Lagos: walking or not walking?

Not walking?

I landed in Lagos airport with the fear that I would probably not be allowed to walk on the streets for the rest of my stay in Nigeria. The fear of a traveller coming to a place, for the first time and who has been hearing a lot of safety warnings.

Good news is, during the day it is possible to walk on the streets on the islands (Victoria Island, Ikoyi and Lekki, etc…) but it is not advisable at night. At night things are different. The "area boys" are the likely threat. These guys roam in their neighborhood and are apparently somewhat unpredictable.

Walking

Therefore my first day in Lagos was the occasion of a walk through Victoria Island starting with a short stroll on Bar Beach which was decorated with electrically blossoming cherry trees and a large stage for the New Year's Eve concert : the 2015 Lagos countdown!

electrically blossoming cherry trees

The rest of the walk led us through a mix of large paved streets, bordered by open-air sewer, covered in places by concrete slabs, and narrower streets. Walker beware and watch your steps! Holiday season and morning hours made the traffic very light and allowed a fairly easy navigation through the obstacles on the roadside. Shade was occasionally available in the narrower streets.

Election posters as a decoration

It is said that a few years ago Lagos was full of garbage, with abandoned cars, defunct generators and all sort of litter strewn between the road and property walls. That has changed, in Victoria Island at least. The streets, though still somewhat run-down looking are fairly litter-free. In places, testimony of the past, garbage bins flourish happily clad with election posters wishing "happy new year and vote for me"

happy new year neighbours

a nice way to refurbish garbage bin

One thing is striking, the general shabbiness of the streets is not so much the result of carelessness from people living on the street, as guards and other street sellers or street hairdressers will take care of clearing immediate litter. It is rather the result of overall lack of investment in common grounds, the street belongs to no one so no one really feels like maintaining it.

Houses and buildings are usually poorly maintained resulting in an aggravated feeling of dilapidation. After all, a place rented for 6 or 7 years earns the owner the price of purchase, so why bother!

Harmattan and rush hour

The city is growing at an amazing speed preventing the eye from spotting its boundaries. The Harmattan, a desert wind which fills the sky with dust from the Sahara, is also closing the horizon. People are suffering from dry-cough and complain about the relative cold (down to 12°C at night and yet about 30°C during the day).

20 million people are said to live in the greater Lagos, probably a large part rarely leaves the city as transport can be cumbersome and expensive. In Victoria Island, large avenues are 2 by 2 lanes with a separation in the middle and regular openings to allow cars to turn into side streets. Cars are either too big or the road to narrow for a proper U-turn with an SUV leading to a permanent slow down of traffic and the building up of the aptly named "go-slows"

Victoria Island skyline

Victoria Island East and Harmattan

Cars, then, just fill-up the streets in all direction and nothing moves for a few hours. As a result, those leaving on the mainland or the outskirts of the city live their home between 4 and 5am to reach work before 8am. Same story at night, hence a lot of yawning going on during the day!

The Ogiamien family in Benin City: about wood and history

Roland Ogiamien in his wood-carving workshop Wood Roland Ogiamien is a renown wood carver. He is now retired in his home town of Benin City and is now in his 80s. We met him in his simple workshop, a barn opened on the surrounding greenery. A part of the studio is used to store wood pieces and make sure they are well dried. He is using a collection of german ustensils to carve and polish the wood. He spent most of his career working out of Lagos before relocating to Benin. Roland was explaining that the wood he uses today is different that the one he worked on in his early days. Ebony has become rare and wood carvers have had to switch to other types of wood. Traditional heritage is a large part of his inspiration which he translates on wood with his own particular style, exploring various techniques for the finish of his pieces. Roland Ogiamien and two of his favourite masks History Ogiamien is the name of an important royal family in Benin Kingdom. Towards the end of the

no hawkers allowed on kingsway

no hawking Sign of hawkers this was my discovery of the week in the urban signage section. I had to think hard what the "damaged hat" was all about? Until I saw a couple of people walking with large flat baskets on their heads loaded with small portions of peanuts wrapped-up in plastic bags right by the signage. I then understood that they were not supposed to be there if the signage is of any relevance. Exactly why is another matter. Perhaps for safety reasons as in the past people hijacking cars could have been mistaken with the hawkers selling wares in the traffic. Today Kingsway, the large avenue crossing Ikoyi and coming straight out of Victoria Island through the Falomo bridge, is fairly safe. Its 2*2 lanes are often packed with slow traffic and therefore a good place for hawkers to do business. Youth's future on Kingsway Two billboards attracted my attention along Alfred Rewane avenue (the new name for Kingsway). One was a representation of a young a

The mysterious stones images of Esie

turned into Stones Chief J. Agbo Ooye had been waiting in the shade of a large tree, in front of the National Museum of Esie, dressed in ceremonial costume with a velvet hat incrusted with crystal beads sown in the shape of his title and his name. He was sitting next to his wife on a bench, expecting our arrival. His wife, he would tell us later, was his best friend and she was actually demonstrating it by guiding his frail body from one place to another and guiding his hand when it came to sign autographs of his books. Chief Agbo Ooye is the author of two booklets on the Esie Stones. The first one, called A Personal Account of the Esie Stones is giving an overview of the differences between the scientific and the traditional interpretation of the Esie Stones. The second one is called the History of Esie and gives a brief account of Esie's history from the early settlement of Yorubas in various groups (Esie, Oro, Eku Apa, Igbonla, Edidi, Igbesi, etc...) to the present day. Thos

Nigeria, the land of plenty

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