Life in Makoko – Director DijiaderoGBA’s Interview | The Lagos Series, Week 9
From the good to the bad to the ugly, Lagos gives you different faces. One of the faces of Lagos is Makoko, a community which hosts about a million people, according to research. In his latest documentary, Life in Makoko, DijiaderoGBA shares highly visual and emotionally intriguing stories of Makoko. The documentary is what you would call “storytelling at its peak”. The visuals, the soundtrack, the people, the place, the stories and everything are proof that DijiaderoGBA has done a more than an excellent job on this project.
DijiaderoGBA is a Nigerian filmmaker/Director, writer and photographer who, from childhood, has been a fan of storytelling. He attributes his love for stories to where he grew up. In his words, “In as much as there are many stories to be told in the world, my main focus and love is African storytelling because that’s who I am, an African.” He is basically a storyteller via films, writings and photography.
The Lagos Series engaged the award-winning filmmaker in an interview in a bid to allow him to share personal information about Life in Makoko, including what inspired the story and what he hoped to achieve with the story.
What inspired the Makoko story?
I got to know about the community called Makoko some years back and I did more research via Google and mostly, YouTube. Since then, I have always wanted to tell the community’s story. Last month, I met a tweep and we started talking about films and how she wants me to help tell her story. Fast forward, I didn’t know what made me mention Makoko in our conversation but as soon as I mentioned it, she liked the idea and told me she lived there for almost two decades!
I was so happy. We talked about meeting up and after some days, I travelled to Lagos and we went to Makoko together for the pre-production stage of the documentary. Weeks later, we made the documentary and here it is, telling the story I have wanted to tell.
What do you hope to achieve with the Makoko story?
My major aim is to help the society and the less-privileged living there, especially the kids. I called my team before we went there to make the documentary and told them all I want to achieve with this project is to get the story out and hope people see to help.
I’m glad to say last week Sunday, I was there with some people that saw the documentary and thought it was right to give the community some used clothes, shoes, food etc. We fed some people and gave out a lot of stuff for upkeep. I still want more NGOs, individuals and elite people in the society to see this project and give to the society.
What has the feedback been like since you published the video?
It’s been amazing and blessed. I have gotten feedback from people all over the world. People that never knew about the community and its people. It’s been great so far for me and my team.
Is this a one-off thing or is it a project where you also get to visit other areas in Lagos?
Well, I can’t say for now because I major in films not documentary but when the time comes and I see a reason to tell stories via documentary, I will gladly do. Lol.
If you haven’t already seen Life in Makoko, you definitely should do that here and let him know your thoughts:
HIDDEN EUPHORIA – Life In Makoko (A dijiaderoGBA film )
Did you enjoy reading this? Sure you did! Catch up on all the other episodes that we have had here: The Lagos Series
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The Lagos Series is a project which aims at sharing an enlightening, entertaining and inspiring narrative of Lagos in both written and visual media.
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DigiClan Lagos Meetup | A Story of Learning, Networking & Jollof Rice
Prior to now, I wasn’t very much a fan of meetups. Blame that on the fact that I get really uncomfortable when I’m among many people that I either do not know at all or I’m unfamiliar with. But then, one of the things that I am trying to do is to get out of my shell and do stuff that I naturally do not like doing- like going out of my house to an event where one of the purposes is to network. (Hopefully, one of these days, I’d write a post about why you should be eager to attend meetups if you’re someone like me who doesn’t like to go out that much).
For a few months now, I’ve been a member of the biggest community of digital marketers in Nigeria and Africa. My friend, Deji Faniyan, saw the need for me to be a part and linked me up straight up (and that’s something I am grateful for).
DIGICLAN, as the community is called, is a community of digital marketers and influencers. The overall aim of the community is to network, learn, teach and mutually contribute to our individual and collective growth as well as the overall development of the Digital Marketing Space of Africa.
Last week, I got to know that there would be a DigiClan Lagos meetup the coming Saturday. I was reluctant at first even though I knew I had much to learn from professionals who I knew would be coming around. (I don’t like meeting people that much, remember? Lol)
But one thing caught my fancy; the fact that there was going to be Jollof rice!
Yes, I know I love food that much and I am not ashamed of the gospel of food. But see, knowing that there would be Almighty Jollof instantly spurred me to prepare for it. I just told myself, “Babe, ain’t no way I’m gonna pass up an opportunity to eat Jollof this Saturday. Ain’t noooo way!”
