Xenophobic Lagos — quite a mouthful, isn’t it?
But it sort of echoes Victorian Lagos, a book by ace poet and literary critic, Prof. Michael J. Echeruo, on the Lagos of new settlers: Europeans; and repatriated former slaves from Sierra Leone and Brazil, from mid-19th century; as against the aborigines of Eko.
The inspiration for this piece came from Femi Macaulay, co-columnist of The Nation, and scion of the Macaulay family of Lagos, one of those 19th century settlers.
In two straight offerings, “From megacity to metacity” (March 31) and “Fashola and fallacy of failure” (April 7), Femi beamed his searchlight on the 6th Herbert Macaulay Memorial Lecture and Merit Award, held on March 22 in Lagos.
Creeping xenophobia, by Lagos indigenes, oozed from both pieces, like some bad blood from a painful boil. It all issued from alleged marginalisation of Lagos indigenes, who complain of being elbowed out of opportunities in their own land.
The March 31 piece was a pan-Eko complaint of marginalisation. The April 7 piece was an intra-Lagos partisan manoeuvre, hiding behind Lagos nationalism, to twist Governor Babatunde Fashola’s rallying cry: “Eko o ni baje” (Lagos won’t go to seeds) to “Eko o ni baje ju bayi lo” (Lagos won’t degenerate beyond this point); suggesting the governor has done nothing to improve Lagos. The absurdity of such a claim is patent. But then, politicians must play politics!
Still, the irony of xenophobic sentiments issuing from a Herbert Macaulay merit award was clearly lost on the participants — the key words being “Macaulay” and “merit”.
This is because back then in Victorian Lagos, the mainly Anglican Saro stock of the Macaulays, Sierra Leone returnees, who had their bastion at Olowogbowo; and the denizens of Popo Aguda, the mainly Catholic repatriates from Brazil, in the neighbourhood of Campos and Lafiaji, had a running battle with the aborigines of Isale Eko.
Indeed, literatures back then dismissed the Saro, notorious for copying British attitudes, as “parasites”. The Eko aborigines accused them of double parasitism: parasites on the British, for culture (names, speech, dress mode and attitude); and parasites on the natives, for trade. And in that anti-Saro trade resentment, you could feel the Eko natives’ economic xenophobia.
Indeed, Holy Johnson, the inimitable Bishop James Johnson, a prominent Lagos Saro, was caught between the crossfire of his Ijebu nativity and his Saro evolution.
Echeruo quoted the no-nonsense clergy as testifying to the “stubborn dislike of my country men (the Jebus) to the Gospel and to English customs, particularly to long trousers, shoes and socks; and to umbrellas, which last I suppose only Royalty carried.”
So, as the present-day Lagos Olumegbons, Oluwas and Bajulaiyes, Macaulays, Johnsons and Leighs, Damacios, Da-silvas and Perreiras rally in xenophobia, in an apparent economic resentment of non-natives, let it be known that they had not always been a happy and merry phalanx.
If however, the Macaulays and Da-silvas have morphed from resented “parasites” of yore to earn the great Herbert Macaulay the platform of the Association of Lagos State Indigenes (ALSI) Memorial Lecture and Merit Award, it is because of the sheer quality they had, over the years, brought to the table. That is the spirit of Lagos.
Perhaps, at this stage, Ripples’ Lagos bona fides are imperative. Born at Lagos Island Maternity, bred in the Lafiaji area of Lagos Island where he attended St. David’s Anglican School, by parents of Mojoda stock in Eredo, Epe, he is as Lagosian as anyone can be.
So, this is no “atohunrinwa” (Yoruba for settler) voice, trying to claim Eko scalp as economic trophy. It is rather a voice for merit and excellence: for merit has built Lagos; and if it hopes to excel as a megacity or even meta-city, merit must continue to be its cornerstone.
Still, some caveat. The claim that Lagos is a “no man’s land” is as patently idiotic as the claim that Mungo Park discovered River Niger. No matter how many settlers economic opportunities have drawn to Lagos, Lagos remains the jewel of native Lagosians.
And those who, in the context of the United States, mistake Nigerian citizenship for ownership of Lagos, simply because they are long-time residents, wilfully miss the point. Whereas the United States is basically a settler country, Nigeria is basically a country of native communities.
So inasmuch as Nigerian citizenship is to be treasured with all its rights and privileges, citizens have the responsibility to respect native rights, if equity and justice are the issue.
No less misguided are Lagos natives who harp so much on Lagos’s insularity — with their “gedegbe L’Eko wa” mentality. Lagos is linguistically Yoruba, and cannot, in all good conscience and sound logic, be insulated from the Yoruba South West. That is the whole essence of South West integration which The Nation continues to champion but to which, some short-sighted Lagos elite continue to show discomfort.
In Lagos — and indeed, other parts of the country — therefore, respect for native rights must be the starting point. Still, native rights do not translate to wilful denial of contributions of the so-called settlers.
Take the case of Lagos Television (LTV), which at its earliest stages, pioneered 24-hour TV, through its Lagos Weekend Television (LWTV). The brain behind that innovation would appear Taiwo Alimi, a journalism elder and Ogun native, who Governor Lateef Jakande poached from NTA. But when the LTV brand found its feet, some Lagos elements suddenly discovered Alimi was not from Lagos!
Contrast LTV to the defunct Eko Today, formerly Lagos Horizon, Lagos government-owned newspaper. The foundational editors, all ex-Daily Times, led by the late Tunde Odesanya, saw the paper through its teething stages. But when a native with a sense of entitlement took over, the newspaper went under.
The impact of Rauf Aregbesola, now governor of the State of Osun, on Lagos infrastructural renewal of the Bola Tinubu years, is still there for all to see. He was no native. Yet, as Works and Infrastructure commissioner, he left indelible marks. Contrast him to Adeseye Ogunlewe and now Musiliu Obanikoro, natives who returned as federal ministers, to wage virtual partisan wars on their Lagos!
Fortunately, Governor Fashola has, by his stellar performance, shown native Lagosians can boast the highest quality. So, this is not about demonising Lagosians and lionising non-Lagosians.
It is rather about the inherent danger of xenophobia: for behind that patriotic fear hides blatant mediocrity, powered by a sick sense of entitlement and the resultant irresponsibility. That is a one-way road to decline that Lagos would take at its peril.
So, let native Lagosians, as of right, take the best of opportunities of their land. But they must be the best men and women for the job. That is the Babatunde Fashola model.
The narrow road to this destination is conscious and deliberate determination to train Lagosians to be the very best. Xenophobia, on the other hand, is primordial cry for lowering standards for those who cannot compete.
What Lagos needs is merit to trump the rest, not xenophobia to block their way. That is the spirit of Lagos.
