{"id":7390,"date":"2015-03-27T11:08:56","date_gmt":"2015-03-27T11:08:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/?p=7390"},"modified":"2022-02-27T12:36:58","modified_gmt":"2022-02-27T12:36:58","slug":"whose-nigeria-is-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/whose-nigeria-is-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Whose Nigeria is it?"},"content":{"rendered":"

ARI\u2019s Paul Adams<\/a> spent the week before the Nigerian\u00a0presidential election in Lagos.\u00a0Nigeria is working, proclaim\u00a0the incumbent’s\u00a0campaign posters. But for whom?\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

You don\u2019t expect courtesy in the infamous \u201cgo-slow\u201d of Lagos traffic. Nor do you stop for a minor accident. Crawling past Oshodi bus stop, there\u2019s a bang and a jolt from behind.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t blame the man,\u201d says Billy, who\u2019s driving me from the airport. \u201cIt was \u2018Area boys\u2019.\u201d Two street thugs had tried to rob the driver of the car behind, and his only escape was to put his foot down and hope for the best. Squeezing past an enormous truck, the little car draws level and, with eloquent gestures, asks our forgiveness. Billy smiles, waves back and the car is gone.<\/p>\n

The election posters slapped on every lamp post and crossroads depict an altogether different Nigeria. The smiling candidates will take care of things while contented people prosper. \u201cKeep Lagos working,\u201d declares the APC, the party running this monster of a city. \u201cNigeria is working,\u201d is the imaginative slogan urging a vote for President Goodluck Jonathan.<\/p>\n

Of course, the rich do inhabit another world. On the \u2018islands\u2019, the well-off part of Lagos by the Atlantic coast, two black superyachts that should belong to the baddy in a Bond film are moored side by side. \u201cWhose are they?\u201d I ask. \u201cOh they belong to the \u2018terrible twins\u2019: Aliko Dangote and Femi Otedola, the two richest men in town,\u201d says my companion.<\/p>\n

Young professionals are out on the town for Friday night at Freedom Park, where the enterprising state government has converted the site of a colonial prison into an outdoor venue. There\u2019s some wild dancing to old highlife and Afrobeat numbers until a rising star called Braimo takes the stage. 500 naira (US$2.50) at the gate keeps the masses out.<\/p>\n

Until recently, they could party all night for free at nearby Bar Beach, until bulldozers arrived to replace the beach with Eko Atlantic City. Here the Chagoury brothers, Lebanese business partners of the popular former Lagos governor Bola Tinubu, have reclaimed a vast stretch of sand from the ocean, doubling the size of Victoria Island, to build Nigeria\u2019s answer to Dubai.<\/p>\n

There are no buildings yet, but there is a beach polo tournament, the first in Africa we are told.\u00a0 I follow a trail of four-wheel drives to a makeshift stand. The crowd knock back gallons of champagne, courtesy of corporate sponsors, while highly trained polo ponies and their riders sink into the soft sand and try to hit a plastic ball. In the big air-conditioned tent, a European architect in charge of the \u2018Energy Project\u2019 talks us through a scale model of the new city. It really does look like Dubai. \u201cWe\u2019d have liked it to be green energy, but unfortunately it\u2019s going to be diesel generators\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Nigerians know all about private generators. They\u2019ve kept the lights on for decades, blasting diesel into the atmosphere and deafening the neighbourhood while the state utility failed to deliver power. Now it has been privatised. There\u2019s new investment but not yet much power. I visit an old friend who is running one of the new privatised power franchises. The phone rings. It\u2019s a state commissioner for power:\u00a0 her house is in darkness. What is the company going to do about it? The local manager will call at once, my friend assures her and puts down the phone. First they will check whether the commissioner has paid her electricity bill. That is something new.<\/p>\n

Some things don\u2019t change. One of them is the Metropolitan Club, where the Lagos business and professional elite meet every Tuesday for a very long lunch of the sort that no longer happens in London, where most of the members own rather nice houses. There are more professors, managing directors and captains of industry per square foot than in Davos, but the average age is a bit higher. The founders of the Met Club are all on Table One; the others refer to it as the \u2018Departure Lounge\u2019. That doesn\u2019t stop them celebrating birthdays, including the man on my right, a charming 78-year-old medical professor. The secret? \u201cWork hard, play harder!\u201d Cue more champagne.<\/p>\n

On hearing I used to be a journalist, one of the old boys assures me: \u201cThis is God\u2019s own country.\u201d A former vice-presidential candidate quips about the elections: \u201cEveryone wants change, but no one wants to move.\u201d<\/p>\n

So it would seem. Dinner with a friend is cancelled because he is in hiding. No politician, he had published an article in a trade journal saying that the oil minister should resign. Armed men came looking for him. He called an old friend who is senior in the police to ask for help and was told: \u201cGet out of town.\u201d Grudgingly he took the advice. I hope his enemies forget all about him soon.<\/p>\n

Most of my meetings are with businessmen, but the conversations invariably turn to politics. It\u2019s surprising how many want the ex-army ruler Muhammadu Buhari to win. Even more than that, they want these elections to be over and done.<\/p>\n