And so, I got up from my bed, dressed up for the event against my feelings of not liking to meet people and headed out for The Virtual Hub, Ikeja where the meetup was to hold.
The event was one of the many periodic face-to-face meetups and free trainings organized by the Clan to provide answers to questions as well as share vital information on the Digital marketing space. Furthermore, it was inspired by the need for the community to meet, network, share and learn from campaign stories, successes and failures of experts and upcoming Digital media marketing professionals.
Did I love the meetup? Hell yeah, I loved it (I wouldn’t be taking my time to write this if I didn’t love it.) There were people who shared challenges that they had been having with their online campaigns and there were more than enough professionals to help them get their problems solved.
Also, I really did get to network with a couple of people who I was absolutely wowed listening to. We shared ideas and exchanged ideas. I wouldn’t have loved it if I had missed it, really.
After I got home, one of the interesting things I thought about doing was to get other individuals who attended the event to share why they decided to attend and what they learnt from attending. I got a few responses:
“The meet-up, for me, was an opportunity to network (put faces to the WhatsApp names) as well as learn, knowing the calibre of members in the group. I got to reunite with old colleagues (as well as former wedding train mate ?) And I picked one, two and plenty ideas e.g to guide with content marketing strategy.”
-Iniobong Michael Idio, Digital Marketing Executive with core competence in SEO.
“I attended the Meetup with an intention to CONNECT and LEARN. I actually did achieve all of that from the meet-up, got to meet young great minds with amazing talents, people who are open to sharing their own ideas and experiences for others to learn from. I also got to meet some people that I’ve only been hearing about or talking to on phone, so it was really nice to place faces to them and yea, I made new friends too. The experience was truly AWESOME and UNFORGETTABLE”- Nancy Abudu Oriolowo (@oriolowonancy), Digital Marketer.
“I volunteered for the events and I attended because I want to go into social media marketing and management. The meetup met my objective because I was able to get other Digiclan members to learn how social media management works and how to get the best ideas in running campaigns.”
– Abu David Itama, Brand Strategist & Content Developer.
“I was to coordinate the volunteers. Met lots of digital media-inclined personalities from different spheres of Digital Media management and learnt one or two ideas on how to better manage my blog.”
– Daphne Isaac, Entertainment and Celebrity Gossip Blogger, www.fambles.com.
Personal Verdict?
The organizers and volunteers did a great job, I must confess. The brainstorming sessions were enlightening, the networking session was fascinating. And the food…Oh God…the Jollof rice was life! Did I mention there was Puff-puff too?
The venue we used was beautiful too. Virtual Hub is a company that offers you space for events like meet-ups and seminars at affordable prices. More interestingly, they have really cool workspaces for you if you have a team or company and you need somewhere to work. The catch? You could pay daily, weekly or monthly and the charges are understandably moderate, to be honest.
I look forward to more DigiClan meetups like this. The experience I had has made me more open to going out to events more and meeting more people.
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My First BRT Experience in Lagos | The Lagos Series, Week 8
Ever been on a Lagos BRT before? Can you recall what your first BRT experience in Lagos was like? Fun? Normal? Mine was awful and I’m going to tell you why.
So y’all have seen the video of Femi Otedola in a molue, right? I’m guessing you oohed and ahhed, gushing at how amazing it is that he took the plunge to the baser lifestyle of the average Nigerian. Okay, not so average.
Funny enough, while I watched the video clip, all I could think of was how I felt when I got into a BRT bus for the first time.
In all my years as a Lagosian, all my life actually, I had never been in a BRT or molue for that matter. Until April. It was my first BRT experience in Lagos that I promised that I would never repeat. Actually, I never even thought I would ever experience it, despite all my talks of how I’m a Lagosian and I’ve basically done everything that counts in Lagos –eaten boli, trekked from one bus stop to another, fought with conductor for change, haggled and bargained for the price of pepper in a market, taken a bike from Ikeja to my home (quite a scary heart-in-my mouth distance), the list goes on..or so I thought!
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I digress. Anyway, so how was my first BRT experience in Lagos? Awful! I was holding onto my bag like hell’s waters.
