Welcome to Lagos
Three part observational documentary series which explores life at the sharp end of one of the most extreme urban environments in the world: Lagos, Nigeria.
Fifty years ago, Lagos, then Nigeria's capital, was a city the size of today's Bradford, with a population of a little less than 300,000 people. Everyone said it was lovely. Now 16 million people live there: it is one of a new breed of megacities in a world that is abandoning the countryside. And it grows by 600,000 a year.
That's like chucking in Glasgow every 12 months. It's a monster, force-fed to morbid obesity, but with the bone structure of a baby. It can't function properly, just lies there growing, groaning, and threatening to burst. No one says Lagos is lovely any more.
It is extraordinary, though, as is this documentary, Welcome to Lagos (BBC2), which zooms in on a handful of those 16 million. Bottom of the pile, literally, are the scavengers at the Olusosun rubbish dump, human vultures who pick through the stinking detritus with metal claws, looking for stuff that can be recycled and sold: tins, plastic, copper wire, rubber, clothes, anything.
In the dry season, fires often break out, adding toxic smoke and mortal danger to a day's work. And in the rainy season, the place turns into a slimy netherworld.
It's a good documentary, if you never been to this part of Nigeria you would never have known the perspective of people that actually live there. Well done.
I really enjoyed this documentary, as it shows the struggle, hardwork, wittiness, hopefulness and how courageous the people staying in Lagos are. However documentating just one area of Lagos isn't enough picture of what Lagos looks like. Only the negative sides were showed and talked about (lack of electricity, dump ways, struggles, traffic). Yes Lagos have these characteristics but it's unfair to ignore the industrialized, tourism attractive, cultural and modernized part of Lagos. Just to let other people that aren't for Lagos or in fact aren't Nigerians know that, not only do we have the ghetto sides, there are also better looking, industrialized, institutional and developed areas in Lagos.
The documentary is OK but it should have been better named Welcome to the slums of Lagos instead of Welcome to Lagos, it is like the producers tried so hard to avoid showing any sign of affluence or developed environment, I am even surprised they managed to show a paved road, I kind of chuckled when the narrator always tried to compare this poverty to the affordable lives in the western world, he could have just compared the poverty to the affordable lives of the wealthy parts of Lagos, the trash that are being recycled by the "human scavengers" were not imported from Europe, they also came from the affluent neighborhoods in Lagos, Yes, Lagos has Hilton, Sheraton, other five star hotels, the most expensive real estate neighborhood in Africa is in Lagos.
My surgeon came from Nigeria and he saved my life.
He is all business when he has to be; then breaks into the biggest smile and loves to laugh when he is being himself.
An "error occurred" when I had only watched this for a few moments. I was very disappointed because this doc is very amusing and not at all what I was expecting.
point is appreciate what you have and give thanks for life and strength each and everyday live and love that's it if they can be happy out of garbage you can jus imagine what they would do living a day of your life one love and only love can save the earth have a blessed day yall
Nigerians are one of the most courageous, hardworking, intelligent , accommodating, creative and smartest people that human race have ever witnessed. With what few parts of the society are doing, they still smile with lots of humors. I just wish I have a magic to provide them with all the infrastructures they need.
Remember this single story is not enough to depicts the whole society.
There are highly well educated doctors, professors,engineers, scientist, accountants, in this great society. Despite some Nigerian politicians are corrupted and embezzle public funds in a geometric type of trends if you may. Nigeria is one of the highest oil producing country in the world and it is one of the emerging nation.
I hope the public health and the government can help them with infrastructures.
Moruph Osuolale
Middletown, CT. 9/21/2012
So, while the rest of the world is being conned by Al Gore and his global-warming BS, which has helped him get rich beyond anybody's understanding...these peeps burn plastic and polute like there is no tomorrow? Nuts...
If the world would send nothing but condoms...maybe places like this would get the point?
I love this - great ever BRAVO!!!!!!!!
