The controversy surrounding the 260 km Superhighway proposed by the Cross River State government (CRSG) of Nigeria will not go away. Notably, the bulldozing of forests, farmlands and sundry properties commenced last year without an approved Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). Curiously, the government issued an edict dispossessing individuals and communities of lands lying within an incredible 10 km width on either side of the proposed superhighway.
Map showing the southern section of the proposed superhighway
The area so proposed for this land grab covers 5,200 square kilometres or an astonishing 25 percent of the landmass of Cross River State. The best argument presented by defenders of the proposal is that the massive land uptake of 10 km on either side of the superhighway is essential for the protection of the superhighway.If that argument is interpreted to mean that the government plans to keep the people away from the superhighway so as to protect it, we would like to know for whom the highway is meant.
To many observers, the fact that the highway starts from a proposed deep seaport and ends in a small Sahellian town suggests that the main intent may be the harvesting of timber from community and National Forests for export.
The promise by the government that it would replace each mowed tree with two or up to five saplings and that no one should worry about any deforestation ensuing from the bulldozing of existing forests is a brilliant narrative that is anchored on fiction. First, what species of trees would be planted? Secondly, what replaces the ecosystems that would be destroyed including the threatened endemic species in the five protected areas to be impacted by the project? The five protected areas to be directly damaged by the project include Cross River National Park, Ukpon River Forest Reserve and the Cross River South Forest Reserve, the Afi Mountain Wildlife Sanctuary and the Afi River Forest Reserve.
It is possible that the CRSG is not aware of what would be lost if the pristine forests are destroyed. We say so because the EIA presented by the state government to the Federal Ministry of Environment has a curious list of animals that are not found in the region in question, with some not even being found in Nigeria or Africa. This anomaly suggests that the EIA is a copy-and-paste document that is not site-specific and should be rejected outright.
In particular, the EIA lists small Indian and Chinese alligators among the species found in the Cross River forests. Other species that may have been created by the writers of the EIA include, black and white colobus monkey, Dent’s monkey, blue monkey and the roloway monkey. This is mind-boggling by any measure. The EIA lists 17 bird species whereas there are up to 400 species in the threatened forests. The consultants also repeatedly refer to the Cross River National Park as the Oban Group of Forests even though a name change took place in 1991.
Communities threatened by the project have repeatedly said that there was no free, prior informed consent of the people to this project. They insist that they need access roads and are not averse to such access being provided. What they cannot fathom is why a state that prides itself as being environment friendly and climate conscious would plan to decimate the last remaining pristine rainforests in Nigeria.
The latest protest has come from women and girls of Etara, Eyeyeng, Edondon, Okokori, Old Ekuri and New Ekuri, Iko Esai and Owai communities in Etung, Obubra and Akamkpa Local Government Areas in the state, under the aegis of the Wanel-Aedon Development Association (WANELDON).
In a protest letter dated 30th January 2017 tagged “Our Opposition to the Revocation of our Lands for a Superhighway” and sent by WALNELDON to President Buhari, the women proclaimed their “total opposition against Governor Ben Ayade’s revocation of swathe of all our lands for a superhighway.” They claim, among other things, that they were excluded from all decision-making processes related to the project and that the project is an affront to their social and economic rights. The women also insist that the project would negate key Sustainability Development Goals (SDG) 1 to 5: No Poverty; No Hunger; Good Health and Well-being; Quality Education and Gender Equality.
The women note that they are ethnic minorities that are being made to suffer multiple discrimination and deprivation including by being rendered internally displaced persons (IDPs) and subjected to heightened vulnerability in other ways. For this and many other reasons, they requested President Buhari to urge the governor to “de-revoke” (ownership) of all their “lands including settlements, farmlands and forests.”
The women also demand that the superhighway should be rerouted and that the wishy-washy EIA being presented to the Federal Ministry of Environment should not be approved. We could not agree more. If the 10km land grab has been reversed, as claimed by the state’s Commissioner for Climate Change at the 18th Bassey Andah Memorial Lecture held in Calabar recently, the CSRG should publish such a “de-revoking order” for avoidance of doubt.
