Prayer Highway in Lekki

"Total Help From Above" from the Divine Appointment Ministry Int'l

Lekki is a part of Lagos that grows insatiably. It extends eastward from Victoria Island. It is an urban sprawl, that has a feeling of Conquest of the East as it gluttonously expands towards Epe. It spreads over the stretch of sand that separates the Atlantic Ocean from the Lagoon of Lagos. Development goes unabated as developers turn unused and cheap land into shopping malls, residential estates and progressively displace eastward poverty and informal markets and replace them by a more organised form of commerce. As a result the value of the area appreciates and the Nigerian middle-class flock there with their cohorts of cars, that have to commute over one single highway. Traffic can be terrible, progressively rivalling with the one of the Mainland.
To accommodate this new influx of life in the area, schools, new shops, restaurants, entertainment areas are mushrooming not to mention worship centres (churches and mosques).
Churches belong to many different affiliations, each one organising retreats, masses and prayer sessions that are heavily advertised with billboards. By contrast, mosques are not advertised at all.

worship at The Lamboghini Event Centre (no R missing)

Purpose Destiny at the Rock Cathedral with Hollywood looking experts

waiting for a ride, looks like sport this time

integrated development: Winner's chapel at your doorstep

cattle versus car: no doubt cars will win

Epe's wild wild East: swamp area yet unconquered

Epe's wild wild East: swamp area unconquered as yet

Nigerian mindset calls for short term profit and implementation of a grand vision. Details are often considered as unnecessary restrictions and maintenance is a useless hassle. This, it seems, is fuelling the sprawl of the city where new projects, ever more ambitious, are developed with the view of making a profit of 30 to 50% and then move on to something else a little further. Infrastructure is usually an afterthought which has to be addressed later. Fortunately, Lagos State is rich and able to summon the means for a proper transformation as they are doing in Ajah by replacing a giant roundabout doubled by a bus exchange and a market with a bridge to remove traffic going straight from the roundabout and replace the latter by traffic lights to help coordinate the traffic. Street hawkers have been moved away from the road and a dedicated area has been created off the road for buses. This helps alleviate legendary go-slows. Several hours could be necessary to cross it at critical times.
As long as there is hope, there are opportunities and one should pray for them to materialise!

Comments

Benin City, at the heart of the Benin Kingdom and its great past

Benin City's popular fashion Benin City is one of the largest cities in Nigeria. It is the capital of Edo state. It probably shines less than it used to a few centuries ago when it was a powerful and advanced kingdom, lauded for its administrative and military strengths by the first Europeans who came to trade in the 15th century. Nowadays modern Europeans hear more about Benin City because Edo's gangs export girls for prostitution and compete with the mafia in Sicily on some markets. Traces of the past are very present, for instance the Oba's palace is still surrounded by a large mud wall. The city has sprawled in all directions. Trading buildings, administration buildings are among the tallest, most of them worn out by time, dusty winters and strong rainy seasons. Large avenues are running through the city, but as soon as one leave them to adjacent roads, potholes and dirt roads slow down navigation. Easier for motorbikes. Market areas are usually buzzing with peopl...

tanker for sale

tanker for sale As in Singapore, many ships are crowding the horizon on the sea along the Atlantic coast of Lagos. These are patiently waiting for their turn to come to unload or load their containers in the harbour of Apapa or Tincan Island. Most of them come and go after have completed their duty. But unlike Singapore some are just staying longer than expected, by design or by accident. Hence the coast is littered by ship wrecks which are rusting away and sinking in the sand progressively so that, in the end, they are no longer visible. once a great ship Stories point out human error as a reason for the ship's beaching. The captain went to see his girlfriends and the ship drifted ashore... seriously? More probable is that these ships are either beyond repair or the company owning her in financial trouble and therefore the ship is abandoned. from raw material to recycling One of them was a complete tanker standing ominously on the sand at the e...

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 ...

Nigeria, the land of plenty

Search This Blog