I love this, more of it pls i've bookmarked it already. Sweet memories.

interesting topic

Amazing pictures!

Yea! 9c pix i nid 4 a project

Thank you naptu.

What was their connection to 15 Pedro street? There are many places in Isale Eko they could have gathered for their deliberation, why in Oko Awo?

Physics,

"Asanjo" is a Bini term, it is a title. What does it mean?

Very interesting photos. Thanks for sharing.

Onyenna:

I almost thought It was london!!!!........ Damn...it was so so beautiful back then....... Where did we GƠ̴̴̴̴͡ wrong?....

You thought it was London because you're a brainwashed slave to Oyibos, and will gladly drop your local wine and rush to lick their spittle, NOT because it remotely looked like London.

Nigeria's busiest and most commercial street is Broad Street Lagos.



Broad Street, Lagos 1951 under British rule (''looking like London'')







Broad Street, Lagos, today under Nigerian rule



[img]http://nationalmirroronline.net/thumbnail.php?file=/Broad_Street__Lagos._408204254.jpg&size=article_large[/img]




[size=100pt]NUFF SAID[/size]

Rossikk is the greatest NL poster!!

Rossikk:

You thought it was London because you're a brainwashed slave to Oyibos, and will gladly drop your local wine and rush to lick their spittle, NOT because it remotely looked like London.

Nigeria's busiest and most commercial street is Broad Street Lagos.



Broad Street, Lagos 1951 under British rule (''looking like London'')







Broad Street, Lagos, today under Nigerian rule






[size=100pt]NUFF SAID[/size]

Your 2nd pic is actually Marina Street.

Thanks Naptu2.. Corrected.

shymmex: Rossikk is the greatest NL poster!!

I wouldn't go that far... but thanks for the compliment.

We need to get it out of our heads that the British did wonders in Nigeria. They exploited the place terribly for 100 years, and look at the state of Broad Street when they were there! Even my village market looks better than it.

Now look at Johannesburg, in this same Africa. In the 1950s. Under the same British:



See, the reason they developed their South African colony while neglecting and abusing their Nigerian colony was because they were large numbers of white settlers in SA, so they did not siphon all the money from exports, like they did in Nigeria, but reinvested some into the country.

If the British had reinvested in those 100 years, just 20% of what they earned from Nigerian resources, we would not have been talking about being a developing country today. We would be like South Africa.

So they essentially ROBBED US BLIND, which is why we are starting late and playing catch up to SA and other developed countries today.

But we will catch up.

Ijogz K: This was b4 the Ibo's stormed lagos from their villages, to fill the street of Yaba and Lagos Island in general... Freaking hustlers.. Dirty people!!!

I know this is no other than a bigoted and tribalistic punk head, who reasons through his anus.
You are one of the things wrong with Nigeria. Check out all the Igbo-haters of Nigeria,
they are" never-do-wells".If you have nothing to contribute
you better shut your trap rather than insult a whole tribe.

Rossikk stop telling lies..


Yorubas develop lagos.. Most building you see in lagos are own by Yoruba people.

90% of them are own by Yoruba people. The skyscappers you see. 90% are own by Yoruba people. So what is the contribution of Nigeria. NITEL house is the only contribution of Nigeria govt.


Most business in Yorubaland do not have affiliated outside of the Western Niger. only banking and some others do. The igbos control their own economy, the north do the same. You can see them bomb thisday, who is trying to expand to their market.

^^^ Who is talking of Yoruba or Igbo or Hausa or Efik?

Dude, go get an education cos you reason like a cow.

Rossikk: Thanks Naptu2.. Corrected.





I wouldn't go that far... but thanks for the compliment.

We need to get it out of our heads that the British did wonders in Nigeria. They exploited the place terribly for 100 years, and look at the state of Broad Street when they were there! Even my village market looks better than it.

Now look at Johannesburg, in this same Africa. In the 1950s. Under the same British:



See, the reason they developed their South African colony while neglecting and abusing their Nigerian colony was because they were large numbers of white settlers in SA, so they did not siphon all the money from exports, like they did in Nigeria, but reinvested some into the country.

If the British had reinvested in those 100 years, just 20% of what they earned from Nigerian resources, we would not have been talking about being a developing country today. We would be like South Africa.

