Hon. Segun Onilude is the current Chairman of the Badagry Local Government Council Area of Lagos State, an area endowed with all kinds of seafood, beaches, and serene environments. The town boasts of the first storey building in Nigeria, the first primary school, and other historical events in Nigeria.
In this interview with Lucky Onoriode George, Publisher/Editor of African Travel Times, he regrets the government’s neglect of roads leading to and fro Badagry, numerous security checkpoints, and the underdevelopment of potentials in the area. Excerpts:
I’m sure you know you are sitting as the head of a community through which civilization, Western education, and Christianity came into Nigeria?
Yes, I do! Badagry is divinely endowed, and that’s why we are privileged as a community to have all these things you are referring to.
As the chairman of this great local government and of course an indigene, can you give us some background to the history of Badagry… just as you can recollect?
Badagry as we all know it is an ancient town, well known or referred to as the cradle of civilization. When the Europeans started coming into the country, one of their first points of call was Badagry, and that was where the first primary education began in Nigeria, and that school is St. Thomas Primary School in 1842.
Again, Christianity was first practiced or preached in Badagry, and we still have a symbol of it here. It was under a tree called Agia locally. The tree is no longer there, but a Cenotaph was erected, symbolizing the first place where Christianity was preached.
The slave trade business too was equally prominent in Badagry; not that we were slave merchants, but this was where the merchants then would assemble the slaves and from here, they were moved to various destinations in the Americas.
For a while now, Badagry has been at the forefront of tourism because of its history in Nigeria, how has that impacted on Badagry and who were the first set of pupils in the primary school?
That’s an assignment! I really don’t have that but as a matter of importance, I’ll dig into it, and find out. Of course, there would be people from Badagry who would be among the first set of pupils, but I tell you, some of our fathers had occupied places in the past, there was the late Oba C.D Akran who was even Finance Minister during the First Republic; there were justices who had started their education from Badagry. Among them is Justice Npkonu among others, they are retired now.
There were this Honorable D.S. Ude and lots of prominent people that had passed. I can’t really say this is their position, whether they are the first set or not.
But I must admit that it has not reflected structurally in terms of advancements in the community. I’ve seen a community where I was, and 10 years after, I went back to that community, and what I saw was a big transformation that I couldn’t even locate some of the places I have known and I had to call people to find out.
That scenario has not been the case for Badagry, and that reflects on our roads; that reflect on our infrastructure, which to me are decayed. A community that is so rich, culturally; a community that is the centre of everything first in Nigeria, should not be in this form.
So, I think a lot still needs to be done in terms of the development of infrastructure. And that is why even good as we have all these things, we should be the Jerusalem of Nigeria. If we are not Jerusalem of Nigeria, we should be Mecca of Lagos State.
As a former teacher, how would you culturally and historically better educate someone who’s not from Badagry?
Well, when I was a toddler, when we were younger, almost everybody in Badagry could of my age, could be called a tourist guide, because, in those days, it was tourism that we made little money from.
Weekends especially, we went out in the morning along the road to look for white people that were visiting. You wave them down asking …. First storey building? They would say okay and we would enter their car and take them there. You see, I always tell people that Badagry, first and foremost, is a peaceful community, if you want a peaceful life, if you want a place where you can sleep with your two eyes closed, you come to Badagry.
Without a doubt, Badagry has the potential to be great. I’ve had the opportunity of reading and being to places like Miami, what they have are the things we have around us, we take them for granted. What we need is to attach facilities and infrastructure that would support these things, give them to people who could really manage them, and everybody will be coming to Badagry.
You see, while we were younger, the Europeans visit every weekend. You see them loitering around our seaside, playing, getting sun, all sorts of things. We have everything. Is that development? And when we talk about individuals that want to make little money, that was where you get it from. Just take your wares, you want to sell, take them to appropriate places; we have them at the seashores, and you see a lot of picnickers coming around on daily basis, especially at the weekends. And you make a lot of money. You don’t struggle to make money in Badagry. What we lack is the infrastructure to support what is on the ground.
What are you going to do with Suntan Beach, because the beach belongs to the local government? The last time I was there, it’s not the same Suntan Beach I know anymore, patronage has dropped because of the bad road, even at that, people still come, I see quite a number of people there. What are you going to do with Suntan Beach?
Yes, I want to tell you because of the proliferation of our local governments, unfortunately, Suntan Beach has been ceded to Badagry West Local Council Development Area [LCDA], but I agree with you that Suntan Beach is not the same Suntan Beach we know. When it was built by one of my predecessors, Chief Moses Owolabani, there were infrastructures there to support those who want to stay there. I can’t vouch for the condition of those places now.
