This trip in 1979 was to Nigeria to provide technical advice on the erection of some Supalite buildings in Abong in Nigeria.

Malcolm went by plane from London to Kano in northern Nigeria. On 24 February, he was driven in a 4x4 to southeast to Jos. The journey was interrupted by several stops to clear petrol blockages then a puncture. Malcolm got out and went to sit under the shade of a tree but found he was on an ants nest so leapt up then had to remove his trousers to get the ants out. He spent the night in Jos then continued to Abong the next day, making a ferry crossing in the process.

The main site comprised living accommodation at Abong in Tabara province, where the river Donga formed the border with Cameroon. The camp was for an Arab company undertaking a contract to construct a new road through a densly forested steeply mountainous area. Malcolm was billeted in the upper deck of a Volkswagon camper van outside the accommodation block which, although cramped and dingy, was far preferable to the squalid condition of the building.

On his first evening, Malcolm observed the water tank on the roof of the accommodation block being replenished by bucket. The water had come from the river by tanker, having been filled also by bucket. The fact that river water was being used in the living quarters convinced Malcolm that it should not be touched for fear of infection or infestation.

Over the next couple of days, Malcolm supervised the unloading of some lorries and noted the poor condition of some of the goods which had not survived the journey from England too well. An overdue delivery arrived late one evening, the driver coming in to the office to say that "the lorry was spoiled". It transpired that he had misjudged the width of his vehicle and hit a tree.

On the third day Malcolm got to work supervising the erection of some accommodation huts. The work went surprisingly well although the quality of the finish was less than perfect. There was a second site not far away at Akwo. The road was no more than a track that had been cleared with a bulldozer through the scrub and trees. The Contract Manager was an Englishman, and only other Eurpoean on site, whom had previously worked for the National Coal Board. He seemed pretty disillusioned already, not helped by the fact that he had not been paid for months.

The contract was to build a road running northeast through a mountainous area close to the border with Cameroon where there were no existing roads. The work appeared to be being carried out without any preliminary survey, but rather by sending a bulldozer off to cut a trace through the forest. Consequently, the result was a series of runs in various directions and on slopes with a gradient of up to 1 in 4. These were eventually straightened out and graded to become usable.

Malcolm was taken along the new road by the Contract Manager one day to make an inspection. Bearing in mind that the road was opening up the area, it had previously been fairly inaccessible. It amused the manager that the road was already being used by the locals who would try and beg a lift from any passing vehicle. Formerly, the only means of travel had been on foot. At a stop, Malcolm was mooching around by the vehicle whilst the manager went off to look at something, when a small boy emerged from the trees and, upon seeing Malcolm, rushed back in with bulging eyes, presumably because white skins had not been seen here before. Malcolm drove on the way back, tackling some seriously steep inclines.

Malcolm was generally left to proceed with the work by himself and he was inclined to make the most of the day to progress the building. He usually got back to the accomdation building in time to eat with everyone else, the food invariably couscous and occasionally with some lamb. After one difficult and harrasing day, he came back after the others had finished so sat down to eat by himself. There was a pet calf called Zaki which the contractors kept as a pet, but that evening they were chasing it through the house where it was urinating in panic. Malcolm exploded with temper which had little effect on the situation.

Another evening, Malcolm and another of the contractors were invited to the village by the policeman, James Certyo. James had found out that Malcolm worked for a building contractor and asked him to design a house for him. It was a difficult situation to talk out of but it was managed after a few beers. Whilst in the village, Malcolm was amused by the young assistant policeman riding his new Raleigh Roadster bicycle rapidly up and down so as to make the dynamo work.

One Sunday, everyone was taken up into the mountains for a barbecue. Strangly, but pleasantly, it was held in a stream and thus quite refreshing. A sheep had been brought for the occasion and was slaughtered on site. During the course of the afternoon, a single file of local men appeared from the trees and processed past our party. As they went, the last man in the file stopped and bizarrely said "Excuse me, can you tell me the time".

A couple of days later, Malcolm joined a group to cross the river Donga by dugout canoe into Cameroon - technically an illegal border crossing. Communication was a bit haphazard due to the variety of languages spoken between the natives, the colonial influence and us visitors from different parts of the globe. I could speak some French, Tycier from the camp was Arabic and spoke English, Abu Bassam also Arabic spoke some Haussa, A Nigerian traveller spoke Haussa and some English and Cames from the camp spoke English, French and Haussa. So between us we did manage to get by. There was only a narrow footpath to the village on the other side of the river where Malcolm was bewildered to see a set of very large rough terrain vehicle tyres for sale which seemed to have little purpose without a road.

Malcolm had spent just one month on this assignment in Nigeria when he returned to England.