By Nnimmo Bassey (Director, Health of Mother Earth Foundation – HOMEF)
Indorama is said to have supplied about 250,000 metric tons of granular Urea fertiliser to farmers nationwide since June 2016 when it commenced production
Mohammed Badaru Abubakar, chairman, Presidential Committee on Fertiliser Initiative and Governor of Jigawa State
The Presidential Committee on Fertiliser Initiative (PCFI) has expressed satisfaction with the participation of Indorama Eleme Fertiliser & Chemicals Limited (IEFCL), Port Harcourt, Rivers State, in the programme aimed at supplying NPK fertiliser to farmers nationwide at affordable price.
Chairman of the committee, Alhaji Mohammed Badaru Abubakar, who is also the Governor of Jigawa State, made this statement on Saturday, 4th February, 2017 when he visited the Indorama fertiliser plant in the company of the President of the Fertiliser Producers & Suppliers Association of Nigeria (FEPSAN), Thomas Etuh, and the Managing Director of the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA), Uche Orji.
Alhaji Abubakar said he was impressed that Indorama has fully keyed into the Presidential Fertiliser Initiative whose goal is to help the Federal Government to achieve higher food production and food security in the country.
This is contained in a press release issued by the head of Corporate Communications of Indorama-Nigeria, Dr Jossy Nkwocha.
“In supporting the Federal Government’s Fertiliser Initiative, Indorama will this year supply 360,000 metric tons of Urea to Fertiliser blenders, who in turn will produce NPK fertilisers and supply at cheaper price to the farmers across the federation.”
According to him, Managing Director of Indorama-Nigeria operations, Mr Manish Mundra, received the team and conducted them round the Ammonia, Urea and Utilities plants which have capacity for 1.5 million metric tons of Urea fertiliser per annum and the largest single-line Urea plant in the world.
“At the Bagging section of the plant, the Presidential team inspected the specially packaged granular Urea bags meant for delivery to the blenders.”
Mr Mundra informed the team that the Ammonia section of the fertiliser plant is presently undergoing scheduled maintenance shutdown to optimise its ammonia production and reduce energy consumption, activities that will enhance Indorama’s participation in the Federal Government Fertiliser Initiative.
“The shutdown of the Ammonia plant is part of Indorama’s excellent maintenance culture and innovation, and the plant will be re-started on 24th February,” Mundra assured.
Governor Abubakar said he was quite impressed with Indorama’s operations especially in helping the Federal Government to achieve its agricultural transformation agenda. “I must say that I am impressed that Indorama is supporting the Federal Government initiative. This is one of the initiatives to bring down the cost of food items in the country,” he said.
President of FEPSAN, Mr Etuh, also commended Indorama for keying into the Federal Government Initiative and promised that members of the association, especially the blending plants, will make the best use of the opportunity to facilitate greater crop harvest this year.
Indorama has supplied about 250,000 metric tons of granular Urea fertiliser to farmers nationwide since June 2016 when it commenced production. Through import substitution, the company has helped the Federal Government to save foreign exchange and also earn scarce forex through the export of its surplus production after meeting domestic demand.
António Guterres, the new Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN), fresh from the recently-held African Union Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia – his first major mission in office – expresses his belief in the continent, saying that the world has much to gain from African wisdom, ideas and solutions
Antonio Guterres, UN Secretary General. He says Africa hosts some of the world’s fastest growing economies
Far too often, the world views Africa through the prism of problems. When I look to Africa, I see a continent of hope, promise and vast potential.
I am committed to building on those strengths and establishing a higher platform of cooperation between the United Nations and the leaders and people of Africa. This is essential to advancing inclusive and sustainable development and deepening cooperation for peace and security.
That is the message I carried to the recent African Union Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia – my first major mission as United Nations Secretary-General.
Above all, I came in a spirit of profound solidarity and respect. I am convinced that the world has much to gain from African wisdom, ideas and solutions.
I also brought with me a deep sense of gratitude. Africa provides the majority of United Nations peacekeepers around the world. African nations are among the world’s largest and most generous hosts of refugees. Africa includes some of the world’s fastest growing economies.
The recent resolution of the political crisis in the Gambia once again demonstrated the power of African leadership and unity to overcome governance challenges and uphold democracy, human rights and the rule of law.
I left the Summit more convinced than ever that all of humanity will benefit by listening, learning and working with the people of Africa.
We have the plans in place to build a better future. The international community has entered the second year of implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, an all-out effort to tackle global poverty, inequality, instability and injustice. Africa has adopted its own complementary and ambitious plan: Agenda 2063.
