http://richarddnorth.com/2010/04/welcome-to-lagos-they-can-keep-it/ Richard D North welcomes you to his blog. (It links to my old site, now archived.) I am a right-winger, in love with the free market and arguing against the soft-left, liberal, green, PC consensus. Oh, and I'm a conflicted softie. A bit hippy and arty round the edges too. Tue, 08 May 2012 22:48:57 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://richarddnorth.com/2010/04/welcome-to-lagos-they-can-keep-it/comment-page-1/#comment-1857 Paul Seaman Fri, 16 Apr 2010 22:34:54 +0000 http://richarddnorth.com/?p=1069#comment-1857 Unfortunately I missed the BBC show on Lagos. But I know Lagos. There's nothing romantic about Lagos's dumps. They are an eyesore, a health hazard and a disgusting disgrace in that great city. Their exploitation is organised by local gangs known as "area boys" rather than by free-spirited entrepreneurs. For sure, Lagos's people have great stoicism and great humour, but they also lack the dignity and self-respect required to clean their mess up and to put some law and order in to the place. In my view, Lagosians have become immune to their short-comings. They've lost the sense of shame that's required to sort the mess out. Right now civic pride consists of a monthly half-day sanitation backed by a curfew to make it easy for cleaners to clean up the worst of the visible mess; that's a farce. However, if ever Lagosians do decide to take real pride in their surroundings, then Lagos will become the greatest city in Africa and one of the really great cities of the world. Unfortunately I missed the BBC show on Lagos. But I know Lagos. There’s nothing romantic about Lagos’s dumps. They are an eyesore, a health hazard and a disgusting disgrace in that great city. Their exploitation is organised by local gangs known as “area boys” rather than by free-spirited entrepreneurs. For sure, Lagos’s people have great stoicism and great humour, but they also lack the dignity and self-respect required to clean their mess up and to put some law and order in to the place. In my view, Lagosians have become immune to their short-comings. They’ve lost the sense of shame that’s required to sort the mess out. Right now civic pride consists of a monthly half-day sanitation backed by a curfew to make it easy for cleaners to clean up the worst of the visible mess; that’s a farce. However, if ever Lagosians do decide to take real pride in their surroundings, then Lagos will become the greatest city in Africa and one of the really great cities of the world.

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