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The spot he suggested for the interview revealed a bit about him. It was under a tree overlooking his office, 24-Hour Press, which houses The News magazine and PM News, Acme Road, Ogba, Lagos.

A female vendor of drinks was based there, surrounded by her regular customers. One of them offered him a beer; he settled for one, and lit a cigarette. “When you live somewhere for six months, you become-I’m not going to say a resident…” he began, pausing to find a word to describe his immersion in the society.

He obviously enjoyed some popularity at the open-air joint, as he responded to greetings from people now and again. He went on: “It’s a very interesting aspect of Nigeria how someone may live in a city for many, many years and they still consider themselves as indigenes of Ekiti State or Ondo State or whatever.” Having lived in Lagos for half a year, he remarked, “The Lagosian slang gets into your blood.

When I go home, I’m going to be saying, ‘sorry o!’ all the time. It’s not something I’m used to”
Home is the US. Specifically, he said, “Brooklyn, New York, is my home. That is the most beautiful city, the most wonderful city in the world. What I miss most when I leave New York is Brooklyn. It gets into your bones. Every single type of person from all around the world lives in Brooklyn, every nationality, every continent, every race, every religion, everyone is there. Since 1989, I’ve lived in Brooklyn – that’s where my family lives.”

Leonid Lantsman was born in the Soviet Union, in the Ukraine, Kiev, in 1985. His family was evacuated from the Soviet Union at the end of the cold war in 1989, during the crisis that followed the nuclear explosion in Chernobyl in 1986. According to him, “My family was evacuated from Kiev- 60 miles south of Chernobyl; my family is very interesting.

I’m Jewish, and culturally in tune with my people. In 1989, my family decided to leave the Soviet Union. It was falling apart. So we contacted the Hebrew International Aid Service. They helped to get people out of difficult spots. We lived in Vienna for a few months before we relocated to a town outside of Rome. We lived in Rome for one year and then came to the US and settled in Brooklyn.”

Coming to Nigeria in August 2007 wasn’t just a trip for Lenny, as he likes to be called. “I don’t consider this a trip,” he explained, saying, “My goal in life is to be able to not experience something for a week, or for two or three weeks. That in my view is a trip.” Then he uttered a familiar line, almost a stock expression coming from a white man. “I’ve always wanted to go to Africa,” he said, adding, “When I say that, for someone who is African, it’s probably difficult to understand why someone would want to come here and experience life the way it is.”

He experienced a predictable culture shock. According to him, “If you’re white and you come here, people expect that you carry yourself in a certain way, they expect that you have money, they expect that you’re better than them. And I find that so almost completely opposite to any idea that I grew up with. I’m astounded when people call me ‘sir’, people that are three, four times my age defer to me as if I’m an elder. That kind of mentality is not very good. I think it’s a left over from the time when white men were here and they actually did rule.”

He studied Government at Cornell University, “7 hours away from New York”, and specialized in African Politics and African Languages. He speaks Russian, French, Swahili and Yoruba, which, according to him, “is not a very easy language to learn.” He also attended the School of Oriental and African Studies, UK, for one year. It was his contact with Yoruba that opened the door to Nigeria.

Explaining how it happened, Lenny said, “I learned Yoruba in Cornell for a year and I became close to my professor, Adeolu Ademoyo – a very, very intelligent man. He taught at two universities simultaneously somehow and he taught three different courses and I never understood how he could do it. I spoke to my professor that I want to go to Nigeria, I want to work and live here – I don’t want to work for a Western organization. And he said, ‘I have some friends. I’ll ask them.’ I gave him my CV. I graduated in May 2007.”

Just two days after he landed in Nigeria, he went to cover Nigeria’s star tourist attraction, the Osun Osogbo Festival, in Osun State, which celebrates a water goddess. He called the experience “a baptism of fire”, being his first journalistic assignment as an intern. In Osogbo, he faced another culture shock. His words: “The reason it was so culturally shocking to me – not because the culture is so shocking – but because it’s very different from the way I think. Worship of deities – it’s a beautiful concept in certain ways – but I’m not qualified to make judgments on someone else’s culture or religion. Personally, I found it absolutely fascinating to see how people can whip themselves into frenzy over something that is to me – objects. I’m not very religious. To me, spirituality is deeply embedded in a person and not in an object.”

Does he believe in a Higher Power? He answered, “Of course, I find it very difficult not to believe in a Higher Power.” Then he went on to reverse himself, saying, “I’m a very rational person. There’s a term called secular humanism – it is to believe in good without the existence of a Higher Power or the supernatural. I would consider myself as that. But on the other hand, I don’t want to consider myself as anything because it’s a pigeon hole –you call yourself a secular humanist, Jewish, Christian –you’re pinning yourself against the wall and when the time comes you may be forced to make opinions or twists you may not otherwise want to.” So, he enjoys the bliss of essential anonymity.

Besides Osogbo, journalism has taken Lenny to various other Nigerian localities, such as Ekiti State, Kano, Kaduna, Bauchi. But he hasn’t been to the East because his hosts think “it’s dangerous for a white man to be going around in the East –he may be kidnapped.” He wanted to go to Lake Chad, but perhaps some other time.

He recalled his sweet-sour experience in Kano, where he went to see the Durbar, a dramatic equestrian event. “The Kano Durbar was by far one of the most beautiful experiences I had in Nigeria,” he said, adding, “It was an amazing festival. The reason I’m coming back to Nigeria is, I’m going to see the Durbar again.”

So, what’s so captivating about it? Lenny was upbeat: “I love pomp and circumstance, big-time pageants- I’m not like that personally- but I love to experience that; it brings out the sense of adventure in someone like me.” The bitter part of his story was that he lost 350 pictures of the Durbar and the Kainji Lake National Park “from an entire week’s work”. How did that happen? “I don’t like talking about it because it highlights my own stupidity,” he replied.

In a weary moment, Lenny had fallen asleep in an “overnight luxury bus” with his bag between his legs, on a 15-hour trip from Kano to Lagos. In it were his camera and other valuables. It was a doze of “about ten minutes”; he woke up to discover that his bag was gone. “That was completely upsetting. I’ve traveled enough to know that it can happen and it does happen. It’s stupidity on my part to fall asleep,” he blamed himself. Also, earlier in Kano, he had lost his money to pick pockets. But, according to him, “I was introduced to the Galadima of Kano and he gave me all my money back out of pure hospitality.”

He said of his employers: “They know what they can use me for, which they do; but I know what I’m also interested in. For instance, they want to see the tourist potential of cultural festivals, which, of course, I can clearly provide as I‘ve been to many places besides Nigeria. What is it that people like me want to see?”

His reports have appeared in The News magazine “more or less every week”. He has also written for PM News “sometimes”. By his confession, his writing has improved. “I’ve just become a better writer,” he admitted, adding, “Five months ago my writing was not very good.

I’m happy with my profession.” Amazing? Before he came to Nigeria, Lenny “wasn’t anything”. Hear him: “I wasn’t a reporter, or a journalist. I just graduated from school. I never had a real job. I was just a graduate. This is my first job. But it has been most gratifying working here as a journalist.

I’ve experienced every single sector of society. I can imagine that people would want to experience what I experience and get paid for. It’s an experience that very few people get a chance to do. What I mostly acquired is a much deeper understanding of Nigerian society than I could ever get if I came here and lived here for six months and didn’t work as a journalist.”

He is scheduled to leave Nigeria on March 2, 2008, when he would return to his beloved Brooklyn. He would reunite with his dad, 48, his mum, 43, his younger brother, 11, and his girl friend. “I didn’t realize how much I miss my family until I’m far away,” he gushed.