Home is... II

once again i had the opportunity to visit my home country. it was an eye opening and pretty pleasant trip. i met with some interesting changes especially in lagos. seems the state governor has a vision (a rare thing for nigerian leaders). it was actually on my way back to the airport that i got a feel of the man’s vision. he wants to solve that age old problem of transportation we face in the overcrowded city. the statistics stands at forty thousand danfo buses and one million okada (motorcycles) servicing over thirteen million people, i guess excluding the seven odd million who own their own means of transportation. i must add here that his game plan is to eradicate the use of okada because of loss of life and the general nuisance these cause.

his approach is different from a host of his peers who think an outright ban on okada riders automatically solves the problem. he has more or less given 2011 as the time when the state will be rid of the menace. the plan being that by 2011 a functional train service and water transportation system would be in place. work has started on those already. so the okada drivers have two year’s notice to begin planning on finding alternative employment. the work on the road networks are continuing. places like oshodi that was both scary and slummy he’s clearing up. under bridges around the third mainland – ikoyi axis are being given a new look as per landscape. the green in the flag is once more showing brighter. i often wondered about the green on the flag when everywhere looked dirty and smelly.

the few nigerians i have spoken with feel the change coming. and they seem to be in support and believe in it. they talk of people queuing on the pedestrian bridge in oshodi with glee and wonder. i guess we were so rowdy a country that organized behaviour is shocking. its early days yet, like all good cynics (built over years of broken promises and failed projects and most importantly haphazard power supply) we keep our noses wrinkled until it happens.