This is what Lagos without people looks like: there are no cars, so roads are empty, there are no people hustling to get buses to get to work on time, there are no hawkers, no school children, no buses.
I kid you not, the photo above is a road in Lagos, specifically the Lekki Epe Expressway. You’ll only ever see this road this clear during the day a few times in year: Sunday mornings and some public holidays like Christmas or New Year’s. Certainly not on a normal weekday — which was when the photo was taken.
Where did everyone go?
You probably already know this, but a recap is useful nonetheless: a week ago, the Nigerian President, President Buhari addressed Nigeria on the Covid-19 situation and declared a lockdown in Lagos, Abuja and Ogun state due to the rising cases of Covid-19 in these three states. Since then, these three states — especially Lagos the epicenter of traffic — have seen a tremendous change.
Oh there’s more where that came from. Do you recognise any of these places without people or cars?
Here are three of the hottest spots for human and vehicle traffic in Lagos as documented by Ikem Emelieze:
Ikoyi, Lagos:
Victoria Island:
Lekki:
Going by these photos, Lagos without people looks like the stuff dreams are made of. Can someone tell the Jagaban to include this in the megacity plan?
If you’d like to share photos of your street, road or city post-lockdown from anywhere at all in Nigeria, here’s how: fill this form to do this and we’ll reach out to you. Shout out to Ikem Emelieze for the photos!
