Mark Meek's Ideas: Lagos

In the same month that I was born, a great country was also born. When I eventually began writing a blog, it turned out that the background color pattern that I chose for the blog was the same as the flag of that country.

The country, of course, is Nigeria. The country was in the news this week because of the death of it's former president. Image from the Wikipedia article "Flag of Nigeria".

When I was a young boy, the first that I heard of Africa was the civil war in Nigeria on the news. The southern part of Nigeria was trying to form a separate country called Biafra. At first, I thought that the name of the entire continent was Biafra.

Nigeria is a very diverse country. By religion the north of the country is primarily Moslem and the south is primarily Christian. The three largest ethnic groups are the Hausa, in the north, the Yoruba, in the west, and the Igbo, in the southeast.

It was the Igbo that once wanted to form a separate nation, called Biafra. A few years ago, in what might have been the fiftieth anniversary of the civil war, I saw a t-shirt with the name of "Biafra".

Since Nigeria is such a diverse and relatively young country it is still necessarily in what I call the "Strong Leader Binding Phase". A strong leader is often required to hold the country together. Democracy will get easier as time goes on.

As with many countries in a similar situation Nigeria's political history has been a mix of civilian and military governments. In a way reminiscent of that of France, Nigeria's government has been a series of republics, which usually means a new constitution. Nigeria today is in the Fourth Republic. In 1979, in the Second Republic, Nigeria switched from a parliamentary to a presidential system of government.

While Nigeria is a relatively new country it encompasses what were empires and kingdoms of the past. The best-known is probably the Kingdom of Benin.

Nigeria today is rich in oil and there is a thriving movie industry, known as "Nollywood". Nigerians are known to be ambitious, hardworking, and to value learning. Did you know that Nigerians absolutely excel in the game of Scrabble?

Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa. The largest city in Nigeria, and in all of Africa, is Lagos. In fact, it is one of the very few largest cities in the world. Lagos is a port city on the Atlantic coast of Nigeria.

The following scenes begin at Tinbu Square, in central Lagos. The first four images are from Google Street View.

There are multiple scenes following. To see the scenes, after the first one, you must first click the up arrow, ^, before you can move on to the next scene by clicking the right or forward arrow, >. After clicking the up arrow, you can then hide the previews of successive scenes, if you wish.

https://www.google.com/maps/@6.454042,3.3894373,3a,75y,126.72h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sbVVgJjGZRcG8HD3Snw7Kaw!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo0.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DbVVgJjGZRcG8HD3Snw7Kaw%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D126.89186%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656

Here is more of central Lagos, neat the port and the ocean. The first two images are from Google Street View.

https://www.google.com/maps/@6.4318659,3.4185642,3a,75y,192.09h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1soefJ4V2QiiPsIkr60t_XwQ!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo0.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DoefJ4V2QiiPsIkr60t_XwQ%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D192.08995%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656

This is a more residential area in the central city. The first two images are from Google Street View.

https://www.google.com/maps/@6.4548045,3.4345361,3a,75y,202.7h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sGe9rI4wT7WHtNy7RqnWjzQ!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo0.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DGe9rI4wT7WHtNy7RqnWjzQ%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D202.70442%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656

This area is further west from the central city, but still near the ocean. These four images are from Google Street View.

This district is known as Apapa. The first three images are from Google Street View.

https://www.google.com/maps/@6.4474683,3.3379227,3a,75y,344.19h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sPUvxbYun8Q1CQVuj_2mPxQ!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo1.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DPUvxbYun8Q1CQVuj_2mPxQ%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D344.19464%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656

Surulere is near the geographical center of Lagos. The first four images are from Google Street View.

https://www.google.com/maps/@6.4974999,3.3391666,3a,75y,277.5h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipNfzSvMit8cNgznQhjam_EbvSs0l3saLxjIxBP0!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipNfzSvMit8cNgznQhjam_EbvSs0l3saLxjIxBP0%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi0-ya277.5-ro-0-fo100!7i7200!8i3600

Lagos is the largest city, but is actually no longer the capital of Nigeria. The new capital is Abuja, which is inland and not on the coast. There were great empires in west Africa in the past. But the major cities were inland, and not on the coast. The population has now shifted to the cities on the coast, such as Lagos. But moving the capital back inland is symbolic of being more rooted in Africa's heritage. This is the central area of Abuja.

The following five images are from Google Street View. The first image is of the Nigerian Parliament building.