INSPIRATIONAL MUSINGS 25 If Everybody Works Like a Lagosian, the World will be Filled with Efficient People

"The only great city in the world that answers two widely accepted names, "EKO" and "LAGOS," if you can excel in Lagos, then you can excel anywhere in the world."

— Adegboyega Ojuolape

There's a popular saying in Nigeria, "everybody is a Lagosian." The saying is popular because every tribe in Nigeria is believed to be represented in Lagos. Lagos is the

most populated city in Nigeria. It is home to over 22 Million people as at 2015 according to unofficial figures. The name Lagos which means lakes, was given to the city by Portuguese traders in 1472 or there about. A citywithabreathofitsown, always buzzing all day long. It's a city that runs for 24 hours in some places.

Two things make Lagos very attractive to migrants: the population strength and the sea ports. Back in the days it was called the land of plenty because of the widely held opinion that no matter where you come from you can always be successful in Lagos through providence and hard work. As the population grew because of this belief, life became more increasingly diffi jeoparcult, so to excel in Lagos became a thing of unwavering commitment, hard work, determination and perseverance.

One of the things you will notice on a visit to Lagos is the stern look on the faces of everyone, everyone moves with pace, guile and guts not showing any sign of weakness or stupidity. I took my time to observe why this is so, I realized that in as much as there are several honest people beating all odds on a daily basis to survive in Lagos, there are also criminal people in nature that all they want is to steal from people or rip them off their hard earned monies, so in some cases the streets of Lagos are like the sea, you must not show any sign of weakness or else you get eaten by sharks. That's why any average child on the streets of Lagos is five times smarter than the ones from other parts of Nigeria.

Though I grew up in Akure, Ondo State Nigeria, I had always shuttled in and out of Lagos, to visit relatives back in the days, but I was protected from the harsh reality of Lagos as a visiting child until 1995 when I travelled on my own to Lagos as a sixteen-year- old to go spend holidays with my elder brothers who had made Lagos their home at the time. I loved the new found freedom of moving around Lagos without the usual restrictions from elderly ones, so without caution I moved from one zone to the other, as a student of the Federal Polytechnic, Offa, Kwara State at the time, I had several friends I promised I would check up on during that particular holiday.

I had so much fun as a "Lagos boy" until a fateful Saturday when I decided to go swimming at one of the leading hotels in Ikeja. It was an Easter Saturday, the pool sides were filled with many holiday makers, as a good swimmer I took off my clothes and dropped my pair of jeans carelessly somewhere, I had fun swimming the entire length and breadth of the pool till it was getting dark, I came out of the pool, changed my clothes and got dressed only to discover my wallet was missing, someone had stolen my wallet, unfortunately I had no dime on me, there were no mobile phones in Nigeria at the time, I had no means of calling the land line to tell my brothers what had happened. I was stranded, so I summoned a little courage and hopped on the next bus to my destination, the usual practice at the time was for the bus conductor to start the collection of money from these at on the last row, exactly where I sat, he asked me the first time for money I looked the other way, he asked me a second time I looked the other way, next thing he asked the driver to stop, they were about to throw me off into the middle of nowhere when a gentlemen came to my rescue, eventually go tho me after that scary experience.

From that minute I became a Lagosian, you could refer to that experience of mine as the catalyst. I now understood clearly why everyone in Lagos does not move around carelessly. You let down your guard for once and you get tripped.

Let's fast forward to 2007 when I came back to Lagos to work on a project, I also realized how difficult it was to meet up with appointments. It was crazy, I was a business development executive, I needed to see clients all over Lagos, it was almost impossible, I had to learn all the shortcuts to my destinations and time saving measures. The driving culture of Lagos was the most difficult for me to get used to, but I had to learn and I learnt very quickly as well.

All in all, Lagos taught me a lot of things, which time and space will not permit me to list altogether here but I imbibed the culture of strong work ethic in Lagos. I just must share things I learnt in Lagos as regards my work.

Four Things Lagos Taught Me about Work
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1. Multi-tasking: This is something you will learn if you work in Lagos either you like it or not because so many things will compete for your attention so you just have to multi-task in order to remain sane and to also keep to time.

2. Timeliness: Lagos will definitely teach you how to keep to time even if you don't want to, you can't afford to skip meetings or miss any appointments because you lack the discipline to keep to time, in most cases you will have to leave wherever you are a long time before your next appointment so you don't miss it, because in Lagos a bad traffic situation isn't an excuse.

3. Beat Competition: There's every likelihood that whatever you are selling or doing in Lagos there are other ten people doing same right around you, so you must learn how to stay above competition. The rule is simple, beat competition or get frozen out.

4. Hard work: To be successful in Lagos, you have to work hard if you want to earn a decent living, there are no hard and fast rules. Just keep working hard and harder till you breakthrough. Initall I must give credit to the city of Lagos for what it has taught me on efficiency. I am of the opinion that the fastest thinkers, the most efficient professionals and the best entrepreneurs in the world are from Lagos Nigeria. Despite the huge population and traffic situation, Lagosians continue to find ways to introduce new ideas and concepts to stay ahead in every way.

Hard working and honest Lagosians inspire me in every way with the efforts they put in and I just couldn't resist the urge to pen this in honour of the men and women who work hard to make Lagos the economic nerve centre of Nigeria day in, day out. I doff my hat!

Chapter end