October 7, 2011
By ANAND GIRIDHARADAS
LAGOS — On the 51st anniversary of Nigeria’s independence a week ago, the sky over Lagos was dimly silver, rain was pattering on a million tin roofs, and the country felt itself to be in something of a funk.
“No cause for celebration 51 years after,” proclaimed the front page of The Punch, an English-language daily newspaper, on Monday, channeling statements by opposition parties. Below, unbolded and in smaller font, was the ruling government’s rejoinder: “We have every reason to celebrate.”
But that rejoinder was overwhelmed by the government’s own actions on Independence Day. Instead of the parade customarily held in Eagle Square in the capital, Abuja, President Goodluck Jonathan chose to remain in his presidential villa, where he was photographed cutting a green and white cake to mark the occasion.
The reason for the change was open threats of attack by militants who recently bombed the office of the United Nations in Abuja. But many Nigerians read more deeply into Mr. Jonathan’s retreat, whether fairly or not. It was for them a sign of the times: a nation that thinks of itself as Africa’s heart, that sees a place for itself in a family of nations dominated less and less by the West, nonetheless lacks the basic security to throw itself a birthday party.
The tension between the country’s bright ambitions and dimmer reality is everywhere in Lagos. In the newspapers, the articles seem to say one thing, and the ads another.
Among the recent headlines: “Bad Roads Sink Residents in Depression.” “How Africans Underdevelop Africa.” “Living in Squalor, Decay and Despair.” “Nigeria has missed opportunities; only urgent rebirth will save it.”
But right beside those headlines were ads that spoke in the confident and airy language of globalism, as if to melt anxieties away. “Your smart life without limits,” a Samsung ad declared. Or: “Enjoy the newly refined Chevalier Brandy, distilled for those who can discern the real brandy taste.” Even a pasta ad could not resist, urging Nigerians to “be outstanding.”
The disconnect tells us something about what modernity has come to mean in metropolises like Lagos: a simultaneous pursuit of basic civilization, on the one hand, and of the latest and finest the world can give, on the other.
Development, progress, growth — call it what you will — is a lumpy, misshapen thing in Lagos. Towering five-star hotels have extensive wine lists, the wealthy carry very expensive cellphones, and late-model Mercedes sedans prowl the streets. But for many, the rudiments of a decent life are not yet in place. Ordinary people have little confidence that they will not be attacked by robbers when they venture out of the house. Round-the-clock electricity remains elusive. Corruption gums up everything.
The prosperous have their ways around these burdens. Today they are as much a part of a global conversation as a Nigerian one, thanks to their technologies. The pockmarked, flooded roads beneath their feet toss them up and down inside their cars, but on their phones and iPads they can be somewhere else. The Lagos elite, I found, have more interest in, and knowledge about, the latest twists and turns of the U.S. presidential race than many Americans. One way to escape the afflictions of your own place is to preoccupy yourself with another’s.
As with Mumbai and São Paulo and other such cities, Lagos’s expectations are now inspired by a life thousands of miles away, while its realities are a product of its own tortuous road to progress. The gap between what is wanted and what can be had grows wider hour by hour.
But it is also possible to see why the language and rituals of globalism are so appealing to a place like this. It is easy to behave in a manner widely accepted as “global.” It is easier, surely, than building a society from the ground up.
The seduction of globalism is how easy it is for a country to become modern-seeming. The peril of globalism is that it can conceal dysfunction behind a charming veneer, and can, in that sense, become a substitute for real progress.
It is easier than it looks to bring a spa to Nigeria and harder than it looks to build an electricity grid. So Lagos has therapists offering Indonesian, Thai, Swedish and Hawaiian massages, but it does not have 24-hour power. It has the latest cellphone technology, but life expectancy has yet to climb above 50. It has cars in abundance, but it forgot to build the roads. It has sushi that is perfectly safe, but it still struggles to eradicate polio.
