Who Built Lagos?

By Bolanle BOLAWOLE
turnpot@gmail.com 0705 263 1058

Someone called my attention to a post he had forwarded to me last week and said: “You must have seen the post I forwarded to you (he was not the writer)”. I hadn’t seen it and I said so. “Then, check it out!”, he barked at me. Continuing, he said: “You must have heard the saying by some misguided elements outside of Yoruba land that they built or developed Lagos!

“People who came to Lagos on the back of lorries and trailers wearing rubber or bathroom slippers and clutching polythene bags with the only clothes on their back their only worthy possessions have laid claims to being the ones who developed Lagos to its present enviable state.

“People who cannot build their own place of origin claim possession of the magic wand with which they built other people’s land! Laughable as this is, records must be set straight; if not for the purpose of the present generation but for future generations. A falsehood not controverted stands the chance of wearing the toga of truth on the long run”.

The vitriols almost discouraged me from searching for the said post but the reporter in me took the better part of me. When I opened the post and saw the pedigree of the writer – a university professor – I settled down to read. My first degree, earned at Great Ife, was in History and Political Science (combined honours); so historical excursions thrill me.

It is also for this reason, I think, that Professor Ayo Ojeniyi reportedly wrote what you are about to read. Titled “Yoruba built Lagos before Nigeria became a country”; it is also meant to set the records straight, as they say. It goes thus:

“The aim of this post is an attempt to correct the dangerous misinformation trending among some youths that Lagos was developed with Nigeria’s monies, when Lagos was not even part of Nigeria until 1914! For the sake of our generation and posterity, we need to teach factual history. Communication technology is a major signifier of civilisations and if Lagosians were already making telephone calls more than 70 years before Nigeria, where, then, is the warped idea that Nigerian money was used to develop Lagos?

In 1845, the first storey building in what became Nigeria was located in Badagry in present-day Lagos State. By 1848, Madam Ẹfúnróyè Tinúbú was a politically and economically Influential figure in Lagos. The landmark Tinubu Square in Lagos was named after her and it also has a statue of her.

In 1852, a Post Office was established in Lagos. In 1856, the Cable and Wireless Company of the UK commissioned a submarine cable link between Lagos and London.

In 1859, the oldest secondary school in what became Nigeria – CMS Grammar School, Bariga, Lagos – was founded by the Church Missionary Society. In 1872, Lagos was a cosmopolitan trading centre with a population of over 62,000 people.

In 1876, imports were valued at £476,813 and exports at £619,260. In 1886, telecommunications started. By 1893, offices in Lagos, Jẹbba and Ilọrin had been provided with telephone services.

In 1886, electricity generation began in Lagos with the use of generators to provide 60 kw. In 1894, First Bank, in what became Nigeria’s first bank, was established in Lagos. In 1898, there was electric street lighting in Lagos. In 1903, the first set of films shown in what became Nigerian theatres was in Glover Memorial Hall in Lagos.

A Lagosian named Thomas Jones, famously known as Tom Jones, became the first Nigerian to drive an automobile before 1913. In 1913, Ọlayinka Herbert Macaulay, another Lagosian, was the first Nigerian to own a car – all these before the amalgamation of Nigeria! In 1913, Tom Jones donated the first public library to Lagos.

In 1923, what became the Nigerian Electricity Supply Company was established as the Electricity Utility Company for the commissioned electricity power station at Ijọra, Lagos. At its commencement, the power plant had a generating capacity of 20 Megawatts. In the same year, Ọlayinka Herbert Macaulay formed what became Nigeria’s first political party, the Nigerian National Democratic Party (NNDP).

In 1930, Onikan Stadium, Lagos was built; which is why it is the oldest stadium in Nigeria. In 2019, it was renamed Mobolaji Johnson Arena. In 1930 Abibu Oluwa was one of the first music performers in Lagos. In 1946, the father of what became the Nigerian theatre, Herbert Ogunnde, featured in Tiger’s Empire in Lagos Theatres.

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In 1947, Yaba College of Technology, popularly known as YABATECH, was founded in Yaba, Lagos. In the 1950s, popular music was flourishing in a wide range of styles with Tunde Nightingale, Bobby Benson, Victor Olaiya, Rex Lawson, J.O. Araba, C.A. Balogun, etc; while Ayinla Omowura started playing a form of Apala different from that of Haruna Isola. It was called Olalomi. Later in 1971, Omowura came out with a high tempo Apala and became extremely popular.

By the 1950s, Ọlábísí Àjàlá, a Lagos socialite and globetrotter who saw the world, had toured about 87 countries on a motorcycle but died back home at the age of 65 years. In 1952, Akintola Williams was the first Nigerian chartered accountant. He founded Akintola Williams & Co., Nigeria’s first Indigenous accountancy firm.

In 1958, Sir Adetokunbo Adegboyega Ademola became the first indigenous Chief Justice of Nigeria. In 1964, Chief SL Akintọla became the first man to import a bulletproof car into Nigeria (a Mercedes Benz car valued at £8,000).

