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Thursday 26 May 2011

Witness - Lagos. Pls watch this!!!

29 comments:

CHI-CHI of Nigeria said...

I saw this documentary on CNN last year! yes!!! the makoko community was very shocking never in a million years did i know it was in NIG. and wow so many poor people in NIGERIA i cant wait to be one of the youths making a Difference... significantly.

Anonymous said...

Deep!

Anonymous said...

I'm still proud to be a Nigerian, whether that terrorist station like it or not....NIgeria will be a great nation one day. Every countries have a ghetto side to it, and poor people. Even for U.S, ghetto dey there....so this is not new.....

Anonymous said...

Lagos is too over populated, people need to shift to another state....The documentary is so sad, but I pray GOd have mercy on Nigeria....suffering too much down there.

Anonymous said...

Those two idiot need to go back to benin, and shut the fuck up....I feel like bitch slapping two of them for speaking ill about my country.....

Anonymous said...

I think Mr President should wake up each morning and watch this to remind him of the situation in the country. Maybe if he watches this, he will divert the money they are going to waste on his inauguration to doing something for the people of the country. I am not fooled by the external facade he carries around, he is like all the other politicians we have in Nigeria, GREEDY, the boys he uses as fronts will testify to that. All this video confirms is that our problems in Nigeria are deep, no amount of planting flowers on the streets will gloss over them. A total re-design of the country's infrastructure should be the actual beginning of the rebirth of the country starting with free nursery and primary school education to get every child started on an equal footing regardless of your family wealth. I could go on forever but it will be a waste of cyber space.
I had been trying to give free lectures in universities in nigeria on a design field that is not studied in the country and i faced so much opposition because of lecturers that dont want me teaching students what they cant. I did not ask for money and i was going to incur all my expenses but no juice. that is the Nigeria we are from, self centered people we all are and only God can put a heart of flesh in us, a heart that cares for others as much as ourselves. Sorry Linda, Nigeria's issues invoke a passion in me....

Anonymous said...

Whoa, this is very interesting. I like the positive aspect thew show cased. I need to visit Makoko when next I am in the country, most especially the school. Nothing, is too small to give, pencils, work book, etc. Let us keep praying for our country.

Allegra said...

This was shown in England about two summers ago by the BBC and it caused a lot of furore. Most Nigerians here felt it did not depict a true picture of Lagos and should have shown a balanced documentary both the extremely poor in areas such as Makoko and the nicer parts.

Having said that, I thoroughly enjoyed some of the key lessons that came from it such as how people worked together as opposed to against each other..........and a sense of true community which existed in most places in Nigeria before although not anymore.

Anonymous said...

Lol. village-fillage, kizz me kizz me, u can help us post it to CNN.

churchill said...

ogha Oh wetin concern bene peps for nigeria documentry

Anonymous said...

BBC aired the same documentary some months ago. It was titled Welcome to Lagos Episode one

Anonymous said...

I ACTUALLY WATCHED THE WHOLE DOCUMENTARY, VERY NICE INDEED. WHEN I LOOKE INTO THE EYES OF THESE PEOPLE,I SAW 'HOPE'... WE SHALL ONLY GET BETTER.

Adebola said...

The reality of Nigeria!! Its a sad situation really. I just got back from Nigeria and alot needs to be done by the new elected government. I pray they deliver

Ibifiri Kamson said...

wow i think everyone in nigeria needs to see things.
Secondly everyone should start looking and thinking of ways to change this situation. cos if we wait for the government nothing will be done.
www.secretlilies.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

1. This is the truth

2. why didnt they show the journalists or why didnt we hear the questions the journalists were asking? Oyibo sabotage on that.

3. Why use foreigners to assess what goes on in nigeria. even though what they are saying is true it would have been more credible if they used more nigerians rather than the benins.

4. i really feel bad for the less privileged in this country. Its up to us the more privileged to do our best to make life better for our country men. The government alone cannot do it.

5. At least it was aljezera that aired this. If it was CNN it would have been sooooooo biased.

6. When will the western media ever show the positive side of our Nigeria, Always the negative side. our journey to greatness is slow but it is moving. We know for a fact that even their countries have slums and ghettoes (yes in america and the UK) so let them give us a break abeg. Im actually sick and tired of it. i dont blame them though, its our leaders i blame.

3baba said...

Linda marry me, I want us to born plenty scheedren.. Biko nu

Anonymous said...

Lagos caused it's problem ! What other part of Nigeria does the international press constantly feature its slums? None !

Pack all the companies & infrastructures and put in one town & this is what you get- obnoxious congestion ! Even to document some papers-go to Lagos,Wanna model? Lagos!,job interview-go to Lagos, you wanna pooh- go to Lagos !
Marginalize !

I live in Washington DC, every headquarter of all the companies in U.S are not here! Only federal companies has to be here.

Everybody Lagos ! Go to Lagos !

Anonymous said...

Now this brought tears to my eyes was as if it was another country.Still love Nigeria no place like home.Linda pls find out how we can help the makoko community.

Chilling said...