Years from now, when we look back on this phase of globalization, we may realize how selectively so many countries absorbed the lessons of an influential few. Certain aspects of modernity are easily copied — the frenetic materialism, the culture of consumption, the language of aspiration and endless upwardness. But it is much harder to learn the most necessary lessons: how to build a firm and independent court system, how to stop the leakage of state spending, how to make everyday life a little more bearable each year.
One day in Lagos, we visited the beach. Outside the car was a man with a huge cart blanketed by mobile phone accessories. And, in a poor and difficult country, that cart suggested a kind of progress.
Then we walked some steps toward the beach, and a man with no official position told us, with menacing generosity, that he would allow us access to the sands for a fee. There was some negotiation, and someone paid him. We took a look at the water, but we didn’t stay long.
For now, it felt like his beach, not ours and not even fully Nigeria’s.
Nigeria in Modernity:’It takes a great man to sit down on his chair and see the future from there’In my opinion,the Nigerian leaders I know are not what I will call leaders,they are simply office occupants,being giving directives on what to do and what not to. Nigeria’s Modernity depends on the Government’s 70% and the Citizens 30%.A country whereby the voice of the masses is not been heard is as dead as Nigeria is.For 51 years All we asked for is basic Amenities, and what are those Amenities?
Food Supply,
Shelter(Affordable Homes)
Electricity
Good Education
Good Road Network
In general,a high level standard of living.
Thanks Anand for opening my eyes to see great opportunity.
Really interesting piece. I can empathize with your beach scene after a recent trip my husband and I took to Nigeria this past May (although our incident occurred at the airport). This article made me think about my parents and their friends, part of the generation that immigrated to the US from Nigeria in the 1970s, many of whom are making their back to Nigeria as they enter retirement. While it seems that their homeland is more than willing to accept the money, resources, and financial investments they bring with them as they return, it’s a little less clear as to whether their constructive criticisms, ideas, and actions to advance or change Nigeria’s infrastructure, governance, healthcare or legal systems will be as welcomed with open arms.
The experience Nigerians are going through is similar to the struggles of maturing countries such as India. There is nothing wrong with the materialism of the West. Success is measured by the accumulation of monetary wealth in many parts of the world especially in poorer and developing countries. This is reality. Once this desire is satisfied the rich having no more use for the riches will turn their attention to nation building. Is there a short cut. May be so and in this regard Nigerians have a chance and I wish them the best.
Anand,this piece epitomizes brilliant writing,a verbatim reflection of the situation and stark reality that exists in Lagos, however sorry to say, the situtaion is by far worse, this is because Lagos represents a harsh irony, it’s the smallest state by land mass, Nigeria has 36 states (apart fom the capital Abuja that’s the abode for the polictical elite), Lagos is just one, the others are about 10 years backward in terms of developement, best case scenarios are pockets of developement in a few which is due to settlements of foreigners that are present because of oil and gas opportunities that exist, Lagos has no oil, but is the site for the cooperate headquaters of all multinationals, however this reality also brings to light the fact there’s a lot of virgin land for brand new 21st century developement,that’ll contrast that of Lagos, it took Dubai less than 10 years to achieve this, we pray & hope that an improved power sector will pave way to realise this,we need several Steve Jobs in this new ensuing generation,and it can’t happen overnight, but if certain factors such as good education and basic infrastructure aren’t present I’m afaid we’ll never wake up to realise the dreams of devloement we’ve been dreaming about for the past 50 years.
