On Thursday, October 29, 2020, “prominent citizens of Lagos State” assembled at Eko Club, Surulere, for what was described as a family meeting. It clashed with a public holiday – Eid El Malud.
Nevertheless, after seven hours of serious and frank deliberations, we adjourned proceedings on the understanding that the item on which we concluded matters was what we should have started with, namely:
WHICH IS THE WAY FORWARD?
Thereafter, there was no respite from several aggrieved Lagosians who complained vehemently that the event should have been massively advertised ahead of the meeting together with full media coverage (including ZOOM) while the epochal event was in session.
Instead of a conclave, what the occasion merited was the “BIG TENT” to accommodate representatives of all the indigenes from “IBILE” (Ikeja; Badagry; Ikorodu; Lagos and Epe) divisions of Lagos State.
Furthermore, they insisted that the main item on the agenda should have been:
“How Do We Avoid/Forestall Another Lekki Toll Gate Disaster?”
Other views came through fast and furious, all night. However, what threw the spanner in the works was the pungent message delivered by some of the youths who had participated in the peaceful protests against “SARS” (Special Anti-Robbery Squad) all over Lagos under the aegis and banner of “#EndSARS.”
According to them, the message I should have relayed to the meeting was:
“Those Bullets Were Meant For Us”
Us, being those of us who as parents allowed matters to deteriorate in Lagos and then left it to the next generation to embark on the protests in order to restore sanity, law and (public) order.
It was to no avail that I countered that no bullets were fired until hoodlums and miscreants hijacked what had hitherto been a very well managed and peaceful protest.
They were furious that the hoodlums and miscreants were deliberately imposed “by the usual suspects” to disrupt and destabilize the protests. That was where scepticism and cynicism took over. Who do you now believe?
Added to this was the indignant remonstration from the survivors of the shooting that the hoodlums and miscreants did not emerge from the sky.
They had been lurking in the shadows for many years only to emerge with a vengeance in the last decade.
It is to the credit of Brigadier-General Buba Marwa, the military governor of Lagos State (1996 to 1999) that before leaving office, he had arranged for the “dropouts” – gangsters, thugs and drug addicts to acquire basic skills – bakery; tailoring; block-making; carpentry, plumbing etc. so that they could earn a living.
As for the motor park touts, Marwa ordered them off the streets where under the pretext of collecting union dues they were harassing those in the transport sector from motorcyclists to “molue” (mini buses) and “keke marwa” (tricycles). They could only collect union dues in their offices within designated motor parks.
Once the politicians took over, power shifted to the unions and those who controlled them. They had power (votes) and money to boot. The genie was out of the bottle and they have remained totally above the law in their alliance with politicians and power brokers.
Also, there has been a deluge of demands for a post-mortem on COVID-19 and the lessons to be learnt from the first wave. Added to this is the critical issue of how well prepared are we in terms of healthcare infrastructure for the inevitable second wave?
For those who are relying on vaccines, here is a cautionary note from the editor-in-chief of the medical journal “The Lancet”:
“If we make a mistake and license a vaccine too early – just think – we have already got a growing anti-vaccine movement, which is extremely disturbing. We can’t cut corners. There will not be a vaccine available for public use by the end of October.
President Trump is simply wrong about that,” Horton said, adding: “I have no understanding why he is saying it. Because his advisers will surely be telling him that that’s just impossible.”
There have also been calls for the inclusion of Climate Change and environmental pollution (degradation) on the agenda on account of Lagos being not only an oil producing state but also the epicentre of massive dredging of its foreshore and land reclamation.
As for the Judicial Panel of Enquiry that has been set up to investigate the Lekki Tollgate shooting, there have been strident insistence on conditions precedent – what has become of the reports of previous panels on a wide variety of subjects and grievances?
Something else that has emerged (and is deeply worrying) is the overarching and intimidating number of those trapped in the category of the “new” underprivileged. They actually constitute the underclass – a level below the poor. They are hungry, rootless, unemployed, homeless and hopeless. But nobody is counting.
Read also: Lagos warns tenants as property fraud surges
As for the Lagosians in the diaspora, they have seized the opportunity on offer and the digital platform which is at their disposal to demand “big data” with regard to:
i.) How many indigenes of Lagos are employed by the state government and what is their percentage of the total number of employees?
ii.) The same applies to the Federal Government and its agencies which are located in Lagos – Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA); Nigerian Ports Authority; Nigerian Airspace Management Authority (NAMA); Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN); Nigerian Shippers Council; Nigerian Railway Corporation, etc.
iii.) Furthermore, they want to know how many Lagosians are in the police, Army, Airforce, Navy, Security Agencies, Customs & Excise, Immigration etc.
iv.) They also allege that the banks make between 60 and 70 per cent of their profits in Lagos but there are no statistics/data regarding the number of Lagos indigenes they employ – especially at managerial/executive/director level.
What has been truly amazing is the speed and depth of the concern right across the globe, thanks to social media, regarding the tragic events which occurred at the Lekki Tollgate. Ironically, the footage which the authorities claim that they have just retrieved from hidden CCTV cameras was already trending only a matter of hours after the shooting!