So they essentially ROBBED US BLIND, which is why we are starting late and playing catch up to SA and other developed countries today.

But we will catch up.

Are you sure we shall catch up? By 20-20-20? So they told us by the year 2000.
12 years after we are worse off.
If the British" ROBBED US BLIND", how will you describe
the looting of Nigeria's commonwealth by our thieving and shameless
gang of public officials, politicians and their past military collaborators.
The British can be pardoned.The rate at which the looting is going on is dizzying.
I think "a JERRY RAWLINGS"is needed in this God forsaken country.

Rossikk: Thanks Naptu2.. Corrected.





I wouldn't go that far... but thanks for the compliment.

We need to get it out of our heads that the British did wonders in Nigeria. They exploited the place terribly for 100 years, and look at the state of Broad Street when they were there! Even my village market looks better than it.

Now look at Johannesburg, in this same Africa. In the 1950s. Under the same British:



See, the reason they developed their South African colony while neglecting and abusing their Nigerian colony was because they were large numbers of white settlers in SA, so they did not siphon all the money from exports, like they did in Nigeria, but reinvested some into the country.

If the British had reinvested in those 100 years, just 20% of what they earned from Nigerian resources, we would not have been talking about being a developing country today. We would be like South Africa.

So they essentially ROBBED US BLIND, which is why we are starting late and playing catch up to SA and other developed countries today.

But we will catch up.

I agree with most of this, but from what I read in wikipedia, when the whites started the Lagos colony, it was treated differently from the other parts of Nigeria(as called today), the citizens of the colony were automatically British citizens, this did not apply to other sections of the country then..I think they probably made the modest development in Lagos with the initial tots of staying long term.....I wonder what might have changed their minds.....

DaLover:

I agree with most of this, but from what I read in wikipedia, when the whites started the Lagos colony, it was treated differently from the other parts of Nigeria(as called today), the citizens of the colony were automatically British citizens, this did not apply to other sections of the country then..I think they probably made the modest development in Lagos with the initial tots of staying long term.....I wonder what might have changed their minds.....

So it is no longer Oil that built Lagos now, it is the British ?

LOL dude you are confused, really really confused

You can only run yur fastest when you are looking ahead and not behind.
You people who keep on about whites-this, british-that, you truly lack understanding. You don't know what you are using your mouth to affirm for YOUR future.
Meanwhile your brothers and sisters who know better are looking ahead and making grand strides.

Unless you can tell me what you want White man to do for you TODAY, and repeat it to yourself to see if it makes sense (it likely won't), there is no point making all these statements.
Your lives have been in your hands since 1961. My brothers and sisters, why are you still giving white man lordship over your life by complaining about how much they invested here or there.

Fate blessed you with a precious natural resource to make up for the lost time, yet what have you done with it?
You have only used it to destroy yourselves. Listen to me, it is not about resource, it is about mindset.
Even if 1000000 diamond and gold mines suddenly spawned in Nigeria, if you people still maintain this extremely foolish, primitive mindset, you may not progress....assuming you don't destroy yourselves with the resources.

Countries without HALF the natural blessings Nigeria has do better. Why? Because of the MINDSET of the people.
Stop blaming. The time you spend having all these arguments and getting all riled up in remembering what some people in their graves may or may not have done to you, that is time you are NOT using to build what you want to see in life, discover the cure for Aids, etc (seeing as they say it came from africa. it is only fitting that the cure resides there too, assuming the person destined to find it isn't wasting precious time still blaming the air and the wind for every thing bad in his/her life)

Abi why make a hobby over feeling miserable and hopeless?
Why give your self an excuse to fail and also a reason to support and encourage continued failure
As in "White man did this to me so therefore I have no choice but to fail". Is that really what you want the story of your life to be?

alj harem:

So it is no longer Oil that built Lagos now, it is the British ?

LOL dude you are confused, really really confused

See an earlier post I made on this thread, hope your brain will soak up the information this time

DaLover:

And who is beefing lagos? R u sure u have been following the thread...people tried to say Lagos was developed in a particular way and another set of people said no... How does that amount to beefing Lagos?

