I

LISTENED TO THE AUTHOR SHARE HIS

thoughts about the origins of this book
at a Daunts Bookshop launch and a later
panel discussion at the African Centre,
in London. I was struck by his authentic
perspective, through the lens of a networked
journalist, on the enigmatic character of La-
gos. His mixture of evocative memories and
historical references is endlessly fascinating.
Kaye Whiteman, former editor of the
defunct West Africa magazine, outlines a
settler period using oral sources, which you
might be forgiven for suspecting are subject
to the bias inherent in subjective recall. Pon-
dering this point, as to how to scientically
verify the social history of these early days,
I imagined Whiteman socialising with a
scientic community with as much inu-
ence on the zeitgeist of Lagos as members
of his own profession. How dierently this
narrative might read.
He collects accounts of inuential events
leading up to :,: through to an :o: treaty
of cessation, when Lagos became a colony,
and beyond. We step into a world where
Britains claim to Nigeria at the Berlin Con-
ference in :-, positioned the London-
based Royal Niger Company as a proxy
mercantile vehicle controlling this territory.
Te way he sheds light on the character
of Londons relationship with Lagos is in-
teresting. Te collision of interests between
French regional ambition; the British squad-
ron attempting to suppress the slave trade;
the Saros (who were ex-slaves from England
via Sierra Leone); the Agudas who were ex-
slaves from Cuba and Brazil; and the British
New African June 2013 97
and perhaps as a consequence of his com-
mute between Ikoyi and Apapa the reader
could well miss out on the voices of residents
of Ikorodu, Epe and Badagry.
He explores the socio-historical dispari-
ties between the mainland and the islands.
One place he might have done well to look
at is the socio-historical role of Lagoss public
and private primary school system as lad-
ders for social mobility; creating the pres-
sures shaping the values of young Lagosians.
Whiteman, in deconstructing public sector
cultural ignorance, sums it up thus: [Tere
are] contrasts between the stultifying ocial
view of culture and the eye-catching, head-
banging reality of the freewheeling anarchic
city, excruciating in its poverty but generat-
ing a strange excitement.
Tis analysis is set against a background
to FESTAC ;; when decisions aecting
the festival were made in Lagos. He summed
it up by reminding us about Felas alterna-
tive festival held at the cannabis-shrouded
shrine in Surulere where palm wine re-
placed champagne.
Lagos, without a view of bustling back-
streets that lead to outdoor marketplaces
such as Balogun (a walk to Igbosere Road
and Bamgbose Street listed in Whitemans
streets of the imagination) and Surulere,
the post-production suburb of Nollywood,
is incomplete. As the writer, Bernard Rudof-
sky, points out in Streets for People (:,o,):
Altogether cities correspond closely to the
ideas and ideals of their inhabitants.
Market spaces brim with shmongers,
butchers, and fresh fruit sellers on the go,
dicing, slicing, bagging, and teasing while
serving skillfully without breaking so much
as a sweat in the :,C fug of the citys famed
humidity. I cannot imagine Whiteman
missing out on these sensory delights.
A precedent was set for women as agents
of social change by the women listed in
prominent personalities. In the :,th cen-
tury, Madam Efunroye Tinubu built her
empire on slave and palm oil trading. She
was an early female aristocrat with political
inuence. Market women managing their
micro-businesses are critical sources of
economic activity in Lagos. Tey are headed
by the Market Women Association of Ni-
gerias Alhaja Habibatu Mogaji, who has
been part of the citys political landscape
for decades.
Whiteman explains her role, where elec-
tions in Lagos have been won or lost on her
say-so. We do not get a sense of the complex
forces aecting economic imperatives for
women in Lagos. Rather, a scene that seems
woven into the fabric of most visitors im-
aginations is the go-slow trac jam. It is
a retail bazaar in motion. I wondered if in
the future Eko Atlantic City section of
the book, Whiteman located the reader in
a Dubai-esque type environment within the
city, taking account of pressures aecting
every part of Lagos. I was not sure if Dubais
social fabric, with a population close to ,o
foreign-born, is considered aspirational!
