Is Lagos a Jungle?

Foreign media always find it easy to describe Lagos as a ‘jungle’, where animals live and behave irrationally.

If a foreign media report assesses any celebration in Lagos, it finds it pleasing to start from describing Lagos as a crowded, chaotic jungle.

This was not different when AFP decided to take a snipe on Lagos in its report of the recently marathon race won by a Kenyan, Abraham Kipton in a time of 2:16.2.

“The infamously congested, concrete jungle of Lagos is far from a runners’ paradise, but with the launch of a new annual marathon on Saturday, organisers hope to show that the city’s bad reputation is undeserved”, reports AFP.

Some other foreign reports have described Lagos as chaotic, crowded, ugly and dirty. Lagos is always given a ‘jungle’ status by the same European writers. Is such sweeping statement tolerable? Is Lagos really a jungle? It is this type of negative general portrayal of Lagos and equally in an attempt to right the wrongs that pushed both the former governor and the incumbent, Fashola Babatunde and Akinwunmi Ambode respectively to start cleaning Lagos to create a mega city.

It is believed in various quarters that the administration of Fashola created a historic turning point in Lagos and brought it closer to a dream city. Fashola who is now Minister for Works, Housing and Power, governed Lagos from 2007 -2015 and he made remarkable impact in Lagos with huge resources at his disposal. He concentrated on security, education and road network. Several times, he fought groups in an attempt to clean Lagos, as he detested gridlocks on the roads. It was his time that the crowded and chaotic Oshodi and Mushin areas breathed some air of hygiene and little orderliness.

Fashola touched communities; he constructed link roads and created gardens in various strategic spots.

On the other hand, Akinwumi Ambode has continued where Fashola stopped, by supporting security efforts and creating a better Oshodi. He has also displayed determination for a good transport system, enhancement of BRT system, closing of potholes on Lagos roads and sustenance of lighting up Lagos.

Also, Ambode has come hard on, especially commercial transport operators, whom he believed are causing nuisance on the way they park and pick commuters on the roads. If he succeeds on this, it will go a long way in bringing orderliness on the roads.

However, realization of the mega city status is a journey. The Fashola and Ambode have put, and are putting the machinery in place but there are still a whole lot more to be done.

The present administration needs to direct its attention to the noise pollution coming from churches, mosques and music shop/centres as  the amount of decibel oozing out of their loud speakers around the state is heavy to the ears. Perhaps it is the consideration of such noise pollution in certain areas that Lagos is generally tagged a jungle and chaotic by the foreign media. 

With the demolition of Oshodi shops, it signals that Ambode means business to achieve the mega city fast. But the governor must realize that it is not only at Oshodi that unapproved shops are erected. Retailers around the city erect shops indiscriminately on top of gutters, stretching their wares to the roads, thereby obstructing traffic. To the foreign media, this kind of attitude by the retailers is indicative of jungle life.

In different areas, landlords attach unapproved buildings and shops to their original buildings, thereby defacing the aesthetics of the buildings that are meant to paint Lagos well. This has become a norm; such that in various areas, erection of attached building creates a ghetto environment, that one thinks that government does not exist. To the foreign media, this depicts and gives a sign of a jungle.

Ambode perhaps needs to hold a meeting with commercial bus drivers on the need for  self regulation on driving against traffic and indiscriminate parking.

To achieve the mega status, the Ambode government and subsequent governments in Lagos need to sustain the gradual cleaning of Lagos with political will. The life, and to some extent, the environment, in areas such as Lekki, Victoria Island, Ikoyi, Banana Island among others  need to be replicated in other areas for the foreign media to see a general modern city than the ‘jungle’.

It is true that there are more grounds to break, to achieve the mega status city of Lagos, especially in areas like Mushin, Agege, Idi-Araba, Isolo, Oshodi, Ajangbadi, Ikotun and other areas, but is it unobjectionable to tag the entire Lagos a jungle, (where animals live and behave irrationally) as the foreign media do. Do you think Lagos is a jungle?

Daniel Obi