Much Ado about Lagos

For every write up about Lagos, here goes the introductory part which I consider quite boring (I hate history), owing to the fact that the state is more than narrating her historical details, but then to fulfil all righteousness, here:

        LAGOS; "It is a State located in the South Western part of Nigeria, which came to fore on the 27th of May, 1967 and presently habiting over twenty million people, spanning 3577 sq. Mts.

     Unarguably the largest city in Africa (not referring to land mass here lest Ibadan people starts calling for my head), the State is rechristened 'Eko', a popular appellation which has somewhat formed her Yoruba translation and I was surprised when google translated it thus; 'a war camp'. 

        Now to the amazing uniqueness of the state called Lagos, it is not just a bubbling city with almost everyone in a 'rush' at every point in time, the technicalities  (permit me to use that word) encountered there-in carefully distinguishes Lagos from any state I know.

      As early as 4:30am, virtually every bus stop is crowded with people scrambling to get buses to their places of work. Commuters fight like enemies, shoving one another with full force to get buses, or what other option do they have when an 'eighteen-seater' bus suddenly appears like a messiah at a bus station filled with close to a hundred people. 

     Then it becomes the survival of the fittest, (this was even more apparent till late 90s when 'molue' buses were the inn-thing before the BRT buses rescued our struggles).

       Lagos story is incomplete without highlighting the very terrible traffic gridlock which is usually the order of the day on every of her major road; and we all have decided to adapt to the fact that vehicular movement 'must' be restricted in the morning and evenings, from the Island, to the other side of the State. What else is expected of a state whose population totally outweighs her landmass.

     A state filled with defiant people who hardly obey rules and regulations unless forcefully enforced. Like the pedestrian bridges that Lagosians consider a total waste of time,when they could infact speed across the major highway on foot like a daylight robber, not oblivious of the risk involved in such an act. The only time you see Lagosians making a good use of the pedestrian bridges is when the green colored mobile cells of the KAI (kick against indiscipline) officials are sighted from afar. Nobody wants to be caged  in their mobile cells like a tamed wild animal. So grudgingly, everybody complies.

    Neighbours could hardly identify one another owing to their very busy schedule. Kids never get to see their fathers Mondays through fridays. As early as 5am, an average breadwinner leaves home never to be back up until 10pm. 

   In some families where both partners work for instance, the kids are forced to grow quite independently. They are often left in the care of available neighbours and Child Care Centre's. With no backing facts however, Lagos has to be the state with the highest number of Local Food vendors popularly refered to as 'mama put'. 

   An average Lagosian has no time to cook home made meals, so it is always the food vendors to the rescue.

      Now this one about our very own Centre of Excellence: A high level of smartness and intelligence is put to waste when pick pocketers  slits your bag unnoticed to you to rob you of your valuables. 

It's no longer news that a smart thief would snatch your 'stuff' within a spate of five seconds, and trust me the shock would be too much for you to bear, that you would not be able to mutter a single word minutes after the deed had been done. And that the sellers of wares at various markets bring very unscrupulous and smarter than the buyer is also a major happenstance.

          So if I may lecture, the first quality you need to have if you do not want to be found wanting as a Lagosian is to be outrightly smart and proactive.

         Above all, it is a commercial hub that encourages entrepreneurship. All what is needed is to put that Lagos smartness to positive usage and you are a 'made' brand.

         Through sheer hard work to something positive, wealth is guaranteed, and one entrepreneur that keeps getting me amazed since time immemorial is no other person that the late Otunba Gaddafi who started the DMT mobile toilet. He saw the need to fill in a void of where people who go to 'owambe' parties needed to 'pee' and 'poo'. Even though his kind of business seemed alien to this part of the world initially when he started, we could just throw our dung into the bush (we call that short put), yet he made his cool cash before his demise, as we all paid for answering the call of nature.

     In all of these however, where would I rather be?
    

        Lagos, Eko aromisa  legbelegbe ( a parlance that stipulates that the state is surrounded by water), despite all the ills as its applicable anywhere else, I'm so falling in love with the state, and no matter where I go to, I'll always want to return home, to my very own Lagos.