WHICH IS AFRICA'S MOST CREATIVE CITY?

In my view, its Lagos, Nigeria.


The creative energy in Lagos could light up the entire continent.

Arriving at Murtala Mohammed Airport for my three-month stay, I took a yellow taxi that had been sent to fetch me. (Thank God it was the actual one that had been sent to fetch me, but that's another story all together).
After a few surprises on the road from the airport, I managed to pull my gawking face away from the window to lean on the back-rest. Only then did I notice the huge gaping hole on the floor of the taxi. Probably corroded by the salty sea air. Or maybe not. Alarmed, I asked the taxi man what the hole was about.
"Oga, moto na injin, Oh!" Came the swift rejoinder, which, loosely translated, implies, sir, why are you bothered about the small stuff? Its the engine that makes a car! The man became my taxi driver for all of the three months in Lagos.

And so we slowly crawled along unrelenting traffic on the third mainland bridge, past hawkers weaving through the stationary cars, selling everything from sofas and TV sets all the way to plots of land and buildings, and finally on to Victoria Island. The nicer bit of Lagos town. Which means it has people with a lot of money (And a heli-pad for those who do not wish to crawl the three hours it takes to do the 9 kilometers from the airport) and street kids who want some of the money. One of those street kids then makes his way to the window of the taxi and asks me for cash. Smelling the drugs in his breath, I said that I wouldn't give him any cash, lest he ends up buying more drugs. Pointing to the pocket on his shirt, the boy smiles at me and impudently tells me not to worry, sir (oga!) Money for drugs is taken care of and is right here in the pocket. No problems with that. All he needed now was "mune fo chop", cash to buy food!

To beat the constant traffic grid-locks, Lagos found the answer in motorcycle taxis long before the East Africans found them out. Lagosian motorcycle taxis, known as "okada" are as permanent on the street as they are irritating. I'm told that a law was recently passed that compels okada riders to wear helmets. And, to illustrate the creative soul of that city, riders showed up on the streets the very next day wearing watermelon pods!


That is the kind of creative energy that feeds the city of Lagos. The city of Fela Kuti and Wole Soyinka and Chinua Achebe. The city that has mastered teh craft of finding its own unique solutions to every challenge thrown at it.

To quote my good friend Femi Odugbemi: "Cities, like people, reveal themselves in different ways. There are those whose charms emerge shyly after long acquaintance; others whose grandeur inspire awe and respect; some others whose personality is instantly engaging, with confidence, leavened with humour, self-indulgence tempered with generosity, brashly modern yet strangely ancient...Lagos captures the essence and soul of Nigeria - it is at once progressive yet irredeemably confounding. It is multifacetted in appearance and personality. It is seemingly moving at the speed of a train yet can be tranquil and laid-back. Most of all, I love the city for its soul. There is a beauty to its chaos and a rhythm to its pulse. To live here you must have gravitas, a will-power not common to outsiders. You must feed off its energy and ride its intensity. There is no place like Lagos - it [has a] uniqueness of character, soul, [the] capacity to unendingly confound..."This is Lagos.""

What a creative soul it has.


(Photos used by kind permission of Femi Odugbemi)