Original subtitles

HORN BLARES

MICHAEL PALIN: 'I'm in southern Nigeria

'on the way to the legendary city of Benin.'

Got a choice of road surface here, and you can just choose.

I mean, vehicles swap from one to the other.

HORN BEEPS

They swing over to this one because it's got a faster surface.

Then if that gets a little better, they swing back.

'In Nigeria, it doesn't really matter

'which side of the road you drive on.'

HORN BEEPS

'Even if you do end up heading straight into oncoming traffic.'

Well, now the road seems to have completely disappeared.

'The final stage of my journey

'looks like it's going to be a bumpy ride.'

MAN: Be careful. Whoa.

CROWD CHANTS

'Nigeria.

'Often perceived from the outside as prone to corruption...'

We are fighting for our lives!

'..fraud, and the threat of Boko Haram terrorism.'

ALL: Bring back our girls now and alive!

'But this country is a complex puzzle.

'It's on the rise, with a rapidly expanding population

'that will make it the third most populated country in the world

'by 2050.'

Wow.

'To try and understand the contradictions of Nigeria...'

One ticket to Abuja, please. HORN BLARES

'..I'm embarking on a 1,300-mile journey...

'..across a beautiful land known as the Giant of Africa.

'A vibrant country,

'where 60% of the population is under 25 years old...'

Nigerians just have a unique sense of wanting to thrive.

'..but whose potential is being held back.'

Politics is a means of enriching oneself. Yeah.

'Once part of the British Empire,

'Nigeria and the UK have a complicated relationship.'

The British were the main proponents of the slave trade.

They should give us back our artefacts.

'As I enter my third week here...' CHEERING

'..I'm starting to enjoy the complexities of the country.'

Jollof is the winner. Yeah. Jollof is the number one.

Get your head right down. Ooh, yeah.

'I experience the natural beauty of Nigeria.'

It's so different to anything, really, we've seen so far.

'Then see it being destroyed by oil pollution.'

This river is dead.

'And get to witness worship on a truly biblical scale.'

SINGING, CHEERING

Whoa!

Wow. Just in clouds of dust again.

This is the main road to Benin. Or will be.

In the road ahead, there's a huge amount of lorries.

There's craters in the road, there's broken-down trucks.

'The high numbers of freight trucks

'are one of the reasons roads here are so bad.

'But this is also bandit country,

'where roadside shootings are commonplace.'

They have soldiers with rifles by the roadside, so...

Here we are. Some more guys.

This is potentially the most dangerous part

of this journey to Benin.

POLICE SIRENS WAIL

SHOUTING, HORNS BEEP

'Eventually, the sheer weight of freight traffic

'creates total gridlock

'and means we're potentially a sitting target.'

The road is paralysed mile upon mile with trucks.

Just a huge line of trucks, none of whom can move anywhere.

'Concerned for our safety, the drivers pull off the main road.'

Well, we're in really serious trouble now.

We've got these... We've come off the main road.

We've come... taken a side road, a country lane detour.

We don't know where it's gonna go

and how we're gonna get back on the main road.

I've really never seen anything quite like this.

Meanwhile, Safa deserves a medal

for keeping us going, for God's sake.

'We're now away from our planned route.

'And I get the uneasy sense we're also lost.'

'And then...'

ENGINE REVS, MAN SIGHS

'..one of the vehicles breaks down.'

MAN: We're not moving any more. DRIVER: Yeah.

Latest episode of our journey to Benin,

we've come off the gridlock roads

and found ourselves here in this little village,

and we happen to have to stop

because the fan belt broke in one of our security vehicles.

So we're waiting here while they find a mechanic,

and we're having a picnic lunch...

in a part of Nigeria no-one quite knows anything about.

HE LAUGHS

I've got my biscuits.

Oxford cream crackers.

HORN BEEPS Cheers.

I'm slightly hysterical, actually, I must say at the moment.

Whatever is gonna happen next, I don't know.

