Nigeria the "Giant of Africa", had discovered of oil in 1956 and joined OPEC in 1973. This had changed its economic status in Africa and the world. One of the first priorities of the Government of President Gen. Murtala Mohammed was to improve the education sector. Nigerian Govt. had declared free, government-supported education, and the recruitment of expatriate teachers to teach the Nigerian students. Teachers were recruited mainly from India, Pakistan, and Sree Lanka. My brother George, who was a Physics lecturer at N.S.S. College, Changanasserry was offered a teaching job at the Cross-River State, Nigeria in 1977. He joined at Itam Secondary School, Uyo and soon became the Vice Principal. Working in foreign countries was the dream of every Keralite, for many years. There was an exodus of Keralite to Middle East countries for employment from the early Seventies. There were a lot of opportunities in teaching profession in Africa. So was my dream. My brother knew my pulse and submitted my application at the Teaching Service Commission in Calabar, the capital of Cross River State.

I was called for an interview at the Nigerian High Commission in New Delhi along with my brother-in-law Raju and few other College Lecturers from Kerala. Mr. Oloosamuku, the first secretary along with two other officials at the high commission interviewed me and was selected. I was overjoyed and thanked God for the wonderful grace. After all the travelling formalities have done, including the vaccination for yellow fever, we had booked our tickets to Calabar via Lagos. I had also collected the allowed foreign exchange of six dollars at that time. When the final day came for me to depart from my home my father was at home without opening his shop to say farewell. When I hugged him, he cried and tears came from his eyes, a first time shock I had in my life. I never imagined, this would be the last time I would see him alive. He passed away after one month when I was in Nigeria.

I along with my sister Kochu and her family had finally boarded the Air India flight from Trivandrum via Mumbai to Lagos. We were so excited and thrilled to experience our first flight and then to a foreign country. The Air India flight was superb. The air hostess were so courteous and the food at a height of 38000 feet was delicious. I bought two Heineken beers at a cost of two dollars to enjoy the flight and that left me with four dollars. Since the Nigerian time was behind that of Indian time the day was long. Finally, we reached Lagos at night. After the normal formalities we were checked into a hotel in Lagos. Our flight to Calabar was the following day at noon. The next day morning when we were at the breakfast table we met a Kerala family who was travelling to India for vacation. After getting acquainted with them, they came to know that we had only sixteen dollars with us which was not enough even to hire a cab. So they gave us 250 Naira equivalent of 500 dollars for use (one Naira was equivalent to two dollars in 1978) which could be returned at any time. They also gave a startling revelation that the confirmed air tickets for the internal flight would not guarantee a seat in the aero plane in Nigeria because they used to issue more tickets than the seats available. So when the aeroplane to Calabar had landed, we all ran to the aircraft with our hand luggage to stand in the queue. It was a rare experience and as cautioned, some passengers couldn't get the seats and missed the flight.