But even worse as the situation is, I want to tell you that I know that weekends and every festive period many people still visit and from my counterpart there, I’ve known that they make millions there.
People still throng that place and you see why we have a lot of people going to that place? It is because that one is properly structured; there is security as well as kiosks that can accommodate families. But virtually every community at the seaside has those facilities in Badagry.
Come around during weekends, but if not for this pandemic, every weekend, when you stay … if somebody who is not familiar with this route stay along the road, you’ll be asking people, where are they going, is something happening somewhere? And that is the only thing that happened. They throng from far and near to Badagry beaches.
So, we still make money, but I’ve told my counterpart, that they should improve. If you cannot do it better, then don’t let it get bad. Maintain the standard, and I don’t see the reason why you should not … because that’s one of the biggest money-spinning units for them. So, I don’t see the reason why it should not be developed.
The uniqueness of that place, you would have asked me that, okay, if that place is ceded, and you say we have so many…, why did we not go to other places. We still have other places, but you see that place, people want a place that is secured. People want places that they can see from the expressway. The other ones, you have to go in, turn round and round, but this one was strategically placed.
Badagry Local Government is also trying to work on some of them, maybe we have to start doing something that would start attracting picnickers from the main express that would take them in, but the uniqueness of Suntan is that from the expressway, you see it clearly.
The Point of No Return Cenotaph is a nice location, can’t that front edge of Badagry coastline if it is still under your local government be developed?
That’s where we are planning to develop now. That’s where Badagry is planning to develop. Point of No Return is one of the places that people want to come and see. But you see if you want to go to a Point of No Return, is either you go through the lagoon or you go towards the express, drop from the main expressway, then you go in, it takes some distance.
But is the road motorable?
I was there recently; the condition is not good. That’s why we always call on the state because fixing roads cost a lot of money. And when you talk about roads that would be about five, six to 10 kilometres that means it involves a lot of money. And maybe when the state would come to our rescue in that, it would hasten the development of that area.
I know Lagos State just commissioned or about to commission its Tourism Master Plan, did those who worked on the document carry your council along? Also, have you seen the document?
I have not.
For the fact that we’re not involved should not take anything away from it because some of those on the masterplan project, for instance, the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture, is one of our sons.
What’s the name?
Ashamu Sewanu Fadipe…, he’s from Badagry and he has been in the tourism sector for a long time. He’s equally an expert in that field and ours is done with the tourism ministry; the Special Assistant to the Governor on Tourism too is equally our son, Bonu Solomon.
So, with that knowledge, and because the former Permanent Secretary had been at that corridor for a while, he had done a lot of write-ups, books on tourism and he has a passion too for the development of tourism in Badagry, he is into … he is a practitioner, not just a theorist person on it. So, I think with or without inviting us as a body presently, I’m sure Badagry’s interest would still be protected.
Do you have a tourism committee because as specified by the National Tourism Master Plan that each local government should have a tourism committee, do you have a tourism committee where you have the hoteliers as members, artisan, and transporters as members?
We have. As a matter of fact, those who run this hospitality industry now have a very cordial relationship with our local government. We relate very well and they are members of our committee. Asides tourism too, we dragged them into our security committee because security is equally important in tourism.
What we’re praying for is for more of these hospitality businesses to spring up. One of the good ones we have around was the Whispering Palms Resort. It is strategic because of its location. Yeah, it’s very good, and lately this one along the road too; the College and Fam Embassy Hotel are one of the best.
Strategically too, the location is good almost directly opposite Reece Battalion Barracks, which gives hope … and security to people and their services too is okay, and we have quite some of them around, but most of them cannot be said to be 5-star hotels.
There was a time though when the Nigerian Chambers of Commerce visited us, we had to put them up at these hotels. There are a lot of businesses that they proposed, but at times when some of them visit and they go back, we don’t see them again. When we ask them why they said that our road was bad for business, people would not want to come. And the hospitality industry thrives with people traveling, and when people are discouraged to go …, a journey that would take you maybe 30 minutes or one hour, you start spending 3, 4, 5 hours, damaging your cars, and going back home, you are discouraged.
Between Agbara and Seme alone, you will see about 92 roadblocks/checkpoints, Oh God! You will be discouraged.
Those are the stumbling blocks we have. A lot of people want to come and build industries, hotels, but these roads pose a lot of setbacks. This is an international road linking most West African countries. If you travel on road from Ghana too … I’ve heard people saying that from Ghana to Togo, and even from the Benin Republic, there’s no pothole.
