destination for getting away from the chaos that we are routinely used to in Nigeria. I became blessed by being able to ‘act out of the box’. I had a few days that were blissful in the Kingdom of Morocco.
Getting the visa was with so much ease, very far from the sometimes-difficult treatment Nigerians encounter venturing into Europe and America. I applied online and it was in four days granted via email. The flight out of Abuja that Sunday morning was a breeze, and arrival and processing through immigration at Casablanca were casual. No fuss at all.
On landing at Agadir, getting a taxi out was devoid of any bustle. No altercations with drivers. Quite remarkable was the low level of noise. I heard virtually no vehicular horning or hooting throughout my stay. The quietness of the streets was palpable. Comparing Agadir with Lagos or Abuja in this respect may be like comparing light and darkness. Of what use and value is our over-use of car horns on the road? How do we get by with substantially reducing the use of car horns in our lives?
So, I was at Agadir. I had nothing in mind but to just roam around with no particular agenda. No purpose beyond just putting Nigeria and her wahala out of my mind for a few days, as I sought fresh air. The hotel room was basic. It was on budget. For 8 days it cost $343. This cost included breakfast, plus either lunch or dinner. Two meals per day, it was. The buffet offerings all through provided considerable latitude to just eat and eat. Restaurant closing times were not enforced. One can just continue eating past the stipulated time.
In variety and unlimited offering, the food was on a daily basis superlative. I observed and experienced that fruits and vegetables were plentiful on the menu. How come this situation in a country that is partly arid and faces serious water scarcity? It was beyond belief. I had the latitude to eat so much fruits and vegetables this past week, probably more than I have eaten so far this year. Morocco is not simply a desert country; it has important agricultural regions and has invested considerably in irrigation and water infrastructure despite its severe water constraints. It is a very big contrast to our Nigerian situation with food and agricultural production, despite the 12 River Basins that lie effectively dormant.
One must situate this with the media report of Professor Yemi Osinbajo’s recent family experience concerning the consumption of fruit juice allegedly contaminated along the production chain. We are definitely stuck substantially at the subsistence level of agriculture, which will never be fit for purpose. This is despite all the superlative parameters of natural endowment with which we are bestowed. Compared with Morocco, much of our suffering is indeed self-inflicted. Something has to wake us up from our state of pretentious sleep.
At least in Agadir, many commercial and residential buildings were about four floors, with parking provision at ground level. There were relatively few bungalows in the areas I visited. The city therefore appeared to be laid out compactly, conserving land and reducing the spread of infrastructure corridors and lines. Agadir is particularly well planned, having been substantially rebuilt after the devastating earthquake of 1960, so this feature should not necessarily be taken as uniform throughout Morocco.
It was also less common in the areas I visited to see the sort of haphazard proliferation of roadside shops and kiosks that we exhibit in Nigeria. Shops do exist within mixed residential and commercial buildings in Morocco, but commercial activity appeared more organised. Particularly striking was the sprawling Souk El Had market, with numerous entry gates and thousands of shops at which almost everything is bought and sold. This reminded me of the concept of GBAGI MARKET, Ibadan, as conceived under the Bola Ige administration after the Ogunpa floods of 1980, which was subsequently allowed to deteriorate in Nigeria.
Quite remarkable is the jewel of Royal Air Maroc Airline. I counted 34 planes on the ground at Casablanca Airport. That was simply my observation at the time, but Royal Air Maroc officially reports that it has 69 aircraft in its fleet. So much for the hired Kenya Airways plane that was branded in Nigerian colours under Hadi Sirika, the erstwhile Minister of Aviation. Is Hadi in jail or what?
It was a breath of fresh air to have a taste of a society that appears to place considerable value on orderliness and public organisation. Morocco is even good in football. The experience suggests the benefits of sustained planning, investment and continuity in governance. Morocco certainly has its own social and economic challenges, but there are useful lessons for Nigeria in what I observed.