For the people of Africa to fully benefit from these important efforts, these two agendas need to be strategically aligned.
It starts with prevention. Our world needs to move from managing crises to preventing them in the first place. We need to break the cycle of responding too late and too little.
Most of today’s conflicts are internal, triggered by competition for power and resources, inequality, marginalisation and sectarian divides. Often, they are inflamed by violent extremism or provide the fuel for it.
The United Nations is committed to working hand-in-hand with partners wherever conflict or the threat of conflict endangers stability and well-being.
But prevention goes far beyond focusing solely on conflict. The best means of prevention and the surest path to durable peace is inclusive and sustainable development.
We can speed progress by doing more to provide opportunities and hope to young people. More than three out of five Africans are under 35 years of age. Making the most of this tremendous asset means more investment in education, training, decent work, and engaging young people in shaping their future.
We must also do our utmost to empower women so they can play a full role in sustainable development and sustainable peace. I am pleased that the African Union has consistently placed a special focus on gender equality and women’s empowerment.
I have seen it again and again: When we empower women, we empower the world.
I travelled to Africa as a partner, friend and committed advocate for changing the narrative about this diverse and vital continent. Crises represent at best a partial view. But from a higher platform of cooperation, we can see the whole picture – one that spotlights the enormous potential and remarkable success stories in every corner of the African continent.
With that perspective, I have no doubt we can win the battle for sustainable and inclusive development which are also the best weapons to prevent conflict and suffering, allowing Africa to shine even more vibrantly and inspire the world.
The Netherlands announced on Monday, 06 February 2017 that it will work with Japan and United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to establish a Global Centre of Excellence to help countries, institutions and businesses to adapt to a warming climate, which is increasing the frequency of natural disasters and causing economic disruptions.
Dutch Minister for the Environment, Sharon Dijksma. The Global Centre of Excellence on Climate Adaptation is a joint initiative of The Netherlands, Japan and UNEP
The Global Centre of Excellence on Climate Adaptation will bring together international partners, including leading knowledge institutes, businesses, NGOs, local and national governments, international organisations and financial institutions.
The Dutch Minister for the Environment, Sharon Dijksma, says: “Many around the world are hit hard by global warming. The ground-breaking Paris Climate Change Agreement puts climate change adaptation on par with mitigation.
“Failure of dealing adequately with climate change will increase a multitude of risks such as natural disasters, social and economic disruptions and increasing political tensions. Many people are looking for good practices and guidance with regard to climate change adaptation. I am convinced the Global Centre of Excellence on Climate Adaptation can help addressing these challenges.”
“Even with the Paris Agreement on climate change, our planet is heading for a global warming of around 3°C,” said Ibrahim Thiaw, deputy chief of UN Environment.
“Our survival depends on learning to live on a hotter planet with more extreme weather, erratic rainfall and rising sea levels. This Centre is a welcome step, but other countries need to follow this example and urgently invest in climate adaptation.”
By signing the Paris Climate agreement countries have made climate change adaptation a top global priority and the Global Centre of Excellence on Climate Adaptation, a joint initiative of The Netherlands, Japan and UN Environment is an important step to deliver on that commitment.
The Centre will support countries around the world to effectively adapt to climate change. It will collect lessons from recently executed projects and use those to develop guidance to accelerate climate adaptation. The resulting pool of global knowledge and know-how to understand what works and what doesn’t will be used to support countries, communities and companies to successfully integrate climate adaptation into their investment decisions. In that way, every new road, every construction, every crop field becomes an opportunity to become more resilient.
China’s installed photovoltaic (PV) capacity more than doubled last year, turning the country into the world’s biggest producer of solar energy by capacity, the National Energy Administration (NEA) said on Saturday, February 4, 2017.
Solar panels. China more than doubled its capacity in 2016
Installed PV capacity rose to 77.42 gigawatts at the end of 2016, with the addition of 34.54 gigawatts over the course of the year, data from the energy agency showed.
Shandong, Xinjiang, Henan were among the provinces that saw the most capacity increase, while Xinjiang, Gansu, Qinghai and Inner Mongolia had the greatest overall capacity at the end of last year, according to the data.
China will add more than 110 gigawatts of capacity in the 2016-2020 period, according to the NEA’s solar power development plan.
Solar plants generated 66.2 billion kilowatt-hours of power last year, accounting for 1 percent of China’s total power generation, the NEA said.
