“Lagosians are quite sweet”

Transcript: “Lagosians are quite sweet”

Lorraine Turner Akcakaya: Tell us a little bit about yourself, where you’re from and how you ended up in Lagos.
Shola Lawal: Hello, my name is Shola Lawal. I’m a journalist cover sth.über etw. berichtencovering the African continent. I am originally from a smaller city called Ilorin. It’s in North Central Nigeria, and it’s a landlockedvon Land umgeben, ohne Zugang zum Meerlandlocked city, so we don’t have a beach and we don’t have water. And that was always the pullAnziehungskraft, Reizpull for me to go to Lagos, so when I was 16, I decided to set off on my own, go to the university there. And I knew that they had a very good mass communication programme because I wanted to be a journalist. So that’s what took me to Lagos far away from my family. But I think it’s probably the best decision I made for myself. 
Lorraine: How did it go when you first got there? What were your first impressions? 
Shola: Yeah, it was totally, completely different. I’d been to Lagos with my mom once or twice in the past. But it was always briefkurzbrief visits and they were always chaotic. Lagos is such a big city. There’s something happening all the time. And coming from Ilorin, where it’s kind of a sleepy city, it’s kind of like we’re in slow motionZeitlupeslow motion. Then going into Lagos as a teenager on my own, it was quite a big shock, but I was also grateful to have the community of students and that was quite helpful for me to transitionübergehentransition on the University of Lagos campus. It’s a nice place to go when you want to escape the insanity  ,Wahnsinninsanity of Lagos. It’s just kind of a small, sereneruhig, gelassenserene environment. And when you’re going crazy outside, you can just, like, go through the gates and everything will be completely fine. We have these Danfo busgelber Minibus, SammeltaxiDanfo buses that you take. They’re like yellow buses and they’re always moving in and out of traffic, driving recklesslygewagt, rücksichtslosrecklessly. People are always angry. On the other hand, as well, Lagosians are quite sweet. There’s a way that they show love. They almost always get into your get into sb’s businesssich bei jmdm. einmischenbusiness. Like, if they see you going in the wrong direction, for example, there’s someone who’s going to scream at you “No! Don’t go that way!” And to you, it might seem like they’re harshhart, unwirschharsh, but honestly, that’s just how they show love.

Listen to the full interview on Spotlight Audio 9/26.