We might have to enter Benin by parachute in the end.

HE LAUGHS

'Soon, we find a way back to the main road

'and after a total of eight hours driving,

'I finally arrive in the historic city of Benin.

'And it's loud.'

CACOPHONY OF CAR HORNS

'Home to two million people,

'Benin is crowded and not exactly calm.'

CAR HORNS BLARE

'In the centre of the city is a large and very noisy roundabout.

'Surrounding it are several imposing statues,

'a reminder that for a 1,000 years

'this place was once a powerful kingdom

'renowned for its bronze work.

'There is also a reminder

'of the time when British soldiers invaded Benin

'and burnt it to the ground.'

What are you doing here? I want to talk to you.

Well... I want to talk to you about these white people.

What they did to us in this land.

'As we're filming the statues, a local woman grabs my attention.'

So what are you doing here?

Well, we're just in Benin.

We're doing a programme to try and understand Nigeria better.

I've never seen a statue like that,

where the British people are actually being killed in a statue.

So I was kind of... Yes, because...

I was kind of wondering... ..we are more than them.

When it comes to war,

we have the natural power, the natural strength.

'She's telling me about the 1897 raid on Benin,

'when 1,000 British soldiers

'engaged in a vicious and deadly battle here.

'The Kingdom of Benin was then destroyed

'in retaliation for the killing of several British officers

'a few weeks earlier.'

They went down to the palace and took all our artefacts.

That was how we kept our records.

They took all these things away and put in British Museum.

Today, we are telling them they should give us our artefacts...

Oh, yes.

..because they are our ancestors'. Yeah.

'After destroying Benin,

'the British took thousands of ancient bronze castings

'from the city, and sold them around the world.

'Nine hundred of them are at the British Museum,

'and Nigeria wants them back.'

That should give us back our artefacts.

Yeah, well, that's a good point.

I don't have any authority to get them brought back,

but I can tell people... Yes! Yes! ..how strongly you feel.

We are. Let them come back to this land, please.

Well, I've only just arrived in Benin, so it's a lot to take in.

But thank you. That's very powerful.

Thank you. Nice to meet you. Thank you, sir.

I'm... Goodbye.

What's your name? Ade, Ade Crown...

What's your name? Ade Crown Asiah.

Ah, right, OK. I'm Michael. OK.

'Ade Crown turns out to be a very nice English teacher.

'But she tells me most people in Benin feel very strongly

'about the bronzes being returned.'

Well, that was quite an encounter.

I mean, the statue itself is pretty outspoken,

but she puts it into context,

what they feel here in Benin.

I mean, it's a... I felt slightly ambushed

because I've only just arrived here.

But clearly, you know, that's...

they've got very, very strong feelings.

'The tradition of bronze casting is still very much alive in Benin,

'and to discover more about it, I take a walk down Igun Street.'

PERSON SHOUTS

'This has been the home

'of bronze casting in Benin for centuries,

'and many of the ancient statues in the British Museum

'would have been made here.

'Down a small alley, behind the shops,

'is the outdoor workshop where the casting still takes place.'

How do you do, sir? How do you do? Very pleased to be here.

'Chief Kingsley Inneh is the president

'of the Igun Street bronze casters.'

What metal is that? Brass.

So, that's ready to be poured? Now, yes. It is.

Wow. Right. Wow.

God, yes. Wow. Look at it.

Is this always done by hand?

Specifically, now we are only doing the old traditional metal.

That's the way we are casting. Yeah.

The physical involvement. Yeah. What are these going to be?

Will these be masks, or what do you think?

Is it not better you wait and see? I'll wait and see.

We are going to break it now. Yeah, OK.

Did it start here in Benin, making these bronzes?

Yes, yes. Way back. More than 2,000-3,000 years ago.

Really? Yeah.

So it's been pretty long, you know, so...

Has it been copied elsewhere,

or is there a secret to it that only the Benin people know?

