“Lagos will kill you”, blah blah blah. That’s the national anthem. The one, even people in Togo, sing because they have heard stories. Yet, the country’s economic capital receives about 123,840 visitors daily, according to former governor Akinwunmi Ambode in 2016. That may be below the point, negating the conversation that life in Lagos is literally hard.

Not everyone has the same storyline, though. ‘Them go talk say money no dey Lagos‘, a line from a song – Money no dey Lagos – exemplifies what goes on in Lagos and validates the fact that many residents in Lagos enjoy a great life.

‘They cannot relate’ to all the stories of poor accommodation, dysfunctional power systems, etc., because they have the money to solve those problems. But, everyone in Lagos will relate to constant traffic, poor water systems, expensive food items, overpriced restaurants and hotels, dirty beaches that come with overpriced food and drink stores.

All that makes our stories meet at a certain point.

Lagos is regarded as a megacity in the sense of the economic activities in the state and the ever-busy ports, not in the sense of the actual definition of a megacity. It means that the noise is unavoidable, not until Nigeria understands what climate change is and responsible leadership is in place.

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Lagos is like a feeder state, addressing some of the issues other states may have. This may be the reason for the influx of visitors and people migrating from their hometowns every other day. Every one wants to be near the money. And, indeed, there are possibilities that if you carry your bags and move to Lagos, you will see and hold the money.

Lagos is the place where all the fun is. The beaches – Lagos residents’ most visited hangout spots, the restaurants, the hotels, the game centres, the malls, the gardens, the art/historical centres, the clubs. It just seems to be like everywhere you turn to, you have someplace cool to hang out, as long as you have your money.

With all of this in place, Lagos still suffers insecurity issues. We are not talking about banditry or terrorism, but traffic robbery, thug shenanigans, gang/cult wars, which all still go as far as insecurity goes.

Besides that, the status of Lagos makes it so that over 20 million people reside in the state, causing congestion in people and automobiles. You could almost see human traffic moving slowly on express roads. And, public holidays do not concern the people of Lagos. As a visitor, you will wonder if the federal government left Lagos when it declared a public holiday.

The congestion is what pushes people to wake early in the morning, sleep late, and continue the cycle like that. This is the crux of today’s conversation.

There are concerns that living in Lagos may not be suitable for children, who have to wake up at 4:30 am so they get to school early. Their parents/guardians have to do the same, so they are not queried when they get to work at 10:13 am instead of 8 am. For instance, if you lived in Ikorodu and worked at Surulere, you may not want to ‘oversleep’ unless you own the company. This is the reality of Lagos residents.

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The noisy life in Lagos is not what any human being should be experiencing. But, we are not in a utopia where roses are red, and grasses are green. The reality will kill you, and it will take decades to correct the anomalies and bring Lagos to a megacity status.

We all own Lagos – not literally or politically – and will like to stay here, so we can only complain until the state is decongested or responsible leadership is put in place.

However, Lagos residents pay tax which should translate to infrastructural development, traffic management, effective housing systems. Ah! And power. Lagos residents’ problems can be solved if the taxes collected are used as they should.

The ‘how to make Lagos better’ is what all of us should be talking about.