When Newton Jibunor drove from London to Nigeria through Sahara desert in 1966

In 1966, 27-year-old Newton Jibunor, an environmentalist, completed a solo drive from the UK to Nigeria through the Sahara desert.

It was a desirable feat that all adventurers dreamed of, but the fear of the unknown often outweighed wanderlust.

Fifty-eight years later, history repeats itself in the form of 28-year-old Pelumi Nubi, who concluded a 68-day solo drive from London through 16 other countries, arriving in Lagos through the Benin Republic to a heroic welcome from Lagos Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu.

Interestingly, Mr Jibunor and Ms Nubi have two things in common: solo driving with a car and traversing the Sahara Desert to reach Mauritania, a country in Northwest Africa.

On Monday, Mr Sanwo-Olu named Ms Nubi the Lagos State Tourism Ambassador and presented her with a car, a house, and a customised number plate (NUBI-9JA) as a gesture of honour.

Mr Jibunor ‘s adventure

Mr Jibunor’s London to Lagos trip was conceived shortly after he completed his diploma at Cranfield Institute of Technology, now Cranfield University, UK.

Mr Jibunor, in a CNN interview on 20 February 2013, said he was propelled by the joy of blazing new trails (the first black to solo drive from London to Nigeria).

The founder of Nelson Mandela Gardens, a conservation resort in Asaba, Delta State, said before embarking on the journey, people dissuaded him, fearing he was contemplating self-harm.

“So, many relatives in Nigeria did not even know I was in London, let alone I was trying to drive back from London. Everybody wanted to stop me; a lot of them concluded that I was just looking for a way to kill myself.

“A girlfriend I had at that time was told, and she wrote me an emotional letter (because we had ended our relationship), saying that even though there was nothing between us, she was concerned about the journey I was about to embark on and thought I was going to die and that it was not a very good way to die.

“On the night I was leaving London, a lot of friends gathered to say goodbye, and that was the most emotional scene I had ever seen because many of them were in tears,” he told Punch newspaper.

Despite that, he set out in 1966 via a car beginning from the UK, the then fresh engineering graduate revealed, embarking on the journey fully prepared for whatever challenges lay ahead.

It wasn’t an easy adventure, “You wake up in the morning at about 5 o’clock, and then you watch the sunrise and this extremely peaceful and serene atmosphere, and then you just look at the sun coming like a ball of fire, rising from the sand and then coming up,” recalled Jibunoh.

“At that time, the temperature is close to zero in the desert, in the Sahara, so that you can imagine a combination of that temperature and then looking up and watching this ball of fire coming out of the sand and creating a kind of scenery that you cannot find anywhere else in the world,” he told CNN.

The founder of Fight Against Desert Encroachment (FADE) had undertaken another two adventures through the desert since his first success, making three solo expeditions to the desert.

The third adventure (the last) in 2008 was to mark his 70th birthday. He embarked on the previous expedition across the Sahara with five scientists and environmentalists.

During these adventures, the author of ‘Me, My Desert, and I’ not only encountered the splendour of the Sahara but also witnessed the transformation of fertile land into desert due to drought, deforestation, and human intervention, leading to severe poverty for the affected communities.

“I saw what is now known as desertification, the encroachment of the desert. I saw the fact that it was depriving people of their farmland, and I saw that it was also affecting the water supply; in some areas of the desert, they haven’t had rainfall for about six-eight years, so I saw a completely different life, and that was what led me into starting some advocacy that will bring this whole thing to the global arena,” he told CNN.

The desert

He encountered wild animals and experienced a near-death encounter during the adventure.

He told Punch, “I encountered wild animals, and there was a near-death experience. I brought back the head of a desert bull that almost attacked me. But one thing many people don’t know is that in the middle of the desert, no animal can survive because there is no vegetation. I spent six days in the desert. But once you leave the desert, you will get to countries like Mauritania and Burkina Faso, which have vegetation. There, you will encounter wild animals.

“I calculated it. I managed my water, which was more important. When the water turned brown and became sandy, I continued to drink it.’

The 86-year-old said he lost count of the number of corpses he encountered in the desert.

Space Adventure

The octogenarian said Africans, especially Nigerians, tend to avoid adventures due to their developmental upbringing, unlike in Europe, where exploration was encouraged before empowerment.

He expressed a desire for a space adventure, “The space adventure fascinated me. Yes, I did. But if I had my way, I would have been to space. That fascinated me – the fact that people went to the moon.

“That kept me awake for so many nights. I wanted to be the first African to go to space, but that was not to be. It was one of my wishes, but at 82, I don’t know if it will come (to pass). But if it will, I will be the happiest man on earth.

At 82, he says his greatest aspiration is to go to space.

Finance

The founder of Didi Museum said his first trip from London to Nigeria was self-funded.

“It was funded with my savings. The second one had a lot of publicity, and with that, I became known. So, when I prepared for the third one, I not only had some funding, I had people; I had seven (volunteers). More than 20 Nigerians volunteered, but I could only take seven. But the fourth one was sponsored by the Lagos State Government,” he added.

Mr Jibunoh, passionate about mitigating desertification and climate change, last made headlines when he highlighted cheap, traditional ways Nigeria could adopt to minimise the lingering scourge of climate change.