No, there is a secret to it. Yeah.

Everybody here on this street are one family. OK.

Yeah, so we don't show people what we do outside.

'Once the metal has hardened,

'the hot clay moulds are pulled from the ground.'

God, you gotta be strong on this job.

They're like unexploded bombs, aren't they?

I'm really intrigued to see what's inside.

CHIEF INNEH CHUCKLES

So, now you're going to start opening?

Yes, he's now trying to break it open

so that you can see what's inside.

Oh, yes. You see it pretty clearly.

'As president of the guild,

'Chief Inneh is involved in the negotiations

'between Nigeria and Britain over the return of the Benin Bronzes.'

There must be a lot of bad feeling in Benin about the British... Yes.

CHIEF INNEH LAUGHS ..keeping the bronzes.

We are happy, we've been talking about the reparation,

so we are happy now that people are giving considerations

and the works are beginning to...

They are beginning to return them.

'Eventually, the statues are revealed

'to be the King and Queen of Benin

'from almost 1,000 years ago.'

Amazing.

Amazing that something so graceful can be just bashed about like that.

So, on behalf of the guild and the community,

I hand over this oba to you. Really?

This is the one we just casted. Well, thank you.

Thank you. You can have it.

Yeah. Ow! It's hot.

It is hot. It's still hot.

This is absolutely lovely, but it seems a very odd thing

that you should be giving Benin Bronzes back to the British.

CHIEF INNEH LAUGHS

Very beautiful, very beautiful. And this is...

The king. Yeah.

Very fine indeed. Thank you very, very much.

I really, really appreciate you letting us see the process.

OK. Thank you so much. I know it's secret.

You're welcome. I won't tell anybody.

CHIEF INNEH LAUGHS You know?

'Although the British Museum is in discussions with Nigeria,

'as yet, none of their bronzes have been returned.

'I'm very aware of the complex but enduring relationship

'our two countries have,

'and hopefully, this issue can be resolved.'

HORNS BEEP

'I only arrived in Benin yesterday afternoon.

'And it's almost time for us to leave.

'But first, it's lunch,

'and our producer Lola has chosen a restaurant

'that specialises in Nigeria's favourite dish.'

I've noticed for two weeks now,

there's been rice absolutely everywhere.

Yeah. Rice is just a big staple in a Nigerian home.

Honestly, I can say most homes eat rice every single day.

The one that everyone knows,

the one that everybody knows the name, is jollof rice.

Jollif? Jollof.

Jollof, sorry. Yes.

Jollof. Jollof rice. That's the big one.

It's the one people know us for internationally.

So, that's the star rice.

That's the main one that people have to...

If it's in the competitive world of rice, Jollof is the top one?

Jollof is the winner. Yeah, yeah.

Jollof is the number one. Jollof is the winner.

Good, OK.

And also, you don't have a party without jollof.

So at weddings, at funerals,

at any sort of party, birthdays, jollof has to be there,

unless the people would be like, "Why are we here?"

Yeah. Jollof has to be eaten.

It's a... It's a party dish.

But is it quite competitive, how you make it?

OK, I know this is really cliche, but every Nigerian says,

"My mum makes the best jollof," and I'm gonna say that.

Yeah, put that on record. Yeah, yeah.

My mum makes the best jollof.

I don't care about anybody's mum, but I know my mum does.

'Cooked with chicken stock, chilli, tomatoes, and peppers,

'jollof rice is a Nigerian institution.'

Looks good, looks good.

Here you go. Yeah.

Ah, ha-ha! Your jollof.

Right, I'm just gonna try some.

See how this compares with the jollof rice I've had already.

Good.

Mmm.

It seems the degree of spiciness is the thing.

Yeah, yeah. OK.

So, out of ten, what are you giving the rice?

I'd give this...

WHISPERS: It's OK.

Six. Oh!

Let me try this jollof.

Mm. You know what it is for me?

Not enough spiciness. Not enough, like, flavour.