The country aims to boost the mix of non-fossil fuel generated power to 20 percent by 2030 from 11 percent today.
China plans to plough 2.5 trillion yuan ($364 billion) into renewable power generation by 2020.
The Federal Government has been told not to approve the final Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) submitted to it last month by the Cross River State Government in respect of the proposed superhighway.
Ekuri people kicking against the super highway project that threatens hectares of forests
According to a group of women and girls of Etara, Eyeyeng, Edondon, Okokori, Old Ekuri and New Ekuri, Iko Esai and Owai communities in Etung, Obubra and Akamkpa Local Government Areas in the state, under the aegis of the Wanel-aedon Development Association, approval for the EIA should not be granted because, besides threatening their source of livelihood, lands earmarked for the project were unfairly taken from them by the authorities.
In a petition written to President Muhammadu Buhari, the women urged Mr President to direct Governor Ben Ayade of Cross River State to de-revoke all their lands, settlements, farmlands and forests, as well as re-route the superhighway out of the forests so as to “conserve biodiversity and ecosystem services for the wellbeing of humanity”.
In a petition titled: “Our opposition to the revocation of our lands for a superhighway” and signed by nearly a thousand persons, the group likewise wants President Buhari to “protect our rights as minorities to our ancestral lands and direct Governor Ayade to pay adequate compensation for our property, farms, sacred sites and forests destroyed during clearance of the superhighway that went without prior evaluation of the above and in the absence an EIA.”
They peaded: “Help us to protect our means of daily livelihoods, food security and support and support us to conserve the forest to protect endangered species and their habitats in consonant with the Endangered Species Laws that you assented to on 30th December 2016. Help us in our resolve to conserve the forest, a practice we are customarily used to for several centuries to reduce the release of carbon dioxide, improve carbon sequestration and lessen climate change in line with the Paris Agreement which Nigeria endorsed.”
The women said that they are also opposing the proposed project because the governor excluded them from all decision-making processes “because we are regarded as ‘back-benchers’, good-to-be-seen-and-not-to-be-heard and, at best, ‘surbodinates’ in power and development.”
They added: “Our rights as indigenous women and girls has been systematically excluded from the process of governance hence this inhuman revocation for a superhighway; our free, prior and informed consent has not been sought and even throughout the EIAs (twice) for our meaningful participation.
“We, as underpriviledged and minority populations, depend on farming and forest gathering activities for daily sustenance. The revocation of all our lands is a repression and socio-economic marginalisation against us by the government of Cross River State as well as an abuse of our social and economic rights protected under the constitution of Nigeria, ECOWAS, AU and international laws.
“We recognise the sancity of our citizenship rights, mobility rights to own property, the right to work and the right to food, but the revocation of all our farmlands and forests – two critical resource base that alow our rightd and economic liberty – is a threat or failure for us to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).”
The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) has said that it will partner with the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to enthrone transparency and accountability in the operations of the agency.
Executive Secretary of NEITI, Waziri Adio
Executive Secretary of NEITI, Waziri Adio, gave the assessment in his presentation to the Retreat of the Commission held in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
Mr. Adio noted that the NDDC and NEITI were set up with similar mandates targeted at addressing the syndrome of resource curse, a situation where countries like Nigeria blessed with abundant natural resources find their larger population living in abject poverty as a result of over-dependence on the natural resource and mismanagement of revenues accruing from the resource.
He lamented that, over the years, public perception of NDDC was more of an agency with huge revenue resources but with little impact on the lives of the people of the Niger Delta.
The Executive Secretary, who was represented by NEITI’s Director, Communications, Dr. Orji Ogbonnaya Orji, urged the new team at the NDDC to carry out a corruption risk assessment that will enable the agency develop a framework to strengthen its operations.
The NEITI Reports presented to the Commission’s Retreat disclosed that a total of $1.98 billion was remitted to the NDDC between 2007 and 2014.
This was in addition to the sum of N594 billion paid to the Commission in local currency during the same period.
The breakdown of the remittances show that NDDC received N594 billion from 2007 to 2011 while $559 million was paid to the Commission in 2012.
NEITI Report findings also show that, in 2013, the NDDC received $563 million while in 2014, the sum of $865 million was remitted to the Commission.