Corruption gums everything. That’s key to understanding the problem. To understand Nigeria, Listen to Fela… electricity? Foreign nationals (Asians) we hear bribe the policy makers and power sector workers to sabotage power projects & operations. Reason? Sell their generators. Nigeria will rise only when corruption is excised from it’s cultural DNA. The government is bovine. Do The people deserve better? You know what? They do not…. There was no reason to return the ruling party but you know what? It was returned after 12 years of catastrophe… Everyone I spoke to challenging their decision to vote PDP come election day, including my ivy league educated relatives simple had no good reason except that the alternative to Dr Jonathan was Muslim, former dictator, was too old 68, yet his military government is judged to have been the most upright in our history!!!! Dudes wake up!! Of course not! We squandered the chance to create a fighting chance for our nation….. We could not dare to dream… The stockholm syndrome perhaps. I’m a Nigerian. I do not believe there is any hope. No silver lining on any cloud. 25 years ago everything you wrote was just as true…… Our educational system has let everyone down. Half educated by decrepit institutions, and preoccupied with surviving in a society without rules, they lose what ever enlightenment they acquired in the first place… Watching local tv stations transports you back to the stone age… You watch CNN. You become better acquainted with what goes on in Washington. Even when you decide to obtain news from the local channel, the reporters turn you off….. It’s almost easier to understand MS DOS explained over the telephone than to make sense of the convoluted report coming at you…. O boy…. Nor be today…. E go Tay small….
Excellent perspective. Nigerians in Nigeria are less likely to notice how fast their country is sinking. They seem to think it’s either normal, or there’s hope, or they can’t do better. It’s a very depressing environment to grow in, especially if you’ve seen better. And it’s quite clear it’s headed for the dustbin of history unless one is a gas-filled optimist which I am far from being.
I made this video 2 years ago…it summarizes your essay.
http://vimeo.com/25173781
I cannot help but feel as though this article…or the writer want for depth – it almost sounds like a first visit to Nigeria (Lagos) and the resulting surprise at how despite all the chaos we still manage to get on with it. I wonder what you would have us do alternatively – this is what I sat at the edge of my chair, reading this, waiting to uncover. What is the point of the article? A highfalutin reminder to the Nigerian of the painful quotidian situation he lives and breathes or to the all to cynical outsider of the failing situation in Nigeria? And where do either of these leave us? The article which clearly fails to contrast the Lagos of a decade ago and today consequently fails to point out that Lagos is constantly – slowly – changing and improving. It fails to mention that Lagos is trying to develop it’s own system, LASTMA, LASAA, BRT…that actually – believe it or not – work. Lagos state HAS tried a number of times to separate itself from our central system of power generation and independently generate power – to which the Federal Govt have kicked back upon and crippled. Lagos unlike most of Nigeria (and a large part of Africa to be honest) is actually a mark of some semblance of progress. Yes we have a long way to go (especially looking at where we have come from), yes, for the most part the Nigerian government – I use the term “government” loosely – is a failed one, but this article just paints the same story in different words we have heard time without number – yet another cheap take at an article on “Lagos”.
@Ewoma this Dubai you speak of, although I much rather use Singapore, might actually be realised in the new Eko Atlantic Project. We can only do what we do to the absolute best we can in the capacity we can and if everyone were to live by mantra, we hope that the dots will eventually connect themselves and move us forward.
I felt that the article captured the nuanced contradictions that accompany development in the modern world, with Nigeria being a prime example of what one experiences other rapidly developing urban regions including Kuala Lumpur, Mumbai, etc.
South Africa, the other rapidly developing nation on the African continent, provides a contrasting picture, where development has occurred in concentrated areas that serve the elite minority of both races, while the vast majority continue to live in urban and rural areas distant from the developed urban centers. In South Africa, one does not have an opportunity to see, in one short glance, the stark developmental contrasts evident in Nigeria. It takes much more work in South Africa to peel back the layers of the onion, and appreciate that the same dynamics are at play, but with a different face.
Teresa Clarke, CEO, Africa.com
An extremely interesting article! It shows the dichotony of globalisation from the Nigerian perspective!
Well written, exactly the way Nigeria is, with misplaced priorities, and with virtually no sense of direction
This in my opinion is an excellent depiction of the situation in Nigeria as it is. As rightly noted, sadly, progress to the Lagos elite is the ability to access western culture and luxuries with relative ease locally. this is obviously easier than establishing realistic benchmarks for ‘building a society from the ground up’. Without saying there is certainly some sense of tangible development but my worry is at what cost? Corruption certainly gums up everything!
