MUST IT BE LAGOS?
By
Victor Jorshe
As a person who was born and bred in Ibadan, all I knew growing up were the Bodijas, Ojoos, Moniyas, Oja Obas, Oluyoles, Iwo Roads, Agbowos, Moletes, Apatas, Dugbes and who can forget the popular Challenge and the rusted roofs that is synonymous with the largest city in West Africa.

I had uncles who lived in Lagos and whenever they come visiting, they tell us a lot about how magnificent Lagos is and I at the time didn’t have much of a choice than to dream of visiting and who knows living in Lagos which for me is abroad in Nigeria.

This dream finally came through in 2010 when I gained admission into the University of Lagos to study Mass Communication. Prior to the admission, I had come earlier into town to write the post-utme exams where I stayed on campus with my cousin Ife, a law student at the time in Eni Njoku hall.

I resumed fully in November of the same year after the last month was solely for registration as a freshman. For accommodation sakes, I stayed with an Uncle Oga Sikiru in Bariga which was a place I heard of before setting foot in Lagos for it nefariousness.

After several weeks of lecture, the school went on break as a result of the forthcoming festivities and I didn’t think twice than to return home to celebrate with my family and tell them tales of how Lagos wasn’t totally heaven on earth and that people had to succumb to unhealthy and dehumanizing standard of living but this got me thinking why then do people still troop into Lagos?

Unarguably, it is the centre of economic excellence and is justified to claim the title of being the commercial capital of Nigeria but is everyone in Lagos living well as they sometimes seem to portray in the movies or does everyone who come to Lagos make it as they say?

I know they say if you want to boost your business, come to Lagos but does that mean it wouldn’t boost anywhere else? I sometimes apportion blames to the olden days that developed Lagos more than the other parts of the country and if every state had been developed equally, the influx craze into Lagos would not be ubiquitous.

Yes I did see out my college and bagged my bachelors’ degree but the need for people to live in Lagos ‘by force by fire’ I still didn’t see or understand. I felt more at home in Ibadan as I didn’t have to rush to do everything or get stuck in traffic.

I didn’t also have to live in despicable apartments or succumb to the high cost of living that is present in Lagos like mosquitoes in the country and no doubt Ibadan isn’t Lagos but Lagos is not Ibadan too. It might be a growing or emerging town but you could hustle, bustle, have fun and live your life under no noisy or polluted pressure like Lagos.

Instead of trooping to Lagos to find supposed greener pastures which I don’t know if it has not already being grazed by the livestock of the herdsmen, why don’t people develop their states of origin or residence and dissolve the ‘Lagos Dream’ from their souls and please no one should tell me that you have be based in Lagos to be successful.

People should walk up to those who have made in their states of origin or residence to find out how they made it instead of taking a bus to Lagos live your town where you are a “king” than ‘peasant’ in Lagos. You don’t necessarily have to do business in Lagos but can still establish in her and then allow someone run it while you oversee.

Lagos has afforded me the opportunity to meet many great individuals who have touched and changed the course of history as it relates to every ramification of my life as well as many breaths taking moments that will always be embedded in the echelon of my memory but all the same I still ask
MUST IT BE LAGOS?
http://www.alltrivias.com/2017/11/must-it-be-lagos.html?m=1