Mr. Tunde Ogunrinde returned to Nigeria two years ago and now runs a fast-food chain.

Armed with a winning smile, the 42- year old chats easily with the staff working at the fast

food restaurant,  Chicken Republic. But this is all relatively new for the chain’s chief

operating officer. For two decades the father of three lived in the United Kingdom working

in a management position for a hamburger chain. Then two years ago he took the difficult

decision to move his family back to Nigeria, and now he is responsible for 65 Chicken Republic

restaurants.

No one keeps reliable statistics but he is one of thousands, possibly hundreds of thousands,

of educated Nigerians who have decided to return because of a combination of strong

growth back home and the economic slowdown in the Western World.

“At the height of the recession in Europe and the United States, it was crazy because

everyone was getting in touch saying they wanted to go home,” says Ade Odutola from the

job recruitment website Wazobia.com. He also said, lots of Nigerians who left in the 1980s

and early 90s now realize that it is possible to be successful back home and that’s a real

magnet pulling them back to Nigeria.

Back at Chicken Republic, the lunchtime crowd is starting to arrive. As he watches the fried

chicken depart and money come in, Mr. Ogunrinde is also reflecting on the difference

between business in Europe and Nigeria.

SOUTH AFRICAN WOMAN ARRESTED FOR HIDING COCAINE IN HER DREAD LOCKS.

A woman was caught trying to smuggle 1.5 kilograms of cocaine in her dreadlocks on a

flight to Bangkok, it was reported. South African, Nobanda Nolubabalo, 23, was arrested and

held in Thailand’s capital after custom officers allegedly noticed a suspicious white

substance in her hair.

Officials later carried out a search and discovered she had allegedly matted the Class A drug

into her dreadlocks before boarding a flight from Brazil. A search found traces of white

substance which turned out to be cocaine.

Nolubabalo was being held in custody after being held at Bangkok’s International

Suvarnabhumi Airport as she disembarked a Qatar Airways flight which had come from Sao

Paolo via Doha. The Bangkok Post reported that the suspect had allegedly admitted trying

to smuggle the drug and claimed she had done so after being hired to work as a drug mule

by a Thailand based businessman for 1,200 pounds.

Thailand has some of the toughest anti-drugs laws on the planet, with judges permitted to

impose the death penalty on traffickers. The South African’s arrest follows the execution

of another South African citizen this week for drug smuggling in China. Janice Linden, 38,

was executed by lethal injection on Monday after she was caught in November 2008 trying

to smuggle 3kg of crystal meth into China.

Olakunle O. Bolarinwa,

Is a Nightline Family Member Of The Voice Of America {VOA}.

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