‘This is Lagos’: George Packer in Nigeria’s Megacity*
Travel Blog • Michael Yessis • 11.13.06 | 10:43 AM ET
By 2015, George Packer reports in an amazing and heartbreaking story about Lagos, Nigeria, in the Nov. 13 issue of the New Yorker, the country’s former capital will rank as the third-largest city in the world, behind Tokyo and Bombay, with 23 million inhabitants. Right now it’s the sixth largest and has 15 million residents, who live mostly in squalor. Packer writes: “It’s hard to decide if the extravagant ugliness of the cityscape is a sign of vigor or of disease—a life force or an impending apocalypse.” As the city struggles to fight off the latter, Packer explores its slums and how Lagos is now “a hip icon of the latest global trends, the much studied megalopolis of the future.” Unfortunately, the story is not available online. However, Packer did recently speak about Lagos on NPR’s Day to Day.
* Update: The story is now online.
Email to friend
Twitter
del.icio.us
Digg
Facebook
Furl
Ma.gnolia
Mixx
Reddit
StumbleUpon
Yahoo! Buzz
Michael Yessis is the cofounder and coeditor-in-chief of World Hum.
francess spero 11.14.06 | 7:11 AM ET
more than half people in lagos live in a slum, lagos is a very dirty place and it stinks, pure water nlllllllyon litters all the enviroment…..mosquitoes is another other of the day, typhod malaria is not a new thing, dyaria is there daily bread. even at all this people troop in to lagos. why you may ask….. but because life is easyly manage in lagos, job opportunity, good times are all avaliable in lagos, we must not rule out that out of nothing good things comes out
Valerie Whitfield 12.27.07 | 11:29 AM ET
I’ve traveled to Lagos many times over the past few years and find myself missing Lagos when I’m not there. Yes, there are dirty places in Lagos, just the same, I see many dirty, stinky places here in the US. As far as insects and diseases go, America doesn’t fall short of those things either. But as Americans, we are great at being on the outside looking in, but not too gifted at looking at our own environment. Trust me, I love America and am fortunate to have been born and raised in what I consider to be the greatest country in the world, but Lagos is not all dirty, it’s full of beautiful land, plants and animals, oh! and the richest of history!
Most of the residents are extremely hospitable and respectful. The food there is great. The first time I visited, I returned to the US w/ traveler’s diarrhea, as I was warned I would when I was eating at many of the outside vendors. That was honestly, the only time it had ever happened to me and I love eating so I eat everywhere when I go there now.
The beaches are nice, w/a very nice atmosphere and of course, grilled spicy fish and chips. There are many, many shopping areas and even malls called The Palms and Silverbird. There are cinemas, peope drive nice cars and have nice homes. I think the focus should be taken off of the negative, as I think most visitors already have their minds made up about this place well before they land. SHhhh…the media doesn’t do a great job at showing the “real Nigeria” only the fraction of Nigeria which they want the outsiders to believe is the whole. I love Lagos!