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!

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Nigeria, the land of plenty

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