As recently as 2001 – and for several years before – Abeokuta was the only destination listed on the international departures board at Murtala Mohamed Airport in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital.
For those in the know, this added a certain frisson to time spent in the departures lounge. There is no landing strip in the town, so if you were to arrive by air it would be because your plane had fallen from the sky shortly after take-off.