Since 1967, the Juju maestro, King Sunny Ade, had become a household name. His Ariya Club at Jibowu, Yaba was always the fans’ delight. He is the first African to be nominated twice for a Grammy Award. By 1970, Fela Anikulapo Kuti had laid the foundation for a musical revolution called the Afrobeat; he constructed a distinct Afro-Rock aesthetic.

In 1977, superstar American musicians, Steve Wonder and James Brown, landed in Lagos as Nigeria hosted the Second World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture (FESTAC). Contemporarily, there are a bevvy of popular musicians from Lagos: K1, Simi, Asake, Bank W, Naira Marley, Tiwa Savage, Adekunle Gold, Teni, Joeboy, Lil Kesh, Lil Frosh, Olamide, Niniola Apata, Korede Bello, Bola Abimbola, WurLD, WizKid, Sean Tizzle, Pepenazi, Wasiu Alabi Pasuma, Brymo, Segun Bucknor, Wande Coal, Darey, DJ Cuppy, Lara George, May D, Nikky Laoye, Koker, Akin Euba, Kunle Ajayi, YCEE, Oritse Femi, Mo’Cheddah, Portable, DJ Lambo, DJ Spinall, MCskill, etc. .

Ọbafẹmi Awolọwọ will continue to be the Yoruba hero because he solidly gave his people the system of Free Education, Free Healthcare and he outstandingly introduced television to the Yoruba in 1959; making Yorubaland the first region to have a TV station in Africa, even before France; all done with revenue from cocoa…

The point is: Lagos was a prosperous city-state long before Nigeria came into being, and it was built by the Yoruba and not by any other ethnic group in Nigeria”.

Any extension of the frontiers of knowledge is service to humanity. Professor Ojeniyi’s contribution must have gone viral because another illustrious son of the land, whom we fondly call Triple A, also later forwarded it to me. So, thank you, Professor Ojeniyi!

Food for thought…

“An emir was kidnaped and N1 billion ransom in cash was demanded. Demand was not met and the emir was killed. The son asked for the corpse of the murdered emir. The kidnappers demanded N60 million and six motorbikes as ransom (before) the dead body of the killed emir (could be released). In all these goings-on, we have SSS, DSS, FIB, CID, EFCC, ICPC, Army, Navy, Air force and other paramilitaries.

The kidnappers were discussing on phone with the family of the emir, just as they have been doing all over the country. We have ministers of communication, telecommunications, information and others that have access to service providers. In fact, we have minister Bosun Tijani that they hyped and over-hyped as a computer guru. So, if we cannot track calls made by kidnappers and know their location in this modern era, what is the use of communication, telecommunications, information and other nonsense ministries?”

Above was an intriguing post I received last week. It is most embarrassing that we appear helpless even when technology is supposed to have come to the rescue. Why are the concerned authorities not leveraging technology to fight these criminals? Is there something they know that we do not know? They should please tell us! They cannot continue to keep mute over this very important matter. Why is technology helpless here? Or are we the ones shying away from applying it? If so, why? The needless waste of life apart, this embarrassment has got to stop! Or what do you think?

South-west and the menace of the ‘bad boys’

Everywhere one goes these days in the major towns and cities of the South-west, the menace of the “bad boys and girls” stares one in the face. It is no longer a menace that stalks the night, they have become so daring now that they operate without cover in broad daylight. The “twale” and “alright sir” boys especially have become law unto themselves in Lagos.

The police hardly bother them. If you are unlucky to fall prey, the police look away, even if they are within the vicinity and can see goings-on. What kind of society have we become? To think that the South-west is fast taking after the South-east and the North! I got scared out of my home town of Owo in Ondo state sometime ago when I heard of the siege laid on it by cultists. Who is safe? And where can anyone find solace?

If UNICEF is to be believed, then, the worst is yet to come. According to the UN body, the rate of school drop-out in the South-west has become alarming. Close to 10 percent of children of school-going age are said to be out of school. We do not need anyone to tell us that this is a time bomb ticking.

Many reasons have been adduced for this unsavoury state of affairs, principal of which is the economic crunch ravaging the land. Where people are at their wits end to fill their belly, education must necessarily take the back seat. To make matters worse is the fact that education loses its allure where graduates roam the street year-in, year-out without any hope of securing gainful employment. A morally bankrupt political class such as we have can also not be expected to bring forth good fruits.

But we must do something – and do it fast! We have to pour resources into education. We also have to create jobs. Re-ordering our priorities has become a task that must be done. Otherwise, our society will collapse; and when it does, it will fall on all of us. For those with multiple visas who think they can run away, let us remind them that there is no place like home. Let us also encourage them to address their mind to the ultra-nationalist fervour ravaging Europe and America as we speak. Soon, there will be no hiding place for those who steal here and run abroad to enjoy the loot.

* Former Editor of PUNCH newspapers, Chairman of its Editorial Board and Deputy Editor-in-chief, BOLAWOLE was also the Managing Director/ Editor-in-chief of The WESTERNER newsmagazine. He writes the ON THE LORD’S DAY column in the Sunday TRIBUNE and TREASURES column in NEW TELEGRAPH newspaper on Wednesdays. He is also a public affairs analyst on radio and television.