I have pointed out that the reasons for development are...1..the way the british treated it differently from other places initially, 2...it later was the capital of the country, and benefited from funds from across the county 3...Growth in Lagos exploded with the oil boom...

But someone here says it the level of tolerance of the people....can u beat that reasoning?

Pls kindly show me where the 13% only applies to 9ja delta states?...because my understanding is that 13% should apply to all revenues generated by states.
Please dont make me lauge further by saying lagos state is producing so much oil but does not need the extra 13% from oil.....because i know for a fact that Lagos has being trying to get more money from the VAT, and port revenues....i dont believe they will let that substantial revenue go becuase or what u call oil.politics.....

Its either they produce no oil or very little.....but that still does not negate the fact that oil from the.9ja deta played a major role in development of lagos

PhysicsQED(m): 3:04am On May 06

Venchy: Can I say thank you for bringing such an amazing memories to the young ones who have no idea of the positive impact of the Colonial Era to the city of Lagos and Nigeria as a whole.
This is phenomenal, all credit to the colonial masters given us a base but we messed everything up, Good Master plan of roads and beautification of street rather than the Shamble
construction we are building upon.

This new generation lack class if I may say because there's no proper plan to follow or corruption have taken control of our lives rather than good foundation which the white man have left for us.

What a wrong approach to development, it's all false.......

I love colonial Era in my Opinion......when I remember Nigeria, Water ran away me eye ooo, aye oo aye oo water ran away me eye oooo.

Let's look back and build with sincerity and not False, Let's appreciate the white people and not BLAME GAME ALL THE TIME.

I said I wouldn't post on this thread anymore, but I just have to shake my head @ this.

My Guy, everyone has their own opinion, so it is their right to express it.....all I can say is that you can continue to shake your AGAMA head till Jesus come, that na your palava.

Again and again, THE BRITISH have done their own, now it's time for TINY MINORITY with Criminal mind to run the lovely country DOWN, no changes since the British left OVER 40 YEARS but DISASTER, suffering and smiling, even the SHITTY ABUJA that seems to be modern to some people have no RAIL TRACK in this day & age, what a false plans for a new capital, the movement of the Nigerian Citizens, GOODS & SERVICES by providing different types of transportation is not in their dictionary but syphoning money is the only language they understand....WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND......BUHARI denied Jakande of METRO in Lagos, still no lesson have been learn yet the British left a RAIL foundation for us to follow but we choose to flood the Nigerian roads with long vehicle, causing all sort of mayhem.....Thanks to Fashola for the good works in Lagos.....Even the poorest country in eastern Europe who has nothing to compare with Nigeria in terms of Natural Resources have a Rail network and over 40 years we are still doing the BLAME GAME....... EKO ONI BAJE OOOOO.

I have enjoyed this thread so much and it's very educating with lots of beautiful pictures & History, but I will like to appeal to some people that comes on this Thread to criticise other people's opinion and all sorts of tribal Nonsense that it's not the best way to move forward in life by nagging one another, right now what we need to do is to tackle the CRIMINALS running the country rather than blaming the Colonial Era.

Venchy: I have enjoyed this thread so much and it's very educating with lots of beautiful pictures & History, but I will like to appeal to some people that comes on this Thread to criticise other people's opinion and all sorts of tribal Nonsense that it's not the best way to move forward in life by nagging one another, right now what we need to do is to tackle the CRIMINALS running the country rather than blaming the Colonial Era.

I earlier quoted someone who said "Nigerians can start an argument in an empty room".

I don't get what is so difficult in understanding that there were some good things that existed during the colonial era that don't exist now (post boxes, tramway, relative security, stable electricity, etc), while there are some good things that exist today (better disposal of night soil, broader spread of development, technological advancement) that didn't exist then. Some extremists want to make it seem like everything was bad then or everything is bad now & that's just crazy!

Again, it depends on opinion. Some people believe that the MacGregor Canal is presently an eyesore (wish I could get the then picture and compare with the now pic. I have both, but it'll take a long search to get the then pic), while others can appreciate the Ring Road that was built over it. Some people believe that Marina is currently a concrete jungle and they miss the beach that was once there, while others appreciate the expressway that is currently there.

