With the local airport closed for an upgrade, oil executives wanting to get to Port Harcourt, the hub of the country's oil-producing Delta region, are expected to negotiate the highway into town from Owerri airport, 85km (53 miles) to the north. The journey offers a telling snapshot of contemporary Nigeria. As of last week, there were 18 police and military checkpoints, mainly on the look-out for bribes, and 14 pot-holes so cavernous that traffic had to abandon the carriageway altogether to get any farther. All this on the region's main commercial artery. There were also 165 advertisements for local churches, of every conceivable denomination, and six mortuaries. It is a heady mix of corruption, pollution and decay, with just a hint of salvation. Unsurprisingly, many oil-men do not bother with the road and take a helicopter instead.
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