Hi Anand, interesting article/perspective.Just a point of information.The British colonialists, did institute and leave behind a very impressive law & order (police and judicial)system.The Civil war of 1967 – 1972,followed by almost 3 and a half decades of Military Governance (by Decree) eroded that Civil System.Nigerians seem to appreciate and understand the need to uphold Civil Law, but its seems that the damage to the Police Service,Magistrate Courts,Prison System due to decades of underfunding,has been immense.Illiterate,underpaid,poorly trained,corrupt and undiscilpined Police officers armed with Ak’s,constitute the first line of Law & Order in Nigeria.The Magistrate Courts System (though I’m yet to verify this)is probably the same.The High/Appeal & Supreme Courts on the surface appear acceptable (though I wouldn’t bet on it).
Nigeria pre 1966,use to be a great country to live in,but the Biafran War,Military Rule,Corruptomania,Population Explosion and Questionable Leadership,have all landed it where it is today.As for its future,one has but to pray!
Anand,Lagos is not Nigeria just as i know for a fact that Mumbai is not India. I have visited ‘incredible india’ and the level of poverty and discrimination i saw amongst the social groups and so-called lower castes was mind buggling.It made me appreciate my own Nigeria more,where in spite of our serious challenges,as a black man,i can truly be whoever i want to be in Nigeria. You forgot to mention that all these percieved luxuries such as modern telecoms gadgets,spas,cars etc are serivices provided by business savvy Nigerians. Employments have been generated through these services and many Nigerians have escaped poverty through it. Your experience at the Lagos beach is a complete joke compared to the ‘multiple taxations’foreigners face at the hands of everyday Indians in Mumbai or Dehli. Nigeria’s developmental process cannot follow any laid out procedure either by the west or by you. It’s just going to happen according to how the Nigerian society wants it to happen. Some Foreigners and ‘frustrated diasporan Nigerians do have a way on constantly down playing any ‘little’ progress made by Nigeria while exaggerating all of the country’s flaws.
good analysis samson black. .i winder why these people believe they can dictate our lifestyle and pace of development for us. .i mean why should individuals who work hard for their daily bread have to live inferior because of failure of government to provide basic infrastructure? as long as nigerians are not complaining ild say this reporter should shove his report up his behind
Quite an interesting insight to Nigeria, its problems and amazingly, citizens annoyed their dirty linen is hung out to dry in such a manner.
That corruption is endemic in Africa is plain for all to see. What I find amusing is the mindless choosing of priorities at all levels. Why should state governments, for example, buy aircrafts for use by its executive governors when countless families in their state are going to bed hungry? Why should the police boss have not only aircrafts at his disposal but helicopters as well when the common police officer doesn’t even have a radio? Seems silly, since it is the copper on the street that is relied on to arrest and prevent crime (with no radio) while his boss is criss crossing the nation attending meetings about meetings, where talk is cheap and action thin on the ground.
I am almost certain that if Obama had an official mistress, they would have to find one for Ebele Jonathan. Sometimes it seems we don’t really know why we do stuff, we just do them because that is what is ‘obtainable’ in the west. I’m willing to bet GEJ has a blackberry as he tries to keep up with the Joneses.
Whilst we look for the elusive 24 hour power supply, our teeming youths are packed in little dark halls, having paid their 100 Naira to cheer on their English Premier League team, all dressed in their team colours and like typical hooligans here, prepared to do physical battle with erring opposition supporters. I ask, are there no football teams in Nigeria? Premiership games in Nigeria is a joke I hear you say, but if we don’t support them and built the proper infrastructure, who will? Our best player grace the EPL-go figure.
There are many rich folks in Nigeria that could take one sector like health or agriculture and turn it around so that long after they have gone to make their peace with their maker, there would be a lasting legacy for generations to marvel at. Instead they are busy accumulating wealth that is statistically impossible for their lazy offspring to squander in a few generations. Such is life!
an example of an indigenous take on modern technology at BBC – http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14938984 – western approaches to modernization are certainly not being swallowed whole