NEITI also told the NDDC Management Retreat that, from its Fiscal Allocation and Statutory Disbursement Audit Report covering 2007-2011, the sum of N7.4 billion allocated to member states of the Commission for grass root development projects in the respective states could not be accounted for while 22 of such projects valued at N1.19 billion were duplicated.
The NEITI Executive Secretary urged the new Board and Management of the NDDC to carry out an independent project implementation audit, commit to good corporate governance and the principles of the global extractive industries transparency initiative.
Managing Director of the NDDC, Nsima Ekere, welcomed the emerging partnership between NEITI and the NDDC and pledged to use the NEITI Reports as major tools to enthrone accountability and corporate governance.
He gave the assurance that the NDDC under the new Board and management would fully embrace the principles of the global Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) to reverse the resource curse syndrome in the Niger Delta, through efficient resource utilisation, corporate governance and project delivery.
The West African, French-speaking country of Togo and the Central Europe, German-speaking Liechtenstein are the latest countries to endorse the Minamata Convention on Mercury.
Faure Essozimna Gnassingbé, president of Togo
While the Government of Liechtenstein on 1 February 2017, deposited its instrument of accession, the Togolese Government two days later followed suit on 3 February 2017, thereby bringing to 38 the total number of future Parties to the Minamata Convention.
Costa Rica on 19 January, 2017 became the 36th Future Party to the Minamata Convention when it deposited its instrument of accession to that effect.
A minimum of 50 nations are required to ratify the Minamata Convention to make it legally binding.
The Minamata Convention on Mercury, a global treaty aimed at protecting human health and the environment from the adverse effects of mercury, was agreed at the fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) in Geneva, Switzerland on Saturday, 19 January 2013 – some four years ago.
Nigeria is one of the 128 signatories to the global treaty, but she is yet to ratify it. There are indications that Nigeria will soon ratify the global treaty, as the Ministry of Environment will next week in Lagos convene a national workshop for non-governmental organisations (NGOs) for the Minamata Convention Initial Assessment (MIA) of the Minamata Convention.
Ratification by Nigeria automatically makes her a Party to the Convention with the duty to domesticate its content.
The signing of the Convention would enable Nigeria to:
Develop a National Implementation Strategy (NIS)/Action Plan to holistically address challenges relating to the reduction and elimination of Mercury;
Undertake a comprehensive inventory as a basis to develop and implement a more robust Mercury preventive programme which will include the identification and location, contaminated sites and extent of contamination, storage, handling and disposal to ensure that mercury related activities do not result in further damage to health and the environment;
Enhance national capacities with respect to human resources development and institutional strengthening, towards addressing concerns about the long-term effects of Mercury on both human health and the environment and also to ensure the effective domestication of the instrument that will be implementable at national level;
Sensitise the populace and policy makers on the hazards of mercury;
Develop and implement Mercury Release Minimisation Projects; and,
Control mercury supply and trade.
Nations that have ratified the Convention include: Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Bolivia, Botswana, Chad, China, Costa Rica, Djibouti, Ecuador, Gabon, Gambia, Guinea, Gayana, Japan, Jordan, Kuwait, Lesotho Liechtenstein, Madagascar, Mali and Mauritania.
Others are Mexico, Monaco, Mongolia, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Samoa, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Swaziland, Switzerland, Togo, United Arab Emirates, United States of America, Uruguay and Zambia.
Major highlights of the Minamata Convention include a ban on new mercury mines, the phase-out of existing ones, the phase out and phase down of mercury use in a number of products and processes, control measures on emissions to air and on releases to land and water, and the regulation of the informal sector of artisanal and small-scale gold mining. The Convention also addresses interim storage of mercury and its disposal once it becomes waste, sites contaminated by mercury as well as health issues.
Consultants preparing Nigeria’s First Biennial Update Report (BUR) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) have been asked to work more closely together in other to produce a quality report and meet the deadline for its submission.
Dr Peter Tarfa, Director, Department of Climate Change in the Federal Ministry of Environment. Nigeria is in the process of developing its First Biennial Update Report (BUR)
At a daylong forum in Abuja on Friday, January 3, 2017 titled: “Stakeholders workshop on the progress so far made on development of Nigeria’s First Biennial Update Report (BUR)”, participants also suggested that the Department of Climate Change (DCC) of the Federal Ministry of Environment should appoint a consultant to harmonise the three reports being produced by the three consultants, as there may be points of disagreement along the line.