Wole Soyinka hates the fountain @ Tinubu Square and misses the Supreme Court Building that was previously there, while I love the fountain. People have a right to their opinions.

I would NEVER want the British to come back (that sounds crazy to me), but I respect the rights of those who would want them to come back.

Also, like I said earlier, Lagos was built by a variety of people using a variety of sources of funds. Those who insist that it was solely oil money that developed Lagos and those who want to deny that oil a part to play need to re-examine their position. However, I have relatives who believe that the developments brought about by oil money actually ruined the city.

And I respect their right to their opinion.

I wish books had search engines. I’ve been searching for the section of this book that explains the deal between the Oba of Lagos and the NCNC/NPC, but I can’t find it. I’ve found portions of the book that refer to it, but I can’t find the exact portion I’m looking for. Therefore, I shall briefly narrate the story as I remember it, then quote the sections that refer to the deal.

The city of Lagos grew from Lagos Island. It initially included a few places on the mainland, such as Apapa, Iddo Island and Ijora. Ikeja, Ilupeju, Mushin, Isolo, Ikorodu, Badagry, etc were all part of Western Region. The NCNC and NPC were looking for a way to gain a foothold in Lagos, which was considered Action Group territory. They decided to use expansion of the Colony/Capital Territory as a means to get a foothold. The United Muslim Party (UMP) also used the issue of territory expansion in its campaigns.

“The UMP had its counterpart in the Western Region, the National Emancipation League. The NEL had, in fact, been formed by some of the leaders of the UMP. In 1957 that party drew up a memorandum for the Constitutional Conference, and the Lagosian leaders had wanted to include in this a demand for an extension of Lagos boundaries to include land in the Western Region. A group of men whose chief attachments were outside Lagos resisted this and finally left the UMP and founded the National Muslim League in the West. After a speech by Chief Awolowo hinting at dire consequences for those who introduced religious politics into his Region, the name was changed to National Emancipation League. The party took part in the Western Region’s local government elections in 1958, contesting one hundred and five wards in Ikeja, Ijebu, Okitipupa and Oshun Divisions and winning thirty one of them, eleven unopposed.”




“July was marked by few events which were of moment for the campaign. On the 7th the Federal Government ensured the loyalty of Oba Adele of Lagos to the NCNC and NPC by rejecting a proposal to cut his salary, made in February by the Action Group majority in the Town Council. On the 11th, Chief Rotimi Williams held his press conference to refute the NCNC charges against the Western Customary Courts. In the East the Government published the Election of Second Class Chiefs Regulations, in 1959, which laid down the principle of elections as the means of selecting the new “second-class chiefs". They were to select fifty-five of their number on a divisional basis to go to the new Regional House of Chiefs. On July 28th it was announced that new elections to the Lagos Town Council would be held on October 29th, with forty-two single Member wards instead of the fourteen old multi-Member wards.

In the middle of August the campaign began to gather momentum again, with the return of Dr Azikiwe. He arrived in Lagos by sea on August 19th, the day after the last meeting of the old House of Representatives, which as its last important measure, passed a bill recognising Oba Adele II as "Oba of Lagos" and not merely "Head of the House of Ado" as he had been called before. In anticipation of Dr Azikiwe's arrival Chief Awolowo again attempted to take the initiative. The Principal Organising Secretary of the Action Group was sent to meet the the NCNC leader's ship at Takoradi (in Ghana), to deliver a letter from Chief Awolowo answering Dr Azikiwe's Presidential Address of June 5th and his comments upon the Action Group's manifesto on June 16th. The Action Group President rebuked his opponent for the use of invective "which would make the crudest sailor blush" and then went on to criticise in detail the statistics on development in the Eastern Region used by Dr Azikiwe, quoting his own figures for the East and the West, naturally to the latter's advantage. He also rebuked the NCNC President for his lack of concrete proposals, pointing out that the only definite statements on the policy to be followed if a NCNC Government was returned to power were firstly to create a Mid-West State, secondly to extend the Federal Territory of Lagos by a radius of thirty miles, thirdly to restore the deposed Alafin of Oyo and lastly to better the conditions of those in the Army, Navy, Police, Civil Service, Public Corporations, and the workers of the country generally".