This left me very confused. Was the point to show that people living in horrid conditions are so resourceful that they do not need help from the so called "first world countries". Or that the rest of us need to shut up and realize that we are better off than people living in shit. This came across as a justification for the exploitation of 90% of the world's population by 10%, I suppose the lesson was; look, these people live in piles of rubbish and are very happy doing so, so we don't have to think about them or do anything to help them out of this horrible situation, they're happy that way. Pure capitalist, imperialist nonsense.
this was a beautifully done documentary. all documentaries which focus on world destinations should always show both sides of the story. unfortunately, the side that is told from a person living in extreme poverty is never told. people need to know both sides. the good, the bad, the happy, and the unfortunate.
very strange thing walking in the first video at exactly 6:01 at the bottom of the screen..
I love this documentary. It's such a nice change from the usual doom and gloom propaganda that's on offer.
I love this documentary and I have such a massive admiration for all the people featured. Fed up of my daughter and her friends living in the MTV Cribs dreamscape. I made them watch this to highlight that life is not all MTV want us to think it is.
I imagine that if you could have filmed cities in Europe during the industrial revolution then it might look quite similar. People are the same everywhere, born to survive and make the most of a situation.
On another note; isn't it amazing how a documentary can effect your emotional focus and opinion of an area depending on how they show information. Other docs I've seen showing similar conditions of life usually opt for hellish undertones! I end up feeling shock, sorrow and disgust. It was nice to see another shade.
These people are extraordinary. Great film, a heart-rending display of the evils of capitalism and the oppression of the working class.
There is no them and us. We're all humans equally responsible to make the world a better place, each as much as he/she can
Great Documentary.
Would like to add that not the vast majority of europeans, americans are bad, just for an example scammers from nigeria are really bad people, but it does not mean that Nigeria is a very bad influence in the world. The Good is more than the bad, yet the bad is felt much more. We might be over 200 nations But we are one world in which together wecan live in harmony and prsoperity :)
A lot of respect for Nigerians living in the Slums...new film new film,.......SLUMDOG NIGERIONAIRRE
I see they totally avoided any mention of the 419 scams running rampant from Lagos. Way to ignore the biggest reason most people know Nigeria from.
This doc seems to have the attitude of "look how happy these people are living in abject poverty! They've been poor and homeless so long that they've built a whole neighborhood based around them being poor and using garbage for everything! You could be happy too this way people of the west! In fact you'll probably have to the way your nations are being run."
They said this shanty town was only a stone's throw away from the government buildings but nobody knows it's there! As if it was something to be proud of, that a government is so corrupt and detached that that is the case.
Of course these people try to be happy, who doesn't? Joy comes from the people around you not your level of material wealth. Making the best of things, though, means very little when your homeless and hungry and your children are dying of treatable diseases.
Having said that, it's always good to remind people that foreigners are people with lives and emotions too, because if you don't they forget.
Also, great sound track.
@ phil
with population growth that we are experiencing mega cities are an inevitable result. Division of work, industrialization and agriculture on a massive scale now enable more than 50 % of world population to live in cities. The figure for developed countries is around 90%.
Lesson we learned form history is that civilisation will thrive if there are abundant resources. Once you start using more than what is available or destroy the ecosystem nothing good will come of it. Example is Angkor Wat.This was city with about a million inhabitants. They had a great ride but after poisoning their water supply it was over in a blink.
The world is approaching the Malthusian wall. We are running out of arable land, cheap energy and time. In the immediate future we face crucial shortages of everything but people.
I disagree mega cities seem to work better than rural areas which is why people leave rural areas
Good documentary over all...At the rate mega cities are growing they will inevitably crumble under their own weight. This is perfect case of a unsustainable city with poor quality of life for its inhabitants though they really do seem to make the best of it. Most of the city is like a cancerous tissue that needs to be completely rebuilt. What these people desperately need is contraception and education.
@EZ
"Every group of victimized peoples that has shed that label will tell you that if you want to move on you have to forgive your tresspassers"
tELL THAT to the most succesful ethnic minority in terms of economic sense, the jews, who not only say -never forget- the holocaust, they still do not forget/forgive the destruction of the temple or their enslavers in egypt. Do you think Jews forgive Hitler. Hell No. The real answer seems to be compensating victimized people for the crimes we have committed against them like how the jews were compensated by the germans, americans, russian, britains Canadians and so on. Your right countries need to take personal responsibilty and it starts with countries like Britain who created the mess in Nigeria to pay reparations like the Germans paid reparations to jews.
As for taking personal responsibilty, the average nigerian clearly has more drive than the average american who just plays video games all day.