And... Six? Seven?

I would even give it a four, Michael.

You'd really give it a four? Mm-hm.

And you bought me this? Mm.

I'm sorry! I brought you to the wrong place.

SHE LAUGHS I'm sorry.

'After lunch, we leave Benin

'and drive east to the village of Abraka.

'The roads are good, and the landscape is stunning.'

Well, this is better.

It's always good to be moving forward.

Going south towards the delta.

'The Niger Delta is a vast area of 27,000 square miles

'that has been created from the sediment

'of the country's great rivers.

'This is one of the most picturesque parts of Nigeria.

'But once we leave the main road, things take a turn for the worse.'

MICHAEL PALIN: 'As we approach the village of Abraka,

'our vehicles end up on dirt tracks

'that have been turned into deep mud pits by recent rain...'

HORN BLARES

'..and the weight of endless freight trucks.'

SHOUTING

Well, this is... MICHAEL CHUCKLES

The tension here's palpable.

Things are getting as bad as they've been

on the entire journey here.

It's becoming a sort of marine adventure.

MAN ON RADIO: 'Right here. Over. Just keep coming.'

Into a river bed.

'Eventually, one of our vehicles grinds to a halt.'

WOMAN: Oh, the bus is stuck.

Is it? Oh, God.

Well, it looks as if the bus

with all the filming kit on is stuck.

Three vehicles are through. The other one isn't, so...

'It's almost sunset,

'so everyone is keen to get the van out of the mud

'as quickly as possible.'

Nelson, our security chief, tries to use a luggage strap as a tow rope...

Wait, wait, wait. Wait!

'..without success.

'Eventually, it's the local villagers

'who come to our rescue.'

Yay! MICHAEL CHUCKLES

Fantastic.

Hey!

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

MICHAEL CHUCKLES Great moment.

Well, that was just amazing.

In the nick of time, you know, it's gonna get dark very, very soon.

Fantastic moment. MICHAEL LAUGHS

Ah.

Here we are.

'Thankfully, it's not far to our destination,

'and as we turn off the muddy road, I'm surprised at what I see.

'This area is something of a travel destination,

'and the Abraka Country Club is a haven after our journey.'

CRICKETS CHIRP

'Sometimes, Nigeria's hustle and bustle

'can be unrelenting.

'But then you find yourself drinking a cold beer

'on the balcony of your hotel bungalow

'while thousands of crickets sing their hearts out,

'and everything feels well with the world.

'Abraka is well known in Nigeria

'for those who want to enjoy the country's natural beauty.

'One of its main attractions is the River Ethiope,

'which is famed for its crystal clear waters.'

Ethiope, it's rather romantic, really.

Walking beside the Ethiope.

Well, the myth here is

if you swim in the river with your lover, you have twins.

Oh, really? Yeah.

That's the myth.

Ah. And if you just paddle, it's just one.

'Chuko Esiri is a screenwriter

'in Nigeria's hugely successful film industry.

'His work looks at life in modern day Nigeria.

'And he comes from Abraka.'

That's cosy. Yeah.

THEY LAUGH

'Chuko is taking me on a boat ride

'to show me the nature he grew up with

'and discuss the country his films are focused on.'

Ah! This is better.

Yeah. Now we're moving!

Yeah, movement. Great. Yeah, yeah.

Get your head right down. Yeah.

You need your head right down.

There we are. Yep. Ooh.

'Once we pass the bridge, the landscape opens up,

'and it's stunning.'

It's certainly so different

to anything that really we've seen so far, this. Mm-hm.

Can't believe it. Just... so free.

'I've not had much of a chance to experience nature in Nigeria,

'and this place really is a tonic for the soul.'

I can hear the birds. So, what is there to be seen?

I mean, have you got some...

you know, lions, tigers, all that stuff?

CHUKO LAUGHS

Not here. Not out here. MICHAEL LAUGHS

But are they looked after?

I mean, is there a sort of policy on conservation?

