I got into Lagos a few days ago and I was hit by a serious culture shock. This isn’t my first trip to Lagos by any means or even my last but this is the first trip I’ve found myself crisscrossing Lagos from Badagry to Banana Island.
Usually, whenever I’m in Lagos, I’m stuck in one spot till I’m through with whatever brought me. Be it Victoria Island, Ikoyi, Ikeja or Okota…so long as I’ve got data on my phone or have a good book, I don’t care what’s happening next door. But this time was a bit different.
From my residence in Ikeja to Badagry early at dawn, I observed grown men (strangely no women) defecating in public. Knickers pulled to their knees and bottoms jutting out over open canals or gutters, they were doing their business with scant regard for the people around them. It seemed an accustomed ritual as people didn’t take note of them. They must be part of the landscape, I thought.
Even when I caught the eye of a few, I was the one who hurriedly looked away in sheer fright at the brazen and defiant glare in their eyes as though challenging me to look further. People urinating didn’t elicit any response from me.
The further I moved away from Ikeja, the more commonplace it seemed. Women bathing their babies in the open right next to someone frying akara, with customers eating or waiting to buy. The gutters were green and overflowing and honestly, the ever popular slogan, Eko O’ni baje, seemed like a nice catch phrase with little impact on the ground.
The next day, I went to Apapa and the story wasn’t very different. I saw men (no women again) squatting over waterlogged hyacinth or water weed overgrown areas doing the number two. I experienced the weary helplessness that had cost them their dignity. No public toilets within sight and despite my pressing needs, I held my “piss” for hours till I could get back home. The rain made the ordinarily terrible roads almost innavigable and raised the stench level by a hundred fold. That was day two.
Day three took me to Banana Island and for once I felt the normal calm and ease I so take for granted in Abuja. The roads were paved (a few bad spots in Ikoyi) and it actually didn’t smell or maybe my nostrils had become accustomed to the stench and people there conducted themselves with more dignity. I saw one or two persons taking a leak but that wasn’t so bad.
The houses in Banana Island looked very well-kept and street sweepers were actually clean. I mean, what did I expect? That place probably is the most expensive real estate in the entire world, Chelsea and Beverly Hills included. I wished I could just leave Ikeja and take up residence there even if it were the gatehouse of one of those awesome structures.
Returning to reality hurt. The stench hit me again. The sights assaulted me yet again and much as I wished not to see any tips or active bottoms, it was a wishful thinking. No matter the time of day one has to poo or pee and if the state doesn’t provide amenities…the open spaces have to do.
When nature calls…you have to answer.
This is hoping the Akinwunmi Ambode administration will rise to the occasion and ensure Lagos does not spoil “patapata”, as they say in the local parlance, by providing public toilets for the use of the people!
Ms. Jane Ohaji-Akwani
Ikeja, Lagos
janeakwani1@yahoo.co.uk
07033510214
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