The NCNC won Lagos North and South and Lagos Central was won by the Action Group. This result was not unexpected, since the Yorubas of the older parts of the city had always supported Action Group, while the newer areas, inhabited by immigrant Yorubas and others, had favoured NCNC. What did cause surprise was the narrow margin - 1,546 votes in a total poll of 38,837 - by which the renominated Action Group candidate was victorious in the Central constituency. The intensive campaign which the Oba of Lagos had conducted on behalf of his new NCNC and NPC friends had almost borne fruit.


"The Nigerian Federal Elections of 1959: Politics and Administration in a Developing Political System" by K.W.J Post, published for the Nigerian Institute of Social and Economic Research by Oxford University Press. 1963.

Pictures below: The Governor-General, Sir James Robertson, checks an elector's registration card during his tour of polling stations. Federal elections of Saturday, December 12th, 1959. (Picture from "The Nigerian Federal Elections of 1959: Politics and Administration in a Developing Political System" by KWJ Post)


The Race-Course, Lagos "scoreboard" showing results of the Federal elections of Saturday, December 12th, 1959.

The shocking revelation of this thread is that Lagos of the 1960s is more developed than every other Nigerian city in the 21st century apart from Abuja. It is such a shame.

Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa (Prime Minister of Nigeria), Princess Alexandria (representative of Queen Elizabeth II) & Sir James Robertson (Governor General of Nigeria) @ State House Marina. Behind them are Tafawa Balewa’s ministers (including Chief Festus Okotie-Eboh, Alhaji Muhammadu Ribadu, Otunba T.O.S Benson & Raymond Njoku).

This building should be open to tourists. I'd certainly pay to tour the building.

Supreme Court buildings, Lagos in 1959. Wole Soyinka hated these buildings. He preferred the old wooden Supreme Court buildings at Tinubu Square (see You Must Set Forth at Dawn). The old Supreme Court buildings were demolished to make way for the Independence Fountain at Tinubu Square. The Independence Fountain was demolished by the Tinubu Administration to make way for the current fountain.


You can see the old Race Course opposite the Supreme Court buildings. This was before Tafawa Balewa Square (which some describe as a concrete jungle. Lol) was built.

Turnbull Road Ikoyi (1959). This is close to Ikoyi Park. My mum used to tell me about Ikoyi Park. You could go swimming, there animals and plants, etc.

Now it's Park View Estate

Marina in 1899

Those pictures of modern Lagos posted by Rossik, I think, are breath-taking. We almost cannot appreciate the emerging beauty of Lagos, because we live in it. Kudos.

Sir Adeyemo Alakija (1884-1952)


Placido Adeyemo Assumpçao was born to Ribeiro and Maximiliana Assumpçao on 25th May 1884. He was a son of one of the “Brazilian” families of Lagos: black repatriates from Brazil, using Brazilian (Portuguese) names but usually remembering their African ancestry, which was often Yoruba. The groups were sometimes called Amaros or Aguda. The Alakija family for a while were the most prominent Amaros in Nigeria. His family was of Egba origin. He had a famous brother Olayinka and his sister Tejumade married Alake Ademola II of Abeokuta.


Placido Assumpçao’s family were Catholics like other “Brazilians”, but after going to the famous Catholic school in Lagos, St Gregory’s, he went on to the CMS Grammar School (Anglican). On leaving school he entered the government service as a clerical worker in 1900; he spent ten years in that service, mainly with the Posts. He married Christina Ayodele George in 1907.

In 1910 he began legal studies at the Middle Temple in London, where he was called to the Bar in 1913. In that year he abandoned his Portuguese name for a Yoruba one, Alakija. His brother Olayinka did the same and also qualified as a lawyer. He was heavily influenced by the tidal waves of cultural nationalism in Nigeria during the early twentieth century. It was this self-assertiveness that led his family to abandon their assimilated Portuguese name in favour of a native one.

Alakija studied at Oxford University in the early 1930s, and became an ardent proponent for the provision of tertiary education to Nigerians during the colonial period.

Adeyemo Alakija practiced successfully as a lawyer and also went into politics, but with less success. At first a close colleague of Herbert Macaulay, he broke with him over the issue of the British Government’s action against the Oba of Lagos (Eleko), a major issue in Lagos politics in the 1920s.