I'm gonna say no.

In this area, I could definitely say no.

There's no... There's no...

This has been kept the way it is because the people revere

the river and the water as a source of life.

So, compared to other African countries,

I mean, is the state of wildlife here healthy?

Overall, not good.

We have a massive problem with deforestation,

and we've lost...

Or we have a lot of species that are sort of on the brink.

Forest elephants, for example.

Big issues with educating the notion of...

like locals, in terms of hunting.

'Like many people, Chuko thinks the blame

'for these environmental issues and other problems

'often lies with the country's political leaders.'

What you're seeing now is a result of, like, endemic corruption,

completely neglecting the needs and wants of the populace.

Self-enrichment is just, you know, it's outrageous, the expense.

And there's no sort of remorse.

Politics is now seen as a means of enriching oneself.

So basically, you've got eight years to loot,

and it happens just indiscriminately.

'But as a young man writing about modern Nigeria,

'Chuko thinks there are many reasons to be positive about the future.'

What are the good things going forward,

the things that are gonna be... lift the country, perhaps?

Youth.

I think now you have a generation that's grown up under a democracy,

is fully willing and able to demand their rights.

Yeah. And to ask for that.

And it's sort of...

I joke Nigeria's been a gerontocracy for years and years.

It's just old men, old men, old men. Yeah, yeah.

But erm... You're talking to one.

CHUKO LAUGHS No, it's all right.

I don't run anything. Yeah, exactly.

Yeah, but go on. But erm...

Yeah, I think we have, like, a very engaged,

very, like, demanding youth.

The Nigerian is... is a really unique, really...

erm... yeah,

I think we're set up to deal and to move forward with anything.

'I've learnt there's a unique drive for success in Nigeria,

'but it's not a new thing.

'For centuries, this area has been producing palm oil,

'which was exported around Europe in vast quantities

'to grease the machines of the Industrial Revolution.

'In recent years,

'the oil has become controversial due to its environmental impact,

'but it's still central to life in Nigeria.'

So, this is very good oil.

The smell is... It's not... You won't... You can't tell.

Although I can tell, because it smells good. Yeah.

'Kate Agbogba is a local palm oil producer

'and is very passionate about what she does.'

What I do, once they mill the oil out for me,

I put them... they put them in jerry cans...

Yeah, yeah. ..for me.

Then, I take them to a store house, and I keep it,

because from February, March, palm oil is everywhere,

it's cheap, you know.

And then from June, July, it begins to, like, get expensive.

It's not very rampant everywhere. Ah.

Then I start to sell. That's when you start to sell.

That's when I start to sell and make profit.

'This low-tech refinery is in the middle of a palm plantation.

'Here, the kernels are roasted...

'and then pounded...

'..before the distinctive red oil is pressed out.'

Why did you choose palm oil?

OK, it's what I can get locally, you know. OK.

I am a graduate.

I went to school, I graduated from a Nigerian University,

here in Nigeria, but no job.

There are no jobs anywhere, so you create job for yourself.

And I started with very little money, 50,000 naira,

and I can store a lot of oil with that.

And when I store oil,

after some time, I can make, like, 250,000

from that 50,000.

'250,000 naira might only be around £170,

'but relatively speaking, it's a fantastic return.

'Palm oil's international reputation

'has taken a battering in recent years,

'mainly due to the destruction of wildlife habitats

'on Indonesian plantations.

'But palm trees are also one of nature's

'most efficient producers of oil.'

I know some of the objections to... to palm oil around the world.

They erased the farming land to plant palm trees.

I don't think that palm spoils the environment if it's properly done,

if there's a reserved area where palm can be planted and maintained.

But if I go about planting palm everywhere,

it can spoil the environment.

This place is a reserved area.

Look around you. Everywhere is palm.

You know, everything we do in life,

if there is no... if there are no measures to check...

for checks and balance, everything... it can get spoilt,

it can have a very large disadvantage.

