Lagos Chronicles

My 12-day trip to Lagos was overwhelming; mostly because Lagos is an overwhelming city.  With over 20 million inhabitants, it is hard not to feel choked whenever you are in Lagos. I stayed on the Mainland of Lagos; this is where you experience the real city in contrast to the Island area of Lagos (an area designed to accommodate wealthy Nigerians and Foreigners). My time in Lagos was spent visiting a couple of secondary schools, having informal conversations with girls, and having conversations with leaders of organizations working to advance girls’ rights in Nigeria. I also participated in the weekly #BringBackOurGirls advocacy sit-in which has been taking place for over two years at the Falomo Roundabout in Lagos. I made new friends when I attended an event with some young Nigerian and Ghanaian leaders to commemorate African Youth Day on Tuesday, November 1, 2016.

Below are the people, sights and scenes capturing my experience in the city that never sleeps:

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Welcome to Lagos, home of everyday hustlers
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Three men on a bike in a background of a waste dump site, a common sight around the mainland of Lagos
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A rainy day in Lagos Mainland; on days like this, one should prepare to sit in traffic for hours due to very bad roads (with pot holes) and poor driving skills of Lagos drivers

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Listening to female youths discuss their experiences with accessing health information and services in Badia, an under-served but highly populated area of Lagos

 

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Author with #BringBackOurGirls activists in Lagos at the weekly Saturday advocacy sit-in
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Author with JSS1-3 students after discussing girls’ empowerment in Nigeria

 

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