Participants further suggested that there should be more physical meetings involving the consultants – who appear to be based in different cities in the federation – to ensure synergy in the course of their endeavour.
The consultants are: Triple “E” Systems (writing on “National Green House Gas Inventory”), E & Y (“Mitigation Analysis”) and Millcon & Millcon (“Domestic Measurement, Reporting and Verification System”).
The BUR is being prepared, taking into account the greenhouse gas (GHG) emission level of sectors of the economy, such as energy, oil and gas, transportation and agricultural sectors, among others. It is undertaken in order to improve transparency during the process of tracking mitigation progress of national GHG emission of countries who are parties to the Convention (UNFCCC), thereby reinforcing ambition at a global level and providing the information basis for planning and implementing mitigation action.
At the workshop, consultants presented respective progress made on the thematic area they are working on, even as stakeholders identified gaps and made comments and contributions towards enriching the document, taking into account data and information from respective organisation.
While the BUR project manager, James Okeuhie, did an overview as well as summary of progress on the country’s flagship BUR, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Environment, Dr Bukar Hassan, disclosed that the scope of the BUR covers information on natural circumstances, institutional arrangements, Greenhouse Gas Inventory Reports (NIR), information on mitigation actions and their effects – methodologies and assumptions, constraints and gaps, and related financial, technical capacity needs, information on the levels of support received for BURs preparation and submission, information on domestic measurement and reporting and verification.
“We are grateful for the selfless service and immeasurable support of our development partner, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), for their commitment towards the partnership, especially the preparation of this report,” he said.
Dr Jare Adejuwon, former head of the DCC, in a presentation titled: Essentials of Biennial Update Reports (BURs), traced the genesis of the BUR, saying that it was adopted in 2010 at COP16 in Cancun, Mexico for the purpose of enhancing reporting of mitigation actions, their effects and support received in the National Communication.
“In 2011 at COP17 in South-Africa, Non-Annex1 Parties under the UNFCCC adopted the guidelines for BUR and the submission of BURs every two years was decided. The COP decided that non-Annex I Parties, consistent with their capabilities and the level of support provided for reporting, should submit their first BUR by December 2014,” added Adejuwon, who is presently chief executive officer at the Abuja-based Digital Environmental Management System.
According to him, Nigeria was granted approval and financial support by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) to develop its BUR, even as the Local Project Appraisal Committee (LPAC), which is a subcommittee of the National Coordinating Technical Committee on the preparation of National Communication, was constituted in 2015 for the preparation of the BUR.
Prior to last week’s workshop, a meeting of the Local Project Appraisal Committee (LPAC) was held on April 9 2015, followed by a project initiation workshop on October 5, 2015. On August 18-19 2016, a Technical Inception Workshop was held to bring together the inter-ministerial committee, NGOs, academia, state representatives and the selected consultants for the BUR thematic sectors.
The Third World, a musical group made up of adventurous Jamaica nationals, was on a musical tour of Lagos circa mid-1980s and, upon completion of the tour, the group waxed a record titled “Lagos Jump.” The lyric was in praise of the maximum enjoyment the group had in Lagos especially the warm disposition of Lagosians for clubbing and night scrawling….euphemism for having a “good time.” The record became a chartbuster in the western world especially in the United States of America. Pronto…the city of Lagos started to have an influx of fun loving tourists from all corners of the globe purposely to have a feel of the good time and hospitality that made the city popular in the early 1980s. Put in plainer delivery, Lagos became a global tourist attraction.
The new-look Tinubu Square on the Lagos Island, Lagos
Lagos’ glorious years and allure for tourists were immense. The city had numerous hotspots/nightclubs in entertainment such as Kakadu, Caban Bamboo, Ariya, Miliki Spot, Paradiso, Faze 2, Koriko Bar, Palace Landing, and a long list of high grade restaurants such as Cathy, Phoenician and notable hotels such as Bristol Hotel, Federal Palace, Mainland Hotel, Ritz Hotel, Airport Hotel and Eko Hotel; including the Lagos Bar Beach which was a crowd puller for both foreign and local tourists and picnickers.
