I con Lagos

 

I con Lagos. Welcome to the blog lovelies, been a hot minute and then some. I am sorry I've been away for so long. Let's update you on my travails shall we.

Everyone in Lagos is mad. A writer once posited that, "nearly all the men in Lagos are mad", though my earlier statement seems a whooping generalisation, I repeat everyone in Lagos is mad. I said everyone because I'm a gender equalist, one size fits all. It takes coming to Lagos to realize that no matter how bougie you are, you are an agbero at your core, for if you do not behave as such, the streets will beat you, life's tussles will envelope and becloud your sight of anything else and you will become a zombie - walking around deprived of vision or perception - desolate.

No better words to describe your mornings in the magníficient city than the intro to Kizz Daniel's song - "Buga". It says, "no sleep, wake up! Collect your money". While it  might have just been chants, I deduce a simple meaning, Kizz also has faced life on these streets, and yes, he didn't come out unfazed .

Whatever your purpose for migrating to this city, the excitement soon dours. Yes, you can achieve a lot here, but whoever coined the statement "if you can't make it in Lagos you can't make it anywhere" is  a replete liar. Quote me anywhere. Well unless the person adds this addendum -"where there is stress and unnecessary traffic and suffering", if that is added, then he/she becomes a truthful being.

I came to chase a dream. But because dreams are latent talents that need honing, I came eager. I came expectant, full of boisterity might I add. I came to make it in Lagos. Men and brethren, no be the eye wey I take look am e take be las las. It has been such a breath-taking, in the literal sense of the word, experience. Lagos is not for the faint-hearted, easy going, or ajebo type. Worse so, if you're all of the aforementioned and you dare to commute from the mainland to the island daily. 

My stay here has built resistance, tenacity, persistence and a hard will. I might still have my fragile candour but the lady beneath is far from. Lagos builds people. It breaks you at first, but it builds a version of you that needs air time, give it that.  It also has the capability of destroying manners, don't let it. You rarely find a compassionate person on these streets. People are tired, angry, grouchy and some more adjectives that describe somewhere between angry, frustrated and near bitter. The conductors are dubious and unnecessarily cunning, the drivers, almost always nepotistic because why else must I shout "Owa" else you feign deafness. I pride myself in saying I was rebellious and refused the word. It cost me though, and yes I sometimes went away angry but... leave me to gloat in my little win against a stupid system.

Lagos is beautiful. I applaud their government for what they're doing. I mean it seems to be a part of the country where things almost work as they should. I have enjoyed not one but two scholarship that would've dug trenches in my pockets but for them being scholarship and all paid for by LACI, Lagos state Creative Industry Initiative and no I no know person wey know person, nor am I a Lagosian per se. I mean I have lived here a bit now but would I call myself a Lagosian? Not nearly. Yet, I have enjoyed benefits of a government that seems to care. I see why entertainment thrives here.

Lagos is a metropolitan state, with diverse culture and people. All of which make for a rich heritage. One which everyone should at some point or another partake in. I came here to write. To see it enacted as well. To vivify my childhood dreams - those I made with comics and bottle caps, with my cousins and on note pads. I did it.