A Quote by Wole Soyinka

The Lagos of my childhood was a well-laid-out maritime city. — © Wole Soyinka
The Lagos of my childhood was a well-laid-out maritime city.
Lagos was the ultimate dysfunctional city - but actually, in terms of all the initiatives and ingenuity, it mobilised an incredibly beautiful, almost utopian landscape of independence and agency.
So I made an outline. Well, you know, days are going by, and I am not writing anything because this thing is laid out in front of me. It's as if you get every brochure for a trip you are going to go on and you get the minutest details of every step along the way. Well, I really doubt you're going to then get in the car and go. You know, it's like, why bother if it's all laid out in front of you?
How prophetic L'Enfant was when he laid out Washington as a city that goes around in circles!
In Lagos there's a really strong case to resurrect strong parts. Embedded in all of it are some amazing pieces of planning, amazing pieces of engineering and interaction. For instance, the campus of Lagos University is stunningly beautiful, efficient and generous, and that needs to be recognised and preserved.
As megacities like Mexico City and Lagos become increasingly common, we could see a rise of the urban epidemic and a new era of infectious disease threatening global health security.
That has been another interesting discovery: that basically a city [Lagos] could recover from a really deep, deep, deep pit.
The Philippines made a lawful and peaceful effort to resolve their maritime claims with China using the tribunal established under the Law of the Sea Convention (Unclos). The tribunal's ruling delivered a clear and legally binding decision on maritime claims in the South China Sea as they relate to China and the Philippines - and that ruling should be respected. We believe this decision can and should serve as an opportunity to renew efforts to address maritime claims peacefully.
Land degradation, rising sea levels, famine, and conflict will continue to drive people from their homes and towards cities, with megacities like Mexico City and Lagos becoming increasingly common in some of the poorest parts of the world.
There are those who seem to feel they have no choice about being jerks in the present because they had a crappy childhood. Well, that's the definition of childhood; nobody gets out alive. You either get stronger from what you experience, or you turn it into a crutch, an excuse, a dodge.
Lagos style is fresh and different. Even with the tailors, they get very innovative with their stuff, with the cuts. When my parents used to make the traditional wares, it was a little bit baggy. But now the tailors are able to infuse the European style, making it slim-fit. Lagos style is different, man. Innovative.
We're seeing China push very hard in its immediate neighborhood, particularly in the maritime zone surrounding China, to kind of create a security zone for itself, trying to lock in the territorial and maritime gains that it can now, before a period of much more difficult choices arises some time in the 2020s.
I was raised in New York, so that's the greatest city in the world to me, but if you take that out of the equation, then London is my favourite city, and I'm a huge fan of Dublin as well.
If you're able to grow up in Nigeria and go through certain things, you're able to tackle anything around the world because you're able to live wherever, if you can survive in a city like Lagos or Warri or Niger Delta, as far as I'm concerned.
We say the cows laid out Boston. Well, there are worse surveyors.
I think I have become a very strong person. If you’re able to grow up in Nigeria and go through certain things, you’re able to tackle anything around the world because you’re able to live wherever, if you can survive in a city like Lagos or Warri or Niger Delta, as far as I’m concerned.
The vision that we laid out in 2004 was designed, at best, for a 10-year period. And it was pretty clear that the vision that we laid out in 2004 by the time we arrived in 2010-11 was not working anymore.
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