Whitemans view on preservation is
shaped by sentiment. He refers to the work
of John and Jill Godwin, trained British
architects who have lived in Nigeria for over
oc years and became citizens in :c::. Tey
have tirelessly been involved in conservation
projects across Lagos. Te Jaekel House at
the Nigerian Railway compound in Ebute
Metta which was restored in :c:c by this
couple is a case in point, indicative of pro-
jects designed to re-ignite interest in Lagoss
historical charm. Does the future lie ahead
or behind? With geography less important,
and commoditised technology opening up
possibilities, does being a Lagosian imply
operating from Lagos or being part of a
global digital ecosystem?
Tat the future city misses out on imag-
ining possibilities where the digitally literate
youth are immersed in an exchange of ideas
and content creation with smart peers, is
something worth considering. Might ideas
about digital curriculums and becoming a
net exporter of digital content, be topical?
Whitemans Lagos is in transition, driv-
en by a diverse cultural aesthetic and the
rhythm of capital. Does his Lagos express a
distinctive ethos? One needs to look deeper
into the city as a paradox of happening
spaces in transition. What are the stories
these spaces chose to tell? Which are myths?
And which are facts?
(Lagos A Cultural and Historical Com-
panion. By Kaye Whiteman. -::. Signal
Books. ISBN );-:-)o,),-o,-;)
crown agents, is clear. We get a snapshot of
the eect that an emerging intelligentsia had
on Lagos as a centre of commerce, capital-
ism, and community construction.
An example of a professional achiever
not included in the authors prominent per-
sonalities biographies, is Chief Amodu
Tijani Oluwa. He was a surveyor who in :,::
engaged the colonial government in a legal
battle at the Privy Council, over the payment
of compensation for land at Apapa, allegedly
obtained from his family.
A salient point reects the grudging re-
spect London had for Lagos. By :,::, a
legislative council existed for Lagos and
Whiteman uses seminal incidents to enliven
the role Lagos played as London inuenced
Nigerias transition to self-governance.
Before reading Whitemans book, it
helped that I read H.A.B. Fasinros Political
and Cultural Perspectives of Lagos, comple-
mented by discussions with my uncle Femi
Okunnu, who the author refers to as a La-
gos elder. Whiteman maps historical and
cultural intangibles synonymous with Lagos.
Te creative arts are signposted to express
the pleasures that Lagosians identify with.
Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, the creator of Afro-
beat, who earns the sobriquet Lagos Boy
Archetype, was treated by the guardians
of culture with disdain. His lifestyle left
most of Lagoss inhibited elite perplexed.
Nevertheless, his hip swinging lyrics freneti-
cally weaving in between horns and guitars
is imprinted on societys subconscious. Tis
is one dimension of Lagoss enigmatic per-
sona inherent in Whitemans description of
what emerged out of FESTAC, the festival
of African culture hosted by Lagos in :,;;.
In part it reads as a distinctive and schizo-
phrenic idea of African culture, a metaphor
of the lives of Oxford-educated elites in leafy
suburbs and enterprising poor residents
that interweave in a productive co-existence.
Whiteman is partial to the Lagos Islands,
96 New African June 2013
Does the future
lie ahead of
Lagos, or behind it?
Achebe was Nigerias
greatest export to
the modern world.
And he was self-made
in the intellectual or
ideological sense.
Ayo Alaka reviews Kaye Whitemans book, Lagos A Cultural
and Historical Companion, and takes the author and former editor
of West Africa magazine to task for missing out on a future city
where a digitally literate young generation is immersed in an
exchange of ideas and content creation with smart peers.
Arts Literature
Whitemans book tackles the headbanging
reality of freewheeling anarchic Lagos