I recently made another trip to Lagos and I came to another conclusion. I know that going to Lagos sounds like a big deal, especially because of the way it is coming from me but then I am not someone who really likes travelling, which I believe is why I always take my time to discover new things about unfamiliar places.
Okay, back to my story, I had to attend an event in Lekki phase 1, Lagos. Because I will be coming from Ibadan, I was advised to go through Ajah.Travelling through Lekki-Epe expressway, the first challenge I encountered was bad roads.
1. Bad roads
I know that bad roads is peculiar to a lot of places in Nigeria but the potholes I encountered on this particular route was frustrating. To crown it all it was raining. A journey that should have taken me about 3 hours, took me over 4 hours and I was really angry and tired, especially since I wasn't sitting comfortably either.
2.Exorbitant transport fares
Another challenge I faced was exorbitant transport fares. I believe the rain was a factor because the transport fares were really annoying and at some points I almost screamed "thieves".
3.Heavy traffic
Can Lagos ever be traffic free? Its so bad that Lagosians have gotten used to this. I spent over an hour on the third mainland bridge alone and I kept looking around me all the while. Some slept, some read, some worked and some played games on their phones. I got into conversation with the lady who sat next to me and she made me realize that, that day was a better day. It took me about 5 hours to move from Island to mainland. A distance that should probably take 45mins or at most an hour.
4.Finding places
I realized that 70% percent of the people on the streets are oblivious of their environment. By this I mean that they do not always know places around them. For instance, I was going to a particular venue and I was just a street away from the place and all those I asked for description did not appear to understand what I was saying and where I was going. It was amazing and surprising. Some even said they were just few months old in the area. Few months isn't enough to know your area???
5.Aggressive individuals
I can not say that being aggressive is a bad thing totally but sincerely, there are too many aggressive and dramatic people in Lagos. I guess it comes with the population.
Anyway, I enjoyed the event I attended at the Glitz event center, the booklaunch and the New media conference I attended was successful. Nigeria has intelligent minds and there is definitely hope for us. We only need to start from somewhere.