Central Lagos has a well-defined Central Business District (CBD). Linear arranged textiles shops, flourishing traditional markets, office complexes, organised retail stores such as the Kingsway, UTC, Challaram, Kwallaram, Esquire, Flower Shop, Bijou, Domino, Bata and Leonards shoe retailers and a high concentration of foreign airline offices along Martins Street. The Broad Street was a tourist delight coupled with Tinubu Square which was home to many tourist attractions. The most famous among which was the public water fountain donated to Nigeria in 1960 by the Lebanese community to mark the country’s independence. The mega water fountain was the cynosure of public eyes and a “must-see” for first-time visitors to Lagos.
The same superlative story could be told of the network of good roads with pedestrian walkways, the well-lit streets, and landscaping of public spaces. There were trees planted along the Marina with pockets of flower gardens. Municipal buses were ubiquitous with cheap fares. The buses operated late into the night, traversing the nooks and crannies of Lagos metropolis during the period under review. Seldom was there any report of an armed robbery, while such thing as street urchins was an anathema. People move freely both in the day and night without the fear of being molested. Security of city dwellers was guaranteed.
Trading activities were booming and the city council government was responsive and accountable. It provided uninterrupted social amenities.“Keep Lagos Clean” was the slogan adopted by the municipal government to discourage environmental abuse by the city residents. Frequently played as jingles on local radio stations, the mantra reminded Lagosians of their civic responsibilities in keeping their environment clean and not to indulge in the bad habit of throwing litters in the open. Public toilets were built in strategic locations in the city and the facilities were regularly maintained by attendants employed by the city council. Defecation in the open public was uncommon and a punishable offence when caught in the act. The city maintained a very reasonable level of public hygiene.
All of the above factors combined put Lagos in good stead and laid a good foundation for tourism to flourish in the city including cross-border trading from Senegal to the far corner of the Cameroon. This period of grace and buoyancy lasted for a couple of years and the Lagos State government reaped a bountiful harvest in revenue generation both from tourism and the boom of the urban economy of the sixties to the eighties.
The decline of tourism in Lagos was attributed to urbcide. The death of tourism in the city was caused by maladministration, unmanaged urbanisation, planlessness and neglect by its residents. The rot started in the early nineties when the city experienced very rapid population growth beyond the management capacity of the municipal government. Massive internal migration from the rural hinterlands all over Nigeria and external migration from other West African countries accounted for a higher percentage of the spike in population increase. Gradually, things started falling apart. The streets became congested with vehicles causing daily traffic hold-up. The provision of basic services was no more regular. The public water taps suddenly went dry.
Security became a problem while social miscreants derisively called “area boys” appeared on the scene and started harassing innocent citizens walking on the streets of Lagos soliciting for money. Many of the street urchins took to armed robbery and injected fear into those who normally go out at night for club entertainment or social party. Consequently, nightlife died a natural death because there was a drastic reduction of clientele at the various fun spots and night clubs. Businesses were losing money and folding up in trickles. The reversal of fortunes of the city, its notorious traffic, and insecurity was all it took to trigger the rapid decline in the tourism industry, most especially among the hotels and other hospitality ventures. The popular water fountain at Tinubu Square was a victim of the decline. It stopped functioning. The beautiful surrounding was abused and turned into refuse dump causing an embarrassing environmental challenge to the municipal government and a bad image for the city.
Many prospective tourists did not want to come again to a city with so many bad tales and negative publicity and fewer places of attractions to visit and relax. Lagos gradually lost its allure of tourist destination city on the African continent. Eventually, that was the end of the road for “active tourism” as a foreign exchange earner for Lagos and by extension Nigeria.
The above exposition and reminiscences are to cast back the minds of readers old enough to know about Lagos of yester-years and to essentially acquaint the younger ones about the city’s past glory. And that Lagos, (Eko wenjele) a local parlance used to depict merriment in the city was an Eldorado in its heydays.
It is innovation that enlivens the city. A CNN TV documentary titled Why Cities Matter pointed out that “the heart of urban (planning) innovation is a desire to improve the quality of life and economic opportunities for the people living in cities.” In line with this statement, city governments all over the world are in stiff competition to promote the uniqueness of their cities to outsiders in order to have a larger slice of the “tourism pie.” This is where innovation becomes crucial. It starts from creative ideas to excel in public transportation such as the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) and glass tube bus shelters which made the city of Curitiba in Brazil very popular worldwide. The tube-shaped bus shelter made of glass material was introduced as public furniture out of innovation and it was the tool used in drawing tourists to that city till date. The bullet trains in Tokyo, Japan put that city in the limelight of world tourism as far back as half a century ago.The Silicon Valley in the San Francisco Bay Area of California in the United States is a hub of ICT and global technology companies, which attracts millions of tourists to the area annually. Some cities use creative/historical landmarks, monuments, and cultural heritage as charms to promote tourism. Others cities build state-of-the-art conference centres for business exhibitions, and sophisticated sporting arena to attract global sporting events such the World Cup, the Olympic and World Tennis competitions.
In the league of cities that use art, amusement parks, architecture as attractions to promote tourism is Chicago famously known as the Windy City. It is popular for its distinct theater district, the grandiose Millennium Park, Navy Pier, and a spectacular sculpture named The Bean. It has a dominant long stretch of shopping corridor known as the Magnificent Mile which tourists flock in millions for shopping. For beach lovers, Chicago has a 25-mile long sandy beach abutting Lake Michigan one of the five Great Lakes of North America. The beach is combined with a park for relaxation and a trail route for cycling and walking to facilitate daily exercise. There are cosmopolitan cities with rich cultures which they have used to their advantage to promote tourism. New York City is better known as the capital city of the world. The megacity is the most visited urban centre by foreign tourists coming to the United States. It is home to an endless list of interesting places, which are irresistible to tourists from all corners of the globe.
What this affirms is that a city cannot climb higher on the “tourism ladder” or command high visibility if it has nothing to showcase, nothing to attract and nothing that would create experiences and reminiscences for tourists about the city. We now dovetail this expose on the impact of the new face of Tinubu Square.
The Lagos State Government is staging a come back to boost tourism. The current administration is mindful of the potentials of tourism in creating employment and its high-yield revenue capability. It is against this background that the wholesale renovation of the once derelict; but historically important Tinubu Square is a good reason for Lagosians to give Governor Akinwunmi Amode a standing ovation. The Lagos State Government has come to the realisation that without making valiant efforts to develop and sell its niche tourism areas and bring specific innovation into the fold, it would be a dent on the status and recognition of Lagos as a megacity. The city can never appear on the radar of world tourism.
The plan to revamp Tinubu Square and the actual completion of the project followed by its commission on Friday, January 27, 2017, was a “big plus” for the reputation of the current administration in Lagos State. The Tinubu Arcade has a rich history as a melting point for the indigenous Lagosians, the Brazilian descendants and the British colonialists dating back to the 1800s. From written account, Tinubu Square’s towering importance was because of its antecedence as the economic heartbeat of Lagos harbouring a collection of government buildings, an elaborate terminus for public transportation, and unique architectural edifices owned by wealthy local merchants and business tycoons among whom was an amazon popularly and affectionately called Madam Efunporoye Tinubu after whom the square was appropriately named. For reason of limited space, this writer cannot adequately profile her life and times in this piece.
The attraction of Tinubu Square reached a peak when a giant water fountain was constructed at the centre of the square to mark Nigeria’s independence in 1960. Instantly, the landmark became a mecca for visitors. On a daily basis, mammoth crowd visited the site eager to have a glimpse of the artistic man-made waterfall. The Square remained a leading tourist spot until the eighties and thereafter its popularity began to pale into oblivion due to lack of maintenance and official neglect.
Governor Amode walks his talk. The comprehensive and sophisticated transformation of Tinubu Square by the present administration was an indication of good governance. There are widespread nostalgic feelings among Lagosians about the new development of the historic public space and economically, it has reopened new opportunity to promote tourism in Lagos. Its past popularity as an iconic landmark has been revived and the positive effects are already being felt in so many ways. The Arcade was adorned with colourful neon and bright electric lights thereby enhancing the security of the hood at night unlike in the past when it was possible for night marauders to lurk in the dark and terrorise innocent people walking on the road sidewalks. Some schools have started bringing their wards to the site for excursion and those who read or heard about the facelift have started visiting the site to confirm the report, savour the beautiful ambience and take pictures to keep as mementos.
The erection of the statues of Madam Tinubu and that of the legendary and visually impaired street entertainer drummer Kokoro has important values to those who want to know about these two historic personalities. The miniature botanical garden replete with different species of flowers was a well-conceived idea. It could serve as a scenic background for photography, and very soon the crowd of local visitors and external tourists would begin to troupe to Tinubu Square at the rate of intensity similar to what obtained 40 years ago. That would herald a new dawn and revival of tourism in the megacity.