Back in London, the news sounds the same. There is soon to be an election, there are two main candidates, no-one much likes either of them.<\/p>\n

Featured image: ‘A Nigerian voter holding his Permanent Voter Card (PVC)’ Photo by Flickr user Heinrich-B\u00f6ll-Stiftung Foundation, Dec. 16, 2014. Used under Creative Commons License, https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/2.0\/.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On a visit to Lagos prior to Nigeria\u2019s election, Paul Adams uses the slogan of President Goodluck Jonathan \u2013 \u201cNigeria is working\u201d \u2013 to ask \u201cfor whom?\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":13123,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[1207,1208,1065,64,221,1337,1487,1494,1489,1231,1495,1491,1498,35,1492,1496,1503,1486,799,1497,1488,984,1211,1501,1205,803,170,1406,1200,1502,216,27,1321,1499,1295,161,1500,1490,1154,1493,1370,38],"class_list":["post-7390","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-nigeriadecides","tag-nigeriavotes","tag-2015-elections","tag-africa","tag-africa-research-institute","tag-african","tag-african-elections","tag-afrobeat","tag-blog-2","tag-buhari","tag-candidate","tag-current-affairs","tag-diesel","tag-elections","tag-electricity","tag-energy","tag-general-buhari","tag-goodluck","tag-goodluck-jonathan","tag-green-energy","tag-international","tag-journalism","tag-lagos","tag-minister","tag-muhammadu-buhari","tag-news","tag-nigeria","tag-oil","tag-paul-adams","tag-politician","tag-politics","tag-politics-in-publications","tag-popular","tag-power","tag-president","tag-presidential-elections","tag-privatisation","tag-publications-2","tag-resource","tag-state-commissioner","tag-vote","tag-voting"],"aioseo_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhose Nigeria is it? - Africa Research Institute<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Paul Adams reflects on the mood in Nigeria ahead of the 2015 elections\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/whose-nigeria-is-it\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Whose Nigeria is it? - Africa Research Institute\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Paul Adams reflects on the mood in Nigeria ahead of the 2015 elections\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/16246473178_60ace3e3b8_z.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@AfricaResearch\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@AfricaResearch\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Yovanka ARI\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/whose-nigeria-is-it\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/whose-nigeria-is-it\/\",\"name\":\"Whose Nigeria is it? - Africa Research Institute\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/whose-nigeria-is-it\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/whose-nigeria-is-it\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/16246473178_60ace3e3b8_z.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-03-27T11:08:56+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-02-27T12:36:58+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/#\/schema\/person\/03660fee7530e23ea5b5e53fe67eedf2\"},\"description\":\"Paul Adams reflects on the mood in Nigeria ahead of the 2015 elections\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/whose-nigeria-is-it\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/whose-nigeria-is-it\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/whose-nigeria-is-it\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/16246473178_60ace3e3b8_z.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/16246473178_60ace3e3b8_z.jpg\",\"width\":640,\"height\":427},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/whose-nigeria-is-it\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Whose Nigeria is it?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/\",\"name\":\"Africa Research Institute\",\"description\":\"Building on the Dynamism in Africa Today\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/#\/schema\/person\/03660fee7530e23ea5b5e53fe67eedf2\",\"name\":\"Yovanka ARI\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/author\/y-ariyigasdhb76r\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Whose Nigeria is it? - Africa Research Institute","description":"Paul Adams reflects on the mood in Nigeria ahead of the 2015 elections","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/whose-nigeria-is-it\/","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Whose Nigeria is it? - Africa Research Institute","twitter_description":"Paul Adams reflects on the mood in Nigeria ahead of the 2015 elections","twitter_image":"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/16246473178_60ace3e3b8_z.jpg","twitter_creator":"@AfricaResearch","twitter_site":"@AfricaResearch","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Yovanka ARI","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/whose-nigeria-is-it\/","url":"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/whose-nigeria-is-it\/","name":"Whose Nigeria is it? - Africa Research Institute","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/whose-nigeria-is-it\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/whose-nigeria-is-it\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/16246473178_60ace3e3b8_z.jpg","datePublished":"2015-03-27T11:08:56+00:00","dateModified":"2022-02-27T12:36:58+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/#\/schema\/person\/03660fee7530e23ea5b5e53fe67eedf2"},"description":"Paul Adams reflects on the mood in Nigeria ahead of the 2015 elections","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/whose-nigeria-is-it\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/whose-nigeria-is-it\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/whose-nigeria-is-it\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/16246473178_60ace3e3b8_z.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/16246473178_60ace3e3b8_z.jpg","width":640,"height":427},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/whose-nigeria-is-it\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Whose Nigeria is it?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/#website","url":"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/","name":"Africa Research Institute","description":"Building on the Dynamism in Africa Today","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/#\/schema\/person\/03660fee7530e23ea5b5e53fe67eedf2","name":"Yovanka ARI","url":"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/author\/y-ariyigasdhb76r\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7390","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7390"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7390\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13124,"href":"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7390\/revisions\/13124"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13123"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africaresearchinstitute.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}