My terrible experience in neigbourhood, roads of my fatherland – Diasporan Nigerian

Published By: Paul Dada

By Babatunde Ajayi

I had not been in Nigeria for six years. But I  usually got nostalgic when I remembered my upbringing partly in Lagos and later in Ibadan.

I consider myself a part of Lagos Island because I grew up there and schooled there.  Lagos City Council School I, Okesuna was my school, and Mrs. Newton my headmistress while my hard working mother, a highly respected and feared teacher taught at Lagos City Council School II in an adjacent building.  Ebute-Elefun was our go-to market and Lagos Island was my canvas.  So I am a son of the soil with so much love for Lagos and our nation.

I decided on my arrival in Lagos in late October 2024 that I would  go see Lagos Island; check out the main streets in Lagos and see how the people were doing.  I started at the Idumagbo-Tom Jones neighbourhood, a once rich haven for several big Lagos families.  But Idumagbo-Tom Jones has become an unrecognisable and very unhealthy environment.  Idumagbo has been taken over by a flood.  A disgusting mix of filth made up of nylon bags, plastic bottles, cans, rags, metals, bottles and other articles dominated the flood. An eyesore of a disastrous environmental proposition, the foul stench and flood have become a microcosm of the stranded nature of life in the neighbourhood. Poverty is rife, hunger has taken root and a once well-established neighbourhood where responsible Lagos families made their marks is now completely rundown and disgusting. Garbage piles occupy space all around.

Thursday was an environmental sanitation day in the market area. Although there were efforts to clean up the area but no one was picking up the garbage.

This was the area where the illustrious  families of Sir Louis Odumegwu Ojukwu, a wealthy and successful Igbo businessman and father of Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, the Durojaiye-Williams, the Ajayi-Jegede, the Ogunlewes, the Martins, and others lived.

King Ado High School is right in the centre of the environmental disaster that the Ojo-Giwa-Idumagbo axis has become.  Ironically,  the school remains the sole bright spot in the area. The school compound is well maintained and even beautiful despite the filth and persistent foul stench in the neighborhood.

When I visited, I observed that the  sordid flood effectively blocked a large portion of Idumagbo Street making it impossible for the mass population in the neighbourhood to go through and move around. The intersection of Ojo-Giwa and Idumagbo Avenue and the Anwar Islam Mosque were so deplorable and rundown  and could  effectively endanger the stability of the mosque and near-by homes and businesses.

Cholera will spread and thrive in this environment. Tom Jones-Idumagbo will become a disaster zone and lives will no longer be the same. Poverty and disease are Siamese twins that should not be allowed to gain ground in this once-thriving neighbourhood.  The new Idumagbo Market being built by the Lagos State government nearby should not have to share space with a stagnant flood.  People now have to own a rain boot to move around Idumagbo, or rent a boot to cross from one side to the other.

The daredevils driving commercial buses in Lagos and selfish private car drivers

The Lagos commercial bus driver is an enigma. He belongs to the road and the road rightfully belongs to him. His vehicle is on average not so road worthy but that’s the least of his problems. He drives a few meters and honk with relish. His passengers are at his mercy, and he and his conductor can be high on anything from hemp to crack cocaine.. So it was when I boarded a bus from the CMS Bookshop Building on Broad Street to Ikeja via Toll gate.  To imagine that an overloaded rickety bus would speed recklessly on the Third Mainland Bridge stunned me.  Weaving from lane to lane, happy-honking with pleasure, unstoppable in his madness and straddling two lanes with relish was an indication of mental instability and disdain for the lives of his passengers.  But no one complained; not a word as I checked the other riders to see if they were bothered.  Their faces were expressionless. Apparently they were used to that kind of thing.  I do not remember seeing many people smiling or expressing joy. They did not look morose or downcast either. Most just sat down quietly like nothing abnormal was happening.

I was shocked discover  a new way of driving in Lagos. Most drivers in Lagos now straddle between two lanes. Lane straddling is inconsiderate and an indication of careless driving.  Straddling between two lanes allows the driver to prevent the vehicles behind him from overtaking him while he exploits the small space between him and the vehicle in front of him to sneak past.  It’s a way to eat your cake and still have it, and it is a practice on Lagos roads.

It is strange that now that lanes have been carefully and well-lined and marked in white paints that drivers now insidiously opt to stay between two lanes. The selfish attitude of some of the motorists are clearly on display, the same attitude that is holding the nation back. I am not sure if having full front lights and back lights are still required. There are so many commercial vehicles on the road that are not even good enough as scraps, but they are on the roads bearing passengers.

Nigerians, you must realise their  leaders won’t come from heaven; they will come from among you and they will not behave differently from the way most of you behave: selfish, greedy, best at cutting corners, grabbers and dishonest.

Public defecation is a practice that is common in our society. It is even worse on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. Drivers and passengers, men and even women use the bushes and the sides of the road to urinate. It is so unacceptable and uncouth to defecate in the open and in public, but the practice is not likely to go away anytime soon.

Traveling on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway nearly 12 years since I last did so brought a feeling of frustration, dejection and disappointment. I had thought that there would be rest areas on the highways by now, a place where travelers can take a break from driving, use the toilets, take a nap and relax, buy food and snacks, and fill up their tanks. When will the government consider putting rest areas on the highways?

I took trips to Ijebu-Ode from Lagos during this month-long visit to Nigeria. The average Nigerian driver believes he owns the road and he can do whatever he wants on the road. But the commercial bus drivers appear to have full claim to the Expressway. They act like soulless demons who are high on some cheap drugs and behave like they are invisible.

Rickety, crappy contraptions travel on the road and dominate it. They straddle two lanes like the majority of vehicles on the Expressway. These death traps are often loaded to the brim on every side possible, so that it is pregnant with loads. The number of passengers is another matter. A look inside shows men and women canned together on every row. The conductor in some cases actually hang by the partially closed door. He is left at the mercy of the sun, winds and oncoming vehicles.

The Sagamu side of the road and down to the turning to Ijebu-Ode is not motorable and should be closed permanently until it is repaired. It’s a multipurpose death trap. Bumps, gapping potholes big enough to swallow a tyre, and kilometers long of roads with no asphalt and holes with visible red soil rising to the fore characterized that section of the road. But this didn’t stop reckless driving and speeding, daredevil overtaking even by trailers with dancing tyres, which struggle to overtake other trailers – and in so doing hold back a long line of cars.

 

Babatunde Ajayi

Ottawa, Ontario, Canada