And this one, ours is not even pothole, they are dungeons. It’s a serious issue and that is why the security agents too took advantage of.
As Chairman here, have you had interaction with the police because as I was driving in this morning, I faced these challenges. You have the police, you have the Custom, and you have the Immigration at every 50 meters, have you discussed with them to reduce the number of checkpoints?
As a matter of fact, we meet on a weekly basis on security issues, because when the pandemic came in, third week or fourth week, there was this question of One Million Boys coming around, so we said we got to intensify all these interactions. Though we don’t like numerous checkpoints, we had to give in a bit to allow them to spread, so that such incidents of robbery and burglary would not occur. Then we equally encouraged them to go within the communities, then and that has been achieved now, we now told them to go back which they have so far refused to do because checkpoints have now turned to toll gates.
No matter the size of your vehicle, you must part with either 200 to 500 naira. So, we called them together. I was there with all the three local government chairmen in Badagry. All the house of assembly members were there, the house of reps, everybody was there. We told them that we cannot take this thing anymore, that we would start videoing them, secret videoing, and we’ll write a report and send it to places, but because we are known for our hospitality too, we warned them and we didn’t want to cause them to lose their jobs.
So, part of our agreement was that they would set up a task force that would go to all these commanders and reduce checkpoints. We are not saying there should not be checkpoints, but to reduce it, in fact from their own investigation, which they did on their own, they would officially submit the reports soon, we do it every Wednesday. But from the grapevine that I heard, they’ve seen that from Agbara to Seme and Owode, we have about 92 checkpoints.
The question is what were they looking for? If we were to be in the office, I would have shown you the breakdown of the number of police checkpoints, the custom, immigration, and others.
It’s 92 in a distance that is not up to thirty kilometres, you understand what I’m saying that it’s not even one, one kilometre! 92 checkpoints, what are they looking for?
So you have the issue of bad roads affecting your commerce, tourism activities; now you have 92 checkpoints to deal with?
So, no businessman in his right senses would want to do business in this condition.
As a border town, is it possible for people to come into Badagry here and also visit the Benin Republic and come back here in the form of a package holiday?
Yes.
Do you have tour guides who can take them to places like Porto Novo, an ancient town?
Yes, yes, we have.
Can you explain …?
You see, Badagry and Republic of Benin, but for geographical demarcation, we would have been one. But because of the demarcation, some of us find ourselves here, some have themselves there; you still see some of our people here that have homes, families in the other places …
We bear the same name and some even have families, wives, as they have here, those who are into polygamy, as they have homes there.
Going from Badagry to Seme, Rokpoji, Porto Novo is no problem. There are people who do not have any other job than to serve as tour guides. And we have a lot of them, and because of the distance, except within Badagry that you have a problem of too numerous checkpoints, potholes, immediately you cross our own border, you just move more freely.
So, it’s very easy. We have trained people that have all these locations on their palms, not that they want to ask questions, they can even book it down for you, you just go to all these places and come back to Badagry to rest. And if you are good at French too, you stay there.
Now there’s one thing I want to draw your attention to, 20 years ago when I started coming here as a journalist, people come to Badagry every day to the roundabout, you know the Motor park there also has a lot of shops for people to make hair, people come all the way from Lagos…, what happened?
Yes, yes, yes, yes.
Yeah, that very fashion aspect about Badagry has also disappeared. What are you doing to bring it back?
Thank you. I don’t know the last time you are that roundabout. I remember this thing you are saying because when one of my predecessors, late Kiki, built it, the place was a swamp before. People took up the shops and it became fashionable to say I want to go to Badagry to make my hair.
They were so skilled, then our sisters too from the Benin Republic that are so skilled in those things came around, but it got to a level when that facility, the shops there become a hideout for hoodlums. And you see, some of them … that’s when they braid 1,000,000 hairstyles, which means you can be there until very late daily, so, hoodlums started taking over that place.
You see, the way the shops were structured, they were about 15 to 20 in rows, and you see that the first four or five were occupied by those who sell some other things whilst the rest were occupied by miscreants. You know, when you come around to do something and you’re seeing faces that are so stern-looking and everybody is smoking, you wouldn’t want to come there, especially when it is late. That was how customers started dwindling, not coming around until that one started fading out. So, when we came on board, we realized we’ve lost something.
It belongs to the local government, so we demolished everything; if you go there now, you would see new structures coming up.
We learned a lesson there, that because of the way it was built, there was a hidden place for these evil-minded people to hide, so we now turned the shape of the structure into a U-shape.