How it all began? I was running late for an appointment and had to figure out how to get from Ketu to Ikoyi. CMS, was the option. Alas, there was no bus heading straight that way and Ubering it wasn’t an option, I mean girl was reeeed, so I bit the bullet and decided to get into a BRT bus when it seemed like the only option.
I was like, yay, gonna get there on time, save funds and still feel like a G. Yeah? No.
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I did save funds. I mean, BRT from Ketu to TBS was N200! Imagine my surprise! Gosh, how I’ve been wasting money on transport (a girl’s got to do what a girl’s got to do). I could not believe my luck.
Then came the surprise, more like culture shock(s). First, as I was about to buy my ticket, I saw some kids tryna get my attention; “Aunty, aunty! Please comman buy our ticket.”
I was like whoa, what’s going on here? Looked at the ticket guy and he gave me this unassuming look. I was like hell to the na, nobody gonna syphon my funds. Before I had time to react, the guy was asking the kids if they had change, so he could give me their ticket instead of the authentic one with him. I was like “who be mugu for here?” Politely told him no and bought the right ticket.
I thought that was all for the drama, only for me to almost get into the wrong bus, being saved from myself by some passengers. I’m sure they knew I was clueless.
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Got saved and onto the next bandwagon. Oh the horror, I felt so out of place, I couldn’t understand it, I mean, this is the girl that takes public transport like no man’s business then suddenly she is scared and holding onto her bag looking bright-eyed.
I was like, get a hold of yourself! But, no, the inner voice wouldn’t shut up; “What if they steal your bag?”, “Don’t bring out your phone”, “Don’t look too stiff”, “Don’t look too fidgety”, “Oh my gosh, this is how it must feel in subways, no wonder people are warned about subways”, “Is this appointment really that important”, “Why so stingy? Should have taken Uber”, “What if you miss your bus stop? You can’t shout ‘owa!‘ like before.”
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Don’t get me wrong, my fellow passengers looked like respectable people but the ones that didn’t…didn’t and that was not easy to deal with. I mean in other public transports, if there’s a calamity…say someone going crazy in the bus…you can jump out the window (maybe?) Or go out the trunk, but in this BRT bus, there was no escaping, the bus was high and sealed. Hmm, no wonder it’s easy for Americans to hijack school buses and the likes over there (well, it’s seen in the movies), there’s no escape route.
On getting to Costain, I became somewhat relieved knowing I would soon get to my bus stop, only for the driver to get to Leventis and scream at the few of us left in the bus that Leventis was the last bus-stop.
I swerved, “Wait, what!”
Before I said anything, an old man got up and started ranting at the driver, another passenger who tried to pacify the situation finally begged the driver to explain to the Leventis ticket guy that we didn’t know we got into the wrong bus and he should let us get into another that’d take us to our destination. The bus driver refused, abusing me and the five other passengers.
Tails between our legs, led by the ranting old man, we went to meet the ticket salesperson and explained our situation. Seeing how many we were, he believed us and got us into another bus going to CMS without charging us a ticket fee.
Upon getting to CMS, I swiftly got down, thanked the old man that saved our situation, got into a “safer” public transport, well on my way to the venue. In time.
Anyway, so I watched Otedola’s molue video clip and wondered how he must have been feeling. I noticed he checked his pocket when he got down.
One question though, didn’t passengers recognize him?
Oh, by the way, I survived, got to my appointment on time and got back home safely.
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My BRT experience in Lagos ranks up there with my Okada-on-the-express experience. I will tell you about that sometime. But for now…Ciao.
So, what was your first BRT experience in Lagos like? Tell me about it, will you?
Glossary
Molue – Lagos yellow buses popular in 90’s
BRT – Bus Rapid Transit
Bike – Motorcycle
Boli – roasted plantain
“Feel like a G” – (slang) to be on top of your game
“Who be mugu for here?” – Do I look stupid?
Owa! – (Yoruba) This is my stop!
Okada– Motorcycle
Gabriella Opara is an illustrator of words, drawings and clothes. She blogs at glamogenscribbles.wordpress.com/
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The Lagos Series is a project which aims at sharing an enlightening, entertaining and inspiring narrative of Lagos in both written and visual media.
Have a story to share?
Join the Facebook community here: The Lagos Series Community
Follow us on Instagram: @thelagosseries
Like on Facebook: The Lagos Series
FOR PARTNERSHIP or SPONSORSHIP: [email protected]