Going back to my good old Lagos!

I was not too keen going to Lagos, Nigeria! Not because I don’t like the city’s hustling and bustling environment but apparently I had been to Ibadan seven months earlier. Also the fact that the trip was an opportunity to acquire new skills in reporting sports and society was bait for me to relive the over five years I spent in Nigeria as a student and human rights activist.

The 2010 workshop was to prepare participants to be capable of writing and producing passionate features about African life and football – African journalists telling African stories linked to sports.

The workshop, held at the Nigerian Institute of Journalism – my very own training grounds – was insightful, highlighting issues beyond stadiums and scores, rankings or strictly news related content.

Participating radio and photojournalists from Ghana, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Namibia, Egypt, Tanzania, Uganda, Liberia, Sierra Leon and Kenya demonstrated diverse skills in content development and feature presentation. The guidance of tutors from the Thomson Reuters Foundation ensured production was tight and interesting to targeted consumers.

The training and fraternization among the media personnel indicated there is hope for developmental journalism on the African continent.

Going out to Surulere, Ikeja and Isale Eko in Lagos to cover my assignment revealed the changing (positive) landscape of a city I had known very well. Most Lagosians were quick to mention Governor Babatunde Raji Fasola for the giant strides in the reengineering of Lagos State. This man, I am told, has defied all odds to embark on a radical action to redevelop the state.

Obviously pulling down structures erected at unauthorized places has deprived some people of their places of habitation and livelihoods but to majority of the people a price has to paid if Lagos State is to survive urbanization. Already Ghana is learning from the Fashola experience in the management of traffic and public transportation.

There are concerns that Governor Fasola may pay politically for implementing some new policies of social re-engineering but I can strongly say this man is leaving his name in the sands of times and if he should carry his legacy through to the end, he would certainly be remembered as one of the greatest administrators Nigeria has ever produced.
The next time I travel to Nigeria, I would be expecting freer traffic flow, a clean and healthy environment and a more organized people productively developing their State!

Lagos is leading the way for other African cities to better manage limited resource and journalists should support public-sector managers or administrators to advance local communities.

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh