It looks like the real owner(s) of Lagos are determined to flog its dwellers with horsewhips that were dipped into a bowl of native pepper.
The images I saw from Lagos today could pass for the biblical exodus. Sanwolu is determined to raise an Army of trekkers.
Except that the battered Lagosians aren’t Israelites, and Sanwolu is no Moses.
When he is not pointing about like a land surveyor, Sanwolu looks like a man curiously uncomfortable in his own skin.
Clearly, his gubernatorial robes seem alien to him. Be that as it may, he and whomever is beating the drum he dances to are ferocious Pharaohs.
The ban on everything that goes on two or three wheels in Lagos reveals the cold-hearted nature of African leadership.
Only few months ago, authorities in Lagos gleefully stood for photo-ops which welcomed Gokada.
The Governor held in his hand one of those green helmets that symbolises the ride hailing company.
If only the CEO and others had known that they were about to be pushed into the Lagoon of redundancy. That they were dining with devil without wielding long spoons of their own. They underestimated the degree of Nigeria’s political debauchery.
I’ve read a lot of reactions about MAX and Gokada and what this ruthless decapitation of a growing business portends for the future of start-ups and FDI in Lagos.
What many of these commentaries seem to miss is that there is in fact nothing strange about the action of Lagos State. We have seen it in the Dangote’s oligopoly and how all of his competitors were curiously strangled out of competition. Many other instances abound.
I think an argument can be made on the rising influx of new, incompetent motorcycle drivers. The cost of this on security. The cost of this on human lives wasted through needless accidents. But regulation and political will can easily solve those.
What is at play is the politics of the belly, and how easy it is for the African politician to throw millions into suffering to assuage political clients. Now with more people dubiously thrown out of their source of livelihood, criminality may suddenly become a titillating prospect for them. How do you solve a problem by compounding it?
Some weeks ago, a friend rang me up to discuss his ideas for investment in Nigeria. His entire plan looked feasible and well-organised. This friend has been very successful with respect to his own investment in Europe where he has lived for the past 20 years.
He asked me if there was anything he should be worried about now that it seemed all the economic arguments for his business has checked out.
I told him the politics hasn’t checked out.
He asked me, how?
I said whatever you want to go to Nigeria to do, get you a political Big Man whose material interest is tied to the survival of that business. Or they will push you into the Lagoon. Your business will be minuted-away with a red pen as if it were a badly written assignment.
He said, Mitt, I never knew our country was still so primitive.
Lagos Okada Ban And Matters Arising
