Kobojunkie:

Dude, read the question posed, and then come back with something HONEST AND STRAIGHT TO POINT On this. What slums in the US or UK compare to what you have in Lagos today? Simple question .  . . . Please do not add Haiti disaster photos to your list of comparisons there, cause I get the feeling you are trying to use disaster pictures in here, I don't know why.

Ask dem abeg.

You're a fool when will remain like that eternally. Have you ever seen Abuja on bbc news since you were born?

That documentary is the best PR that Nigeria has had in the last 30 years. Especially after all that debacle of the missing president it is refreshing to once again see something on nigeria that warms my heart and makes me proud to be one of those people. such enterprising, hard working ingenious people. Funny people, beautiful sense of humour. Grass roots people.

I don't understand the people that are complaining.

Part 3 have just started @ BBC2

There is some competition coming in the next future. London and U.K visit will soon disappear, All those people are scaring pple from coming to this country, for investment. London and New York Una time don over, Naija is an emerging china. Just one tech break through. Europe and U.S is nothing no more. Slum dey New York, dey U.K so forget the crap. First it was insecurity, then 419, kidnappings, now dirty full everywhere. for allowing it that proagramme to be aired at without balance, you know that it is a propanganda. THat does not mean we should not do more to address this. Fashola double up. I trust. Send the bulldozers and settle those slumdog millionaires-scavengers.

Despite the mounds of dirt and suffering those people were smiling. The typical Nigerian. Resigned to fate. His spirit utterly crushed by years of lying and thieveing leadership.

I have had to face taunts at the work place because of that programme. Its seems to show Nigeria as full of waste and unuterrable suffering. On the other hand, its a wakeup call for the governement to the plight of the suffering and smilling people of Nigeria. Enough is enough. Giant of Africa that does not care for her children. I was particularly touched by the saw mill operators who were dying on a daily basis due to not adhering to basic health and safety practice. I can imagine what this show has done to the tourism industry. Fresh out of the oil region kidnapping of foreigners, now it seems the whole nation is one massive rubbish heap peopled by humans who have resigned to their fate and are content to scrap out a living from dung!

I tell you, this is a shameful period to be a Nigerian. I have had to defend myself by telling people that beside the slums lie glittering cities and towns. I have had to explain that the programme is actually a look at the slums and not all Lagos.

uyipeace:

There is some competition coming in the next future. London and U.K visit will soon disappear, All those people are scaring pple from coming to this country, for investment. London and New York Una time don over, Naija is an emerging china. Just one tech break through. Europe and U.S is nothing no more. Slum dey New York, dey U.K so forget the crap. First it was insecurity, then 419, kidnappings, now dirty full everywhere. for allowing it that proagramme to be aired at without balance, you know that it is a propanganda. THat does not mean we should not do more to address this. Fashola double up. I trust. Send the bulldozers and settle those slumdog millionaires-scavengers.

You forgot to add terrorism to the list, lol

story

Liedetect:



Third program:

That Nigerian girl on that beach has a better quality of life in real terms than your average Brit on an estate or American in a project. Don’t want to write loads of stuff here but, man the fresh meat in that lagos market that she attended. Who in Britain can afford that quality of meat? Maybe occasionally for Sunday roast. The Nigerian kids in England, Ireland and Britain are all swollen because of the poor quality of food. That Nigeria girl can see the stars, not moribund to a couch, don’t pay taxes, I could go on suffice to state that we need to revaluate what development means 


Second Program:

I liked the houses on stilts in the water. Those should not be bulldozed but redeveloped using the skills acquired by the residents.



Overall, the BBC’s intention was, I believe, as many stated, disingenuous.

Exactly my thoughts. That community should be preserved. And slowly with the skills already acquired by the dwellers there, their wooden stilt homes can be redesigned and  the area should be planned and reorganized. The lagoon can be dredged and aquatic life will return. And the fishermen will get more fish. That place could become a tourist haven. . . Make what you have to work for you!!!

But as oyinbo man done talk. My fellow Nigerians can only see a slum there, and that place must be bulldozed.

Read virtually all the posts on this thread.Honestly both parties have valid points.Personally,i think we need more eye-openers like this.that being said,people out there that don't kno jack bout Lagos will have this picture of it anytime the name comes up especially with a generalised title like that.

Why Hate The Truth ?

This is just the first part, let’s assume that the fifth part will show the lagos groovy life. Where Osupa and others will be performing and the big boys/girls will be in action? Then the next part will focus on Island and other prestigious areas.

To me,dis is givin me a signal dat we hv an xtra lng way 2 go!!

Who is talking about truth? When that 'slum' image of Lagos (arguably Nigeria's most industralized state) is in the mind of the world, tell me where foreign investors would come from? Will the Nigeria govt (or whoever should have improved that slum-ness) hear it louder in BBC than in NTA? Abeg make we keep the rebranding spirit, and shun those spoilers.

An0nimus:

Read virtually all the posts on this thread.Honestly both parties have valid points.Personally,i think we need more eye-openers like this.that being said,people out there that don't kno jack bout Lagos will have this picture of it anytime the name comes up especially with a generalised title like that.

I don't know why nigerian journalist never covered anything like that before. I grew up in lagos and I always wondered about the lives of many of those people but it all seemed so distant, worlds apart. I know that there are many more different kinds of lifestyles and livelihoods that people manage to etch out for themselves that would be equally fascinating. I believe that all of these need to be documented.

I didn't know that the sand of construction projects came from the bottom of the lagoon.

I did not know how the wood that is used in lagos came down to lagos in the first place.

I didn't know that the saw dust was also used to reclaim the land from the lagoon.

I didn't know how meat that came into lagos got to the markets and unto our tables.