Mr (later Sir) Adeyemo Alakija described Eshugbayi Eleko as a pathetic figure who though he had no actual ruling function as a chief, occupied a position of fundamental influence in Lagos. This imposed responsibilities on him with which he was incapable of dealing, especially as the problems became progressively more complex with the growth of the metropolis of Lagos. He was not fit, either by temperaments or gifts, to be Oba. Worse still, he listened to evil counsellors, i.e. Herbert Macaulay, members of the Ilu Committee and the Jamat Muslims.


In 1923 and again in 1926 he stood for election to the Legislative Council (Legco) as an independent, without success. His brother was a prominent elected member of Legco later. Adeyemo also joined it, but only as an appointed member, representing Egba Division from 1933 to 1941. Some Egbas protesting to the government against the nomination of Adeyemo Alakija as legislative councillor for Egbaland, sent a copy of their petition to Falolu (Oba of Lagos), presumably to use Falolu’s influence in the furtherance of their cause.

In 1926 he made his most famous contribution to history by playing an active part in the foundation of the Daily Times, which, for many decades, was Nigeria’s leading newspaper. He planned it with Ernest Ikoli an already successful young editor and Richard Barrow, agent of Jurgen’s Colonial Products Limited and chairman of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce. A new daily newspaper was planned to take Reuters and radio reports among other news coverage. The idea was supported by Barrow’s expatriate business colleagues and approved by the government. Thus the Nigerian Printing and Publishing Company (NPPC) was formed, with a nominal share capital of £3,000, to start the Daily Times and take over Ikoli’s African Messenger. The new newspaper started on 1 June 1926 with Ikoli as editor.

Alakija was chairman of the Board of the NPPC. It succeeded in bringing out a popular newspaper using modern techniques, with the help of advertising by the European firms. Its success was in spite of a pro-government policy not unusual among Nigerian editors at that time apart from Alakija’s friend, Sir Kitoye Ajasa. In 1936 the NPPC was merged with West Africa Newspapers Limited of London and Liverpool, publishers of West Africa and the West African Review. Later, in 1948, the International Publishing Corporation of London took over the Daily Times enterprise.


Alakija won the traditional titles of Bariyun of AKE (Abeokuta) in 1932 and Woje Ileri of Ife in 1935. The British government also honoured one of its most steadfast Nigerian friends. He won the Jubilee Medal, the Coronation Medal and in 1939 the CBE. He attended King George VI’s coronation in 1937. In 1942, having ceased the previous year to be an appointed Legco member, he was appointed to the Executive Council. In 1945 he was Knighted, with the KBE. He went to Britain in 1949 to receive the knighthood from George VI. Oba Adele who, succeeded Falolu in 1949, made Sir Adeyemo Alakija, one of his most powerful supporters in the struggle for the succession, the Baba Eko (father of Lagos).

He was a prominent Freemason, first Nigerian to become Grand Master of the Nigerian Freemasons, who were influential among the Lagos elite. He embraced some traditional elements of Yoruba socio-political and religious history when he co-founded the reformed Ogboni society and became the Olori Oluwo, or Lord of the Lords, of the brotherhood. As a member of the Ogboni confraternity, he introduced the use of masonic symbols inside the organization, such as the unblinking eye on an inverted V and three vertical shapes.



He was the keenest enthusiast for horse racing all his life, owning horses and becoming well known for regular attendance, in his white panama hat, at Lagos race meetings. He had sent all his family to Britain by the 1930s, so that his children could receive education there. In 1938, his first wife having died, he married a second with exactly the same name, Ayodele George, but unrelated to the other. They moved, in 1951, to a new house, said to be the finest private house in Lagos, Ake House at Obalende.


Sir Adeyemo was not prominent in party politics but he contributed greatly to their start by organising, in 1945, the Egbe Omo Oduduwa, of which he became the first president; this Yoruba Organisation (“League of the Sons of Oduduwa”) became the nucleus of the Action Group. He was also president of the Nigerian Youth Movement.

Sir Adeyemo Alakija died on 10 May 1952. His widow, Lady Alakija, was for years afterwards an active director of the Daily Times of Nigeria Limited and a living link with its early days under her husband

State House Marina (1905)