Special Status For Lagos Long Overdue

By Dan Amor

Alongside the experience of history and the role of national and international identity, the one theme that emerges in the evolution of cities throughout the continent of Europe is the impact of ideology, whether conservative, ecological, feudal or socialist. Past ideologies have created cities that are memorials to the divine monarch (Versailles), to the imperial mission (Vienna), and to utilitarianism and the pursuit of profit (Bradford). It has been suggested that the morphology of the city is not only the product of the civilization that houses it but also a factor in the creation of that civilization.

*Governor Ambode

At a more prosaic level, it is clear that in cities such as Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Helsinki, attitudes towards conservation, social housing provision and public transport reflect the contemporary dominant social-democratic ideology of the Scandinavian countries. In contrast, the development of many West German cities in the immediate post-war period occurred within the framework of a social-market economy and a certain rejection of planning resulting from the experience of twelve years of National Socialism.

In liberal-conservative (Christian Democrat) cities such as Cologne,

 little attempt was made to control urban development for many years while in other cities such as Essen and Bochum, the reaction was different.

It is against this backdrop that we must examine the imperative of according Lagos, the erstwhile capital city and industrial cum commercial hub of Nigeria a special status in the scheme of things. Lagos, the nation's 'Centre of Excellence' and symbol of pride became a reality in the 1970s when the Yakubu Gowon military regime suddenly came by a fabulous petrol-dollar wealth. New infrastructure began to spring up: a network of expressways, flyovers and pedestrian bridges, and a new long bridge, Eko and Third Mainland (later abandoned), and was completed by Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, Arts Theatre, Tin Can Island Port, National Stadium and International Airport at Ikeja.

This, however, set the stage for an unimaginable rural-urban drift which increased the problem of congestion and the menace of urban blight and squalor in Lagos. In fact, in 1984, when the Buhari/Idiagbon regime turned the tide with the defunct War Against Indiscipline (WAI), Lagos was notoriously one of the dirtiest cities in the world. But, then, both the poor and the rich had always shared one thing in common - a network of good and exquisite roads which run through their domains as well as a national pride in good public infrastructure and utilities which then could boast of a fairly good record of performance. And up until December 1990, when Babangida, the then military president, smarting from the nightmare of the Gideon Orka coup, hurriedly moved the seat of power from Lagos to Abuja before schedule, the city still maintained a modicum of its part beauty as a Federal Capital Territory and a coastal commercial Centre.

Today, despite the untiring effort of the performing governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, Lagos still stands on its head as a jigsaw of squalid slums with a rapidly decaying infrastructural and social system. Transiting within the metropolis has remained a nightmare. Official and commercial transactions including academic activities are greatly impaired, as valuable man-hours are consumed in frustrating hold-ups. Virtually all major highways, especially Federal roads, have degenerated into embarrassing craters. It is very unfortunate that all federal roads in Lagos are death traps. Mile Two-Apapa Wharf Road is a dread to those who have no choice plying it. The hold-up thrown up by this terrible road is worsened by the presence of trailers and petrol tankers, and the permanent flood lodged between Berger and Coconut Bus Stops.

The Lagos-Badagry Expressway which is witnessing rehabilitation and expansion, from the Iganmu end to First Festac Gate, is by all standards, the worst federal road in Lagos. It does not look like an international route that links Nigeria with other countries in the West African sub-region as even the traffic jam is indescribable. Countless embarrassing contours and craters have reduced the hitherto smooth road to a horrifying experience as armed robbers occasionally catch in on this to unleash terror on innocent road users and commuters alike. The whole stretch of the expressway, from the Nigeria end of the Seme Border to the Festac end, is like a typical public latrine. Riding through this road is like waddling through hell, especially during the rainy season, when flood and erosion dig potholes the size of craters on the road.

In fact, between Sango in Ogun State and Oshodi in Lagos, the Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway, which is being rehabilitated by the Lagos State Government, there are no fewer than 500 terrible potholes. At peak periods, a ride to Oshodi from Sango Ota which normally takes less than 30 minutes now lasts almost two to three hours before the present rehabilitation exercise. The collapse of federal infrastructure in Lagos has assumed an unspeakable dimension. Even the highbrow Ikoyi and Victoria Island are not spared from the crisis of neglect and decay as most of the smooth, asphalted roads running through the luxuriant, palatial mansions of the rich and the Joneses are equally dotted with dangerous potholes.

Festac Town, a beautiful estate built during the military administration of General Olusegun Obasanjo to accommodate foreign nationals who were participating in the 1977 First Black African Festival of Arts and Culture and later allocated to Nigerians on an owner-occupier basis, is today in a sorry state. The hitherto smooth network of roads linking the various parts of the estate is filled with potholes, while many of the sections have degenerated into ghettos and slums. Most of the lawns and orchards in Festac have been allocated to officials of the Federal Housing Authority for commercial purposes. The original plan of the estate has been consistently altered by big boys and moneybags who don't even care any hoot about the stinking, unhygienic environment of the hitherto sprawling estate.

Up until recently when the National Arts Theatre was rehabilitated, the shapeless beauty built in 1977, was an empty gaudiness. The essence of abandonment of federal structures in Lagos is more pronounced when one considers the plight of residents of the great city who are the ultimate victims of the decadence. The old National Assembly Complex at Tafawa Balewa Square and the old Federal Secretariat, Ikoyi, are symbols of the monumental rot. Ditto the Gowon and Shagari Estates that have almost collapsed. Given the history of government's supercilious approach to the maintenance of public infrastructure, concerns were expressed that the rush to Abuja might signal the infrastructural death of Lagos.

Consequently, the late monarch of Lagos, His Majesty Oba Adeyinka Oyekan had to lead a retinue of his High Chiefs and eminent subjects to the then military President Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida at Aso Rock Villa, Abuja shortly after the movement, to plead that Lagos should be given a special status not only as the former capital city but also as the commercial nerve centre of the country. It is therefore imperative that the federal government should, as a matter of urgent national importance, set aside special funds for the development and rehabilitation of federal infrastructure in Lagos. In the United States of America, for instance, the former Capital, the New York City is accorded equal treatment with Washington D. C. the present Capital. Lagos does not deserve less.

*Dan Amor is a journalist and commentator on public issues