'The pros and cons of palm oil are fiercely debated,

'but I have no doubt about Kate's drive and ambition.'

Yeah, I mean, what we saw produced today,

I mean, that's really... gold dust. Yeah.

I call it red gold. Red gold.

Yeah, but it's red gold because it's...

it's very valuable.

Yeah. It's very valuable.

'I'll be sad to say goodbye to the palm trees of Abraka,

'but tomorrow, we start the final leg of our road journey

'and head to the dangerous heartland of Nigeria's other oil industry.

'The next morning, it's time for us to leave the Abraka Country Club

'and continue our journey.'

Well, the moment has come to leave this oasis of tranquillity

and get back on the road, and we're heading for Port Harcourt,

which is the... sort of the main oil city.

It has a reputation for being a fairly violent place.

At one point last night, we were actually getting messages

from our security people in London that we were not to go, on any...

any circumstances, to Port Harcourt,

so they were obviously pretty worried, too.

'We're driving 130 miles east, towards the centre

'of Nigeria's $50 billion-a-year oil industry.'

We're drawing closer now to Port Harcourt,

and already, you can see in the sky,

there's a kind of different atmosphere,

different feel to down here.

These big sort of clouds ahead

and smoke drifting occasionally across the road.

'The dark clouds are created by pollution

'from local oil refineries.'

And now we're getting into, you know,

an area where we can see over there, huge sort of... silos.

This is one of the first refineries that we've seen.

The clouds just getting darker and darker.

'Just before Port Harcourt,

'we turn off the main road and drive through a rural area

'where several oil companies have pipelines.

'But it's not just these multinationals

'that have created the pollution.'

Well, this is an area where there's an enormous amount

of illegal oil refining.

Some of it quite dangerous.

We're going to a village where about three or four weeks ago,

there was an explosion

caused by some problem with the illegal refining.

37 people were killed.

'Sadly, it's become common for local villagers

'to siphon off oil from pipelines

'before refining it for sale in makeshift factories.

'On the way, I noticed a small river that has been badly polluted.'

Can sort of see...

..just over here...

..this little stream, I mean, just see.

Look at the... the colour of the water there.

The blackness and the slime on the banks.

And this is someone's home here.

These people live here, they farm here.

And this is what the oil production is doing.

Wow.

And this river, I assume, is... is dead.

'A few minutes later, we arrive at the Ibaa community,

'where many of the people killed in the recent explosion came from.

'There's an edgy atmosphere here,

'and our security team do not want us staying long.

'I'm meeting local environmental campaigner

'Fyneface Dumnamene.'

And what would be their normal sort of livelihood?

It's fishing and farming. Yeah, yeah.

But right now, the fishing is completely dead

because of oil pollution. Oh, yeah.

The river is polluted, so nothing is happening there any more. Yeah.

I just noticed, as we were coming into this village,

we just stopped and saw a river completely polluted

with the oil flowing down,

and the banks of the river were all blackened.

Now, how would that oil have got there?

It's a combination of the big companies

and from sabotage from some of the youths, you know,

that vandalise the pipeline to get the crude oil out of it.

So you've got vandalism and sabotage?

They're prepared to cut pipelines. Yeah, they do...

In some cases, like recently, there was a...

Explosion. ..terrible cost to pay.

Exactly. What happened?

Well, that was as a result of

the refining of the product they brought from the pipeline.

And in the process of that, there was an error that led to fire,

that caused explosion, leading to the deaths of over 37 people,

including women, children and men.

'Earlier in the day, Fyneface visited the site of the explosion

'and has some rather grisly photos to show me.'

You can see the site where there was the explosion.

You can see the explosion. Yes.

Many women died, many men died... Yeah.

..from this place. Yeah. I see.

Yes. Oh, whoa. This is a skeleton.

Ah, that's terrible. Yeah, yeah.

'One man in the crowd is covered in burns,

'and Fyneface tells me he was injured

'in another oil explosion a year ago.'

