A blast of hot humid air hits you as you step of the plane. You step forward, horror stories you’ve heard about Lagos whirling in your mind.
Welcome to Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital and melting pot. Lagos doubled as Nigeria’s administrative capital until September 1990,when a failed coup attempt led by major Gideon Orka of the Nigerian army shook the then government of General Ibrahim Babangida to its foundations and stampeded it out of Lagos, to the yet to be completed spanking new capital city, Abuja. Hopes were high that Lagos will be decongested by the move to Abuja. The reverse has been the case.
Lagos is home to some 15 million or more Nigerians. It is the fastest growing city in Africa. The first thing you will notice as you leave the airport is the traffic jam and what an American preacher referred to as “elastic streets”. A two-lane Lagos Street can stretch to seven at rush hour. There is a general breakdown of law and order on roads coupled with non-functional traffic lights due to epileptic power supply. Traffic lights last graced our streets in the seventies. 33 years of military misrule wrecked every infrastructure left standing. The rule of the jungle is, who gets there first has the right of way. The road belongs to the bold and daring. As you drive through some streets, you notice a mountain of refuse dumped indiscriminately. You may not get to notice it anyhow. The roads are filled with people, mostly street traders, and some sprinkling of beggars.
You can buy anything under the sun in Lagos traffic jam. A visitor once noted that the only thing you cannot get to buy on a Lagos traffic jam is a coffin. You are offered wares at discount prices. I used to wonder how they get to know where and when a traffic jam is in progress. One moment, the roads are free and there is no street trader in sight. The next, traffic is at a stand still and the rays of the sun are almost blocked out by wares on display outside your window.
Lagos elicits a love or hate reaction from you, mostly hate at first sight. As the day goes by, you begin to let your guard down and fall in love with the place despite its glaring imperfections.
Lagos is the melting pot of Nigeria, home to Nigeria’s odd 250 tribes. Practically every Nigerian has a relative living in Lagos. The people are very friendly, and you can get to see Nigeria in Lagos. The cultures the artifacts, cuisine and the works. The city never sleeps. There are hundreds of relaxation spots, about six beaches and resort and a bubbling nightlife, for night crawlers.
Shopping in Lagos is quite interesting. Like in Liverpool Street in London, the price you pay depends on your bargaining power. Most often, you get to know the real price when you walk away, and the shopkeeper beckons on you to come back. If he doesn’t, it means that he’d offered you the ‘last price’. There are upcoming super markets and world class malls around the city, where you just pick what you desire and head for the checkout.
With a population of 15 million, Lagos is an investor’s paradise. There is a ready-made market for goods and services, so far as they are world class. The crime rate in Lagos depends on the neighbourhood. In terms of crime, Lagos is outclassed by New York.
Times are changing in Lagos. The state government has waged a spirited battle against refuse, though it has not won the battle yet. It has enlisted the help of the private sector. Traffic lights are coming back to life gradually, and there are traffic wardens to man road junction where the lights are not working, or non existent. Road signs and markings are beginning to re-appear, and the agency responsible for keeping the roads clean is waging a valiant battle. The battle against street trading has turned into guerilla warfare. The traders are very mobile and nimble on their feet, and always a pace ahead of their ‘tormentors’. They insist there are either no shops for them or the rents are to high. Beggars are being cleared off the streets and rehabilitated by government agencies and NGOs.
The return to democracy and the explosion in the telecom sector has impacted positively on the police capability to fight crime. Though they desire to be a friend to the public, they re not there yet. They are yet to sleep off the hangover of the military days, when they were lord and master, and operated outside the law.
Law and order remains one of the biggest challenges Lagos faces. The judiciary is not yet dispensing justice with dispatch; hence punishing wrongdoers becomes a waiting game. There are bold new initiatives to change this. Lagos looks poised to take its position in the league of big cities.
For the present, Lagos belongs to the bold and adventurous. It has a way of creeping under your skin, and before you know it, you fall in love. I hated Lagos at first sight when I first visited in 1988. I later returned in 1992 for a few months. The few months have turned into years, and I have since made Lagos my home.
If you don’t want to fall in love with Lagos, don’t come too close.
Welcome to Lagos.
©2005 Usiere Uko
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