PART 2
As I started in Part 1, the question was, have you seen the new Oshodi? For those who have not seen the new Oshodi, let me try to paint a picture.
Most people in Lagos going to the airport now prefer to go through Oshodi because you can get to the Murtala Airport in less than 30 minutes from 3rd Mainland at any time of the day or night.
I remeber the last time I travelled to the Unites States, I went to the office in Victoria Island that morning, closed after 5pm, went for a shave at about 7pm and I still made it on time to the airline counter .I was about the 10th person on the queue to obtain my boarding pass (checking closed at 9pm). I could not try this before now ( I missed a flight to Kenya about 4 years ago because I left the Victoria Island at about 4:30pm for a flight of 11pm - checking closed at 9pm ).
Also, coming from the airport to Lagos Island especially from the local airport about 3 or 4 years ago,nobody I know in his or her right senses would think of going through Oshodi at whatever time of the day (certainly not at night). However,I waltz through Oshodi Isale , climb the bridge and get unto 3rd mainland bridge now. Infact, the roads are so free I once had a friend who had been out of the country and just came home asking if a particular access link we were taking in Oshodi existed before then.I laughed while explaining that it had always been there but you could not see or drive through because it was blocked 24hours of the day by wares and goods displayed by hawkers.
Vehicles now queue appropriately .Even amazing is the fact that they seem to be orderly.No more paraga sellers/joint for miscreants. The railway lines are now free of hawkers and their goods.Stench and sight of excreta are no more and more importantly, people walk around Oshodi without fear of molestation.
Truth is Oshodi is not paradise yet but it is a long way from the hell it was some years back.
This piece is not particularly about the transformation of Oshodi but about the fact that a man asked WHY NOT? Someone dared to ask not just why? but why not? Why not shake the status quo if it is not the right thing? Why not see how to make a difference rather than giving into the same "what can I do about it?" syndrome. Some may argue that Fashola is the governor/leader so he has the power to do anything but I disgree with that line of thought. Successive governors (even military governors who people presumed had the power of life and death) could not do anything about Oshodi.So it is not the position but the paradigm and thinking of the person.
Most importantly for me, the Oshodi phenomenon as I would like to call it simply shows me that there is hope for my nation.
I draw a parallel between Oshodi and Nigeria. The hawkers are like everyday Nigerians who are set in their ways and do not see what they are doing as having debilitating effect on others.Afterall, they are just trying to eke a living.The Area boys and miscreants are like the barons and cabals in different fields (oil & gas bunkerers, power and generators sellers who would not allow PHCN/NEPA work ) of endeavours who hold us all to ransome and successive governments have been afraid to tackle because they are important to votes and who gets to be in government (just like the area boys were in Lagos - believe me they were powerful). The excreta and urine being the stench of corruption (of course product from the Area boys, hawkers etc). and so on. The parallel is striking (topic for another day).
Until you and I decide to start to ask not just why we need to make a change, and start to ask why not? Why not make a change? why not push the envelope. Challenge status quo that are ruining our lives. Question long-term held beliefs about power brokers and how powerful they really are (most of them derive their powers from our fears of them).
We need to stop taking excuses from ourselves (as individuals) and then from our government and leaders in different areas.
Anytime anyone puts a limit on our collective fortune or wellbeing and is telling us why, we need to ask why not break the ceiling?. W need to ask why not have a better way of life?, why can we not change our environment?
As for me, my mind is made up.Anytime anyone tells me Nigeria can not change, I am ready to ask why not?If I am told that is how it has always been, I would ask why not change it?why not start? If I hear it is too difficult for one man, I would ask why not try and try again? If I am told it cannot be done. I would ask why not push the envelope?.
So I ask you, why not join me?, why not start with yourself and your neighbourhood?.
Why not believe and make a difference?.
Anytime I hear it cannot be done, I'll ask why but more importantly, why not? Look at the NEW OSHODI!!!
I read your post again and i think I agree with what you wrote. I think we need to inculcate the community spirit we exhibit in our neighborhood and exhibit those in the larger sense. It is not about we against them..it is us and us. Even from the choice of our political representative and holding them accountable. If we understand that every penny being mis-spent or embezzled is every sent less into infrastructure development, every naira someone spends wrongly, is less naira spent on education and for every thousands dollar lodged abroad is thousand dollars to save lives on the road.
ReplyDeleteWell said.
ReplyDeleteSuffer me, a little, to declare that my views below are more of a once insider, turned outsider, whose nexus is deeply rooted on the inside.
Asking "Why not?" usually provoke the germination of ideas. When ideas then form they would either survive to materialisation or naturally fade into extinction. It has been said that "you can resist the invasion of an army invasion, but no man can resist an idea whose time as come."
I dare say, however, that the idea to revamp Oshodi has never been in the monopoly of any single man, but undeniably in the minds of few people. The realization of that idea has been made possible by the state - or better put state government.
Bruce Lee, one of my hero while toddling through my teens, once said - "Willing is not enough; we must do. Knowing is not enough; we must apply."
In the affairs of the state, statesmanship is what makes the difference. And that's why today's Oshodi is as is.
My question therefore is to ask, why not some of us take on the subject of politics and law, understand the intricacies presidential democracy and/or it's British alternative (Parliamentary) and make way to the anals of power to influence the state to bring to reality these ideas that will benefit the state?
Why not some of us, skilled in artful communication, use the space and opportunities at our disposal to influence the state directly. Helping them to understand their business is state matters and less of others.
Why not some of us, look deep into our roots to see the reason for commonality and unity in diversity?
Why not practice a through confederation system of democracy instead of presidential democracy? Why not the parlimentary or the type once practice in Bini (Benin) in the days of Overamwen Nogbaisi?
Why not reduce the power at the centre and let the natural communities decide their representatives instead of the "broken-glass" carved states? Lagos, fortunately, is the only through state of the lot, in my perspective.
These are my why nots? But I will be too surprised if anyone agreeing with my opinions...