Is it going to continue to happen because the need is there?

Most of the houses you see here were built with money from farming,

money from fishing. Yeah.

But today, oil has destroyed those things

that they don't have that money any more,

so the people are without jobs.

You can see this is a working hour.

You see young people around, they are doing nothing.

They are jobless.

Do you go to school? We don't have a proper school.

We don't have a school here yet. You don't have a school here yet?

No school. Government don't provide school for us. Really? Really?

Oh, dear, that's not good.

And there's so many people here - bright, you know,

ready to be educated.

'While I understand that both oil companies and locals

'are responsible for the pollution here,

'it's still jarring

'that the multinationals taking oil from this land

'are making billions of dollars in profit,

'while these kids don't have a proper school to go to.'

You do see some very, very difficult things,

making programmes like this.

I mean, sometimes, almost insufferable,

going to the village

and realising all the sort of implications and contradictions

that they're going through.

What really hurts is that a lot of them do it willingly,

sabotaging the oil pipelines because they have nothing else,

they have no other income.

And they have no other income because once, they were farmers,

and they were fishermen.

And in the 1950s, when oil was discovered,

the land was polluted,

and they can't fish, and they can't farm, so...

they are actually almost willingly complicit

in polluting the land, which is their own land.

And it's a really... It's just a horrible thing to see

and to... to deal with.

Because in the end, we walk away.

And look at it. It's a beautiful evening.

But a horrible thing to see.

'After we leave the village, the clouds get darker,

'and then it starts to rain

'for the first time since I'd been in Nigeria.

'And as we drive to our hotel in Port Harcourt, I'm almost thankful

'that we're returning to Lagos tomorrow morning.'

'The next day, we depart Port Harcourt,

'and soon, the welcome sight of the Lagos skyline

'appears through the window.

'It's something of a relief to be back in the biggest city in Africa.'

This one a Rasta boy, a Rasta boy.

'Its energy is revitalising,

'and I find myself feeling determined

'to enjoy my last day in Nigeria.

'And I can't leave without visiting

'one of the country's famous megachurches,

'where worship takes place on an unfathomable scale.

'Religion is of huge importance to Nigerians,

'but gaining access to the country's biggest church

'has not been easy.'

We're going to something called the Holy Ghost Service,

where 500,000 people or even more might be expected.

It's been quite a lot of negotiation

to try and get permission to film there,

and this is the letter which gave us permission.

It comes from the Office of the National Overseer

of the Redeemed Christian Church of God,

and it's to the director of our programme.

"Dearly beloved, RE: ITN Productions,

"may the Lord renew your strength always in Jesus's name.

"We hereby convey our approval.

"It is our prayer

"that God will continue to strengthen and work with you.

"Best regards, and God bless you, sir.

"Yours in His vineyard,

"Pastor Sunday Akande, National Overseer."

'With over 30,000 parishes in Nigeria

'and ten million members worldwide,

'the Redeemed Christian Church of God

'is a force to be reckoned with.

'Before long, we pull off the main road

'and pass through the guarded gates

'of a place called Redemption City of God.'

It's all...

It's all very clean and tidy.

Life in Redemption City looks pretty comfortable.

'This is much more than a megachurch.

'Home to around 13,000 people,

'with modern houses, shops, banks and hospitals,

'it's become a very desirable place to live.'

This is a leafy lane

in the Redemption City of God.

Houses, er... Beautiful houses.

They're quite big houses.

As I say, the lawns are very well cut and trimmed.

They've got sprinklers, they've got flowers and all that.

There's a feeling of a sort of rather enlightened,

a kind of American-campus environment here,

something cared for.

It is in the city of God, you know.

Praise the Lord.

'A few minutes' drive from the houses

'is the main church of Redemption City,

'and as dusk falls,

'an increasing number of cars and buses start to arrive.

'They're all coming here

'to the largest church building in the world.

'Although it looks more like a colossal aircraft hangar,

'over a mile long and with space to hold over one million worshippers.

'The scale of this place is astonishing.

'This is worship...

'..Nigeria style.'

Everything is on a mighty scale here.

I mean, it's almost sort of incomprehensible

how vast this place is.

I mean, it stretches across the top of the hill,

all these sort of caverns of worship stretching for, you know,

a few kilometres.

You can hear the... It's already started,

but the numbers are pouring in.

Everybody dressed...

immaculately, really.

They're all in their Sunday best here.

Erm... I feel very drab.

'This being a Pentecostal church,

'worshippers believe they should directly experience God

'in their lives.'

And they're all here to praise God, aren't you?

You're here to praise God. You're welcome, sir.

Good. Thank you very, very much. You are welcome.

Yeah. I'm so happy to see you.

Good. Do you come to these very often?

Yes, yes. Yes, I come. Do you? Yeah. Yeah.

I'm so happy you came. Thank you. What...?

What does it do for you when you come here?

Ah, it does a lot of things for me.

Yeah. One, it healed me.

It's what? It healed me.

Healed you? Yes!

You were ill, and you were healed? I had an accident...

Oh, God. Yeah. ..with glass on my leg.

'This woman is telling me that she had an injured leg

'that was healed simply by attending church.'

And God answered me. And you got better?

I can jump now. Yeah, yeah. You can.

You can jump. Well, that's good.

Excellent. Yeah. Thank God for that.

Don't have to see the doctor, you just praise the Lord.

'I think I'm beginning to understand this place now.

'It's providing the support people might not be getting elsewhere.'

I think part of it is that... that why people come here

and why they get so excited about it

is they don't have any healthcare system.

There's no sort of welfare state here in Nigeria.

So, you know, if He can heal her, or she feels He can heal her here

by coming to the Ghost Service,

that's... that's great.

I mean, this is solving a very, very big problem.

'Critics of these large churches claim

'they're nothing more than huge money-making machines,

'reaping vast profits from the donations of worshippers,

'and there've recently been accusations of sexual abuse

'in another Lagos megachurch.

'But once inside,

'what strikes me most is both the depth of people's belief

'and the giant scale of this place.'

They're going, "Ah," responses.

You get the feeling now that the energy is gradually building.

People are on their feet,

and there's just various stages of sort of joy

and elation and expression...

..coming from all around.

They stretch way, way, way back.

I've... I've rarely seen as many people as this.

MAN: I want you to rise to your feet.

And the whole thing is to respond as you feel at the time.

Very Nigerian.

Praise the Lord! # Praise the Lord... #

Once the opening prayers come to an end,

the music kicks in, and the atmosphere becomes electric.

# Praise the Lord

# Praise the Lord

# Praise the Lord... #

You can't help but be grabbed

by what's going on here.

It's so amazing.

ALL SING

There's something so infectious about this.

I suppose it's something to do with the joy.

It's joy that they're showing!

CHEERING

The roar! Listen to the roar.

'Tomorrow morning, we leave Nigeria,

'and this feels like the perfect send-off.'

# Hallelujah Hallelujah... #

'The last three weeks have been something of a revelation.

'I don't think I've ever been to a country that has such energy.'

SINGING CONTINUES

In a sense, this, what's happening tonight,

is Nigeria in a nutshell.

Lots of people and terrific energy.

And I felt that as we went through the country.

I mean, the Nigerians are enterprising,

and they're problem solving,

and they're always wanting to push forward,

but in what direction?

It honestly feels as though the country as a whole has vibrancy,

it has potential,

but no-one's really leading it in the right way,

and a lot of people are falling by the wayside.

# Hallelujah... #

'All countries have their challenges,

'but I feel certain that it is Nigerians themselves

'who are the ones best placed to solve theirs.'

# Hallelujah! #

'This country is only going to get more important and influential,

'and I feel privileged to have been able to experience it.'

APPLAUSE