So, you just come in and every shop is the view of the shoppers. So, there won’t be … no shop owner will be at a disadvantage. If I want to buy just anything, and if I can see it in the first two rows, why would I want to go to the back, but now we’ve done it in such a way that everybody is in a clear view.
We’ve done the first phase of it and the second phase is on-going. In the past too, the motor park was also neglected that has been fixed and we now have all the vehicles moved in from the main road.
While we were doing the shopping complex too, we are reconstructing the road, the first thing that delayed us on the road though was the state and federal road project which that we have to take cognizance of so that we don’t build for them not to come and demolish it.
But now that we’ve taken appropriate measurements, we are doing that now. And some of the vehicles are already going into the car park again. I’m sure by the time we are through with that, some of these things will be coming back because we have the skill already.
What are the different dishes or cuisines you would say Badagry is known for?
That’s what makes us tick, have you heard of Lagba before? Have you heard of Akporo? Have you heard of aAjogun? Kokoro? What of Moyo?
Those are some of our foods; I don’t know, maybe when next you come back, we’ll show you some of these delicacies. There is Abodo, there is Kakara, there is Kokoro. They are many that you can’t get them elsewhere except for Badagry, and there is coconut.
I know Badagry is home of coconuts in Lagos State, how much impact has the business made in Badagry?
Yes, up to a certain period, I remember during the Jakande period, or even before then, there was a company in Badagry, where they were using the back of coconuts to make jute bags, those sacks, while we were in school, we do sack-race, those sacks we use in … they made them somewhere in Badagry, that was in the 60s, 70s.
I’m making reference to that to show that because we have the raw materials for it, I’m sure that was why that company was sited there. And when Jakande came, there were coconuts industries too, because part of the job our women do was to make Adiagbo; that’s an extraction from coconuts. And you still see a lot of homes, I know some people, prominent people in Lagos, they don’t take all these groundnut oil, palm oil, they take Adiagbo pure, some of them will call me and said ah, Badagry they would have original, that they wouldn’t have mixed with some other thing, and I helped them in getting it. So, when they cited that coconuts industries then, apart from making the bags, they do that coconut, because it’s a factory, you’ll be sure of what … but with time.
I don’t know maybe its improper management when the military took over they killed some of these industries, the coconut industry is no longer there when free money came in, our people now abandoned it they feel embarking in smuggling will bring in more money, when you do bunkering, when you do smuggling you make quick money, so, and that one is a process, you have to bring the coconuts, then cut it ….that takes a long time and they abandoned that, but now that the borders are closed again.
Like I have told my people, smuggling is not a business one could be proud of, it is not a business that you would go out among people of reputable … and say I am a smuggler, you can’t say that.
So, this penchant for quick money had made our people run away from this our God-given skills and talent in doing some of these things. Maybe now that to get a white-collar job is equally becoming a problem, some of our young ones are doing a re-think, and unfortunately too for us, some of our people have started when they cannot buy planks, they fell these palm trees and start using the wood for roofing and we keep educating them that, no, this is a cash something that you are throwing away, this is a money-making facility that you are destroying.
You see now, Badagry cannot meet up with the demand for coconut again; we can’t, so we have to travel to as far as Cote D’Ivoire and Ghana to bring in coconut to meet our local demand or to meet local demand in Nigeria.
So, you won’t be surprised every day when you see lorries of coconuts coming in from Ghana, Cote D’Ivoire, and the rest of them to Badagry to join with our own before we sell.
What is your final words to Nigerians?
The first thing we would plan with my supervisor for tourism is to do a stakeholder meeting. We don’t want to assume we have the monopoly of knowledge, the problems we’ve identified, and the solution we make it open and bare for them and to add theirs, and together we proffer solution, but we have to impress it on them. Now we can’t say we have a problem; out of this problem, something can still be done.
We shouldn’t wait until the roads are fixed before we start thinking of what to do, bad as the situation of the road is, what can we make out of what we have? We would start is not the fullest, so we should start thinking of something.
My advice to them is when they are invited, which would not be too long, everybody should endeavour to be available so that we rob minds together and see what we can fix on our own, it’s not everything that government must fix for us; what are the things we can fix on our own? What are the things we are doing that are detrimental to the development of industries so we try to correct them?
Then from that place maybe we would have a voice, a louder voice to reach out to the higher authority to come to our aid. Maybe when we develop a paper from that sitting and we impress it on the state government too, they would see the need to quickly come to our support and help in developing this industry, and I’m sure even the state will stand to gain more.
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