For close observers of Lagos, Lagos has grown beyond what it used to be in the 50’s, 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, 90’s or even since the year 2000; not only in terms of population, but also in terms of land mass. No wonder the United Nations noted that by 2015, Lagos would be the third largest megacity in the world, a city as fast-paced as New York, Tokyo, Mumbai, Berlin, Dubai, and cities so big they don’t sleep. because night and day just come together like the eclipse of the sun or the moon.
You don’t have to look far to understand why Lagos is in such a fast lane. First of all, it was the territory of the capital of Nigeria until 1991, when the former military head of state, Ibrahim Babangida, moved the seat of power to Abuja. Lagos, even with the transfer of the Nigerian administrative headquarters, never lost its status as the commercial capital of Nigeria, which is why Nigeria’s major corporate entities still have a presence in Lagos given its proximity to ports, among other reasons. The result is that every day, people from all over Nigeria flock to Lagos in search of better economic fortunes. Of these people, many are first-timers who have come to stay permanently.
With such a deluge, one can only imagine the pressure on available resources, infrastructure, housing, hospitals, roads, transportation and schools, as well as on those who manage and govern Lagos. Imagine the sheer number of people looking for any type of accommodation at any given time, in the job market, trying to get from one end of Lagos to the other, seeking medical care or even trying to get their children to school. The pressures are real.
Lagos no longer consists only of those areas that people used to know as Lagos. The reason is simple. With more and more people pouring into Lagos in such large torrents, Lagos began to lose its ability to withstand the population explosion. People began flocking to areas that previously didn’t exist on their mental maps. They became explorers and discoverers of new territories, and because of that survival instinct, the expansion of Lagos beyond the territories known as Lagos became a matter of time, which is absolutely normal in a city that is experiencing a continuous explosion of human traffic.
Today, you hear from places like Ajangbadi, Ikotun-Egbe, Okota, Ago, Egbeda, Alimosho, Idimu, Abule-Osun, Abule-Egba, Iyana-Ipaja, Meiran, and places so remote that they did not exist before. at least not in the consciousness of Lagos residents.
With this population explosion and exponential growth and development, Lagos now has two types of residents: those who live inside or outside the city center and those who live in the city center.
Obi is one of those residents residing in the interior of Lagos. Like many of his countrymen, he is like an umbilical cord still attached to the center of the city. Every day, he has to travel from his inner abode to the center of the city to earn a living. Every day he has to get up like a rooster to get to work early, otherwise getting to his workplace on time will be a mere wish. He has to endure sweat fighting to get on one of the BRT buses and arrive at work tired and tired because he did not get enough sleep.
In the interior, I am told that accommodation is quite affordable, but that is understandable as no one who can avoid the interior would want to live there, even if they have to live in a large house for little or no cost.
But apart from affordable housing, residents of the interior live in appalling conditions. There are no passable roads, and where there are, they are deplorable, which is often the cause of long traffic jams and traffic jams. It’s usually not uncommon for people to be stuck in slow traffic for up to five hours every day, sometimes arriving home in the dead of night and still being strong enough to go through the pain over and over again. time.
Transportation is just hellish. The Lagos state government provided some BRT buses, but these are too few to transport the thousands who daily need to get from point A to B. Most of the time, it is a painful struggle to get on these buses.
Obi laments that for him to get to work early; he has to leave home at 5 in the morning, regardless of when he got home the day before. He constantly complains of fatigue and body aches as a result of inadequate sleep and rest. it’s really bad Residents of inland Lagos enjoy few or no comforts; they provide everything for themselves: water, energy, security, etc. For inland residents whose workplaces are in the city center, they are amazed by what they see and wonder if this is Lagos or somewhere abroad.
Tunde is the other resident of Lagos. He lives on Victoria Island and has never been to places like Ajangbadi or Ikotun-Egbe. So when you tell him that you live in such a place, he wonders if he is in Lagos or somewhere far away outside of Lagos. For him, Ikeja, Maryland, Surulere, Ajah, Lekki and Ikoyi are all that exist on his mental map of Lagos. In these places, roads are relatively well paved with sidewalks for pedestrians; there are street lights as well as traffic lights to control the flow of traffic.
Although Tunde has to get to work early, he doesn’t have to wake up like a rooster because he has no transportation worries. He owns a car and his office is nearby.
Unlike its counterpart in inland Lagos, you have access to select restaurants, shopping malls such as Shoprite and Palms. You can take a nervous and relaxing walk on the weekends. At least the taps are running with water and if you have to provide power or security yourself, it is because that is the challenge of living in a country called Nigeria.
The worries and pains of these two inhabitants of Lagos are different. They are two sides of a coin where one side is heads and the other is tails. Of course we know who’s boss.
Now back to Obi, who keeps wondering why there is such a gap between his own Lagos and Tunde’s as there is between heaven and hell. In fact, he has gone from wondering to asking anyone who cares to listen why there are two worlds for state residents and who meet their financial obligations to the state regardless of whether they reside inland or downtown. Obi believes that the government taxes them and deploys them for the development of “big town” neighborhoods, while he ignores the fact that life is hell for them.
I believe that we may never achieve an equal or classless society, but the Lagos state government should do more to close this gap and provide better living conditions for those living in the interior. The interior of Lagos must be made liveable, livable and comfortable. Making the lives of inland residents worthwhile must be of paramount importance and priority.