There is so much about my own city that I didn't know that those programs taught me and I can only feel gratitude. Gratitude, but also resentment towards all those so called 'journalists' in nigeria that don't tell you anything informing, just wasting paper and trees to the detriment of the environment.
Can anyone tell me of one good piece of investigative journalism that they've ever seen in a nigerian newspaper?

why do most Nigerian leaders hate hearing the truth

When I say the average human being is an utter slowpoke, some people refuse to see the truism in that and think I am just being elitist.

Please read this news report about Mary J. Blige:

http://hellobeautiful.com/your-world/news-gossip/sweet-sweetback/is-mary-j-bliges-marriage-falling-apart

Note how the author was completely speculative.

"Mary was recently photographed crying and having a “heated” conversation with someone on the other end of the phone,(I'm thinking it was Kendy)."

"Well it could be about how Kendu and HIS BOYS were at the Floyd Mayweather fight over the weekend."

And then read the comments by the audience at the bottom. Most did not even note the speculativity and just turned the rumour into A FACT that has been proven.

These are clairvoyance and prescience I have that most lack when I said most people are morons and you need to be careful the way you present information to them to ensure they consume it right.

The title 'Welcome to Lagos' was I believe a play on words and thus not entirely inappropriate. The programme was not about Lagos or Nigeria per se but merely used the situation of Lagos slums to highlight the issue of urban agglomeration in general. Lagos occupies a special position worldwide as a commercial nerve centre and one of the fastest growing cities in the world. The aim of the programme, which was stated at the beginning of each episode in the series, was to show how people cope with increasing urbanisation. The truth is that it is often the poorest who suffer from urbanisation worldwide and the challenge is greatest in developing countries where cities are growing at the fastest rate. Therefore, it was not unreasonable to show the life of the most marginalised. Channel 4 did a very similar programme about the slums in Mumbai recently. As someone who was born and grew up in Lagos I thought it was very enlightening, and showed that there was order in the chaos which people would otherwise see from afar and want to bulldoze. I happen to think Nigerians were portrayed in a very positive light.

The play on words which I feel the title was is this: whenever you enter a town you see a sign saying, 'Welcome to [Town]'. It is the sign that you have arrived. So it is apt that this programme, showing the reality of many people who come to find their fortune in Lagos without any prior connections or history in the city, be they economic migrants from other parts of the country, the surrounding rural areas, or even refugees from other African countries, be called 'Welcome to Lagos'. It is not the Lagos that greets the wealthy tourist or visitor (many of whom the BBC audience represents), but the Lagos that greets the poor recent immigrant to the city - since these are people who usually occupy the 'bottom rung' of society. Maybe the title could have been improved by a question mark rather than a full stop at the end - 'Welcome to Lagos?' For many people Lagos is a land of opportunity, but what do they find when they arrive? That is what the programme is about, and it is the story of the world, not just Lagos.

The India one was titled: "Slumming It" not "Welcome to Kolkata" or "This is Kolkata"

http://www.channel4.com/4homes/on-tv/kevin-mccloud-slumming-it/kevin-mccloud-slumming-it-episode-two-10-01-06_p_1.html

I don't believe that takes anything away from the point I made about the title 'Welcome to Lagos' being a play on words. Thanks for the link though!

The purpose of the 3-eppie documentary on Lagos was not to undermine Gov. Fashola's work. I really appreciated the film. It showed the suffering Nigerians as very resourceful and resilient people. It made the viewers to able to bond with some of the inhabitants that were chosen to film their daily lives (Vocal Slender, Chubey, Esther, etc.).

So yeah, I'm glad BBC made this documentary. It should be a source of information for not only foreigners but also (if not primarily) for the group Nigerians who do not suspect the depth of poverty in their own backyard.

Iyineda:

The purpose of the 3-eppie documentary on Lagos was not to undermine Gov. Fashola's work. I really appreciated the film. It showed the suffering Nigerians as very resourceful and resilient people. It made the viewers to able to bond with some of the inhabitants that were chosen to film their daily lives (Vocal Slender, Chubey, Esther, etc.).

So yeah, I'm glad BBC made this documentary. It should be a source of information for not only foreigners but also (if not primarily) for the group Nigerians who do not suspect the depth of poverty in their own backyard.

I completely agree.

For those of you who think that BBC hates Nigeria there's a new BBC documentary (featuring Nigeria) airing this weekend. It's appears much more positive
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00snc3c

After four decades of reporting from the continent, Jonathan Dimbleby returns to Africa on a 7,000-mile journey to discover how it is changing.

He starts his African journey in the capital of Mali, Bamako, the fastest-growing African city. Following the course of the Niger river, Dimbleby finds not a continent of beggars but of industrious people, some of whom go to extraordinary lengths to make a living, free-diving 20 feet to excavate building sand.

Travelling north-east, he sees how tradition is preserved in an area where a sophisticated urban society has thrived for 1,600 years. Jonathan gets his hands dirty as the apprentice of a 74-year-old mud mason in Djenne, a town built entirely of mud.

In Ghana, one of Africa's freest and most stable countries, Jonathan sees a spectacular festival before playing a game of golf with the King of the Ashanti, who recalls his time working for Brent council. Dimbleby attends the King's court to see what lessons the UK can draw from traditional African structures that promote harmony and reconciliation.

Jonathan discovers that the African brain drain is turning into a brain gain as economic opportunity and patriotism draw people home. Football unites Ghana like nothing else, superseding political and tribal divisions. There is a rich seam of young football talent on the continent in the year that the World Cup is hosted by an African nation for the first time.

In Lagos, Nigeria's business capital, Jonathan Dimbleby sees a different take on a city that is often depicted as a hotbed of violence, crime and corruption. He is taken on a private jet by Africa's richest man, then savours the creative talents of two of African music's rising stars who are helping to cement Lagos's place as the continent's cultural hub.