Anon May 26, 2011 2:41 PM;
Comparing Lagos (it’s not the Federal capital, Abuja is) to Washington DC (the capital of the USA) isn’t equal!

Besides, a lot of companies have moved their HQs to Abuja. Now, if you compare Lagos to Mumbai (formerly Bombay,) i will agree.

Lagos is truly a cosmopolitan city so i can reason with why people (even my cousins in the village want to come and hang in my parents’ home in Lagos) migrate. It’s also one of the fastest growing cities in the world.

The media doesn’t always focus on Lagos. The story of child witches was done in Akwa Ibom state.
Ross Kemp (ex-of Eastenders, Grant Mitchell) also did a story on MEND and oil bunkering that took him to the Niger Delta (Bayelsa and Rivers in particular)

I didn’t watch this episode on BBC when it first came out because i knew it’d just be same old, same old!

camouflage said...

@ anon 8:56 same here. i have a reallly strong passion for nigeria. i wish we all could take ownership of nigeria (as my pastor would say)i look forward to a better nigeria. i cant wait to go back there and try to effect a change in my own little corner.

Anonymous said...

This is an eye opener, i knew it was bad in lagos but i never knew its that bad in makoko.
The one thing i love about the documantary is regardless of the fact it exposed the truth about the needy situation of our country. Every single individual in that documentary has hope (except for the benin guys...no offence)
I cant wait to do something for my country n stop waiting for those political dushbags

Prism of an Immigrant said...

We just don't have the infrastructure or resources to support the population growth. And sadly it only gets worse... isn't the population projected to balloon to 193 million people by 2100 or something like that. I think it's high time for the government to start an aggressive family planning campaign

Anonymous said...

at least those boys cldnt get anything in their country hence the sojourn into Nigeria where they got something..

Anonymous said...

@Chilling:
Yeah, I kind of see what you are saying now. I guess this is more common in third world countries.

I compared D.C because the whole Lagos congesting kicked off while it was the capital of Nigeria and most of the nation's headquarters were there.

Anonymous said...

Very Deep! i believe every Nigerian abroad need to watch this and next time they are angry over nt having money for McDonalds or wasting the priviledges we'v got here to remember that there are those back home wishing to just drink pure water or 1 meal dat day and be content! I LOVE MY COUNTRY,I LOVE THE PRIDE AND HOPE WRITTEN ON THEIR FACES! Even in d worst of d worst there is light and life in our eyes! look @ US dat went into recession and pple started commitiing sucide...I WILL BE A POSITIVE CHANGE TO MY COUNTRY!

Anonymous said...

Linda i think you need to forward this tape to GEJ inbox for him to watch it daily. His children are going to the best schools and look at the children in this video what a shame these are youths of tomorrow and the current education budget has even been reduced imagine and the nation assemblty budget increased which is important if i may ask education should be at the forefront.

Alicia says... said...

this was so touching. today is the only day i have a lot of free time, so i got around to watching it. SIGH! really sad. but for real, why the Benin people though? MTCHEWWW!
anyway, the only way to make Lagos less congested is for other states to develop and create enough job opportunities for their own citizens. then, people will have no reason to go to Lagos when everything they need is right there at home. not only develop, but make it attractive to businesses and foreign investments. you do that by beautifying and building up the infrastructure in those places.
but i agree with what 8:56 AM said. education should be free up to primary 6, that is to ensure that all Nigerians at least have some BASIC knowledge even if it is very basic, it's better than nothing. at least they will be able to read and communicate better. there is so many things that need to be done. ALL YOU LAGOS BIG BOYS AND BIG GIRLS, PLEASE DON'T TURN A BLIND EYE. a little goes a long way.
at the same time, some of the folks dwelling in those slums hold some fault. why leave your state and go to Lagos just to live in a slum? like, why not stay at home and find something better to do. DON'T THESE PEOPLE REALIZE LAGOS IS CONGESTED? why don't they go to other places that are not congested and start up their small businesses there, at least there will be little to no competition. HABA, some people don't think.

Alicia says... said...

ALSO....to people that are saying the UK and America have slums as well. not even close! SLUMS GET LEVELS!! and i wouldn't even call those places slums, more like ghettos. at least they have constant electricity and running water. how many of the upper-class Nigerian neighborhoods like Victoria Island, Lekki, or Maitima can even boast of such? we Nigerians should stop kidding ourselves. even Ikeja sef would be seen as a huge ghetto anywhere in the west. so YES slums and ghettos get levels!

Tolantino said...

"Lagos" is its own worst enemy. Other states do not have the sheer volume of industrialization which is packed into Lagos. The few northern states with potential are almost untouchable because of the ethnic tensions. I am loathe as a Yoruba Christian to open shop in Muslim Kaduna. My shop will probably be burnt in the next religious riots and I will become a target. I really don't have any clue as to how things can get better. Truth is that Lagos is the New York of naija. There is money to be earned with enough hustling spirit compared to anywhere else. I still believe that the epileptic electricity is key to making lives better. Productivity increases, jobs are created, standards of living and quality of life will be improved.. why is it taking forever to fix this issue?? I am 26years old and i have never in my life known constant electricity supply..

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