The three-part observational documentary series examines life in one of the world’s most extreme urban environments: Lagos, Nigeria.
Fifty years ago, Lagos, then Nigeria’s capital, was a city about the size of Bradford today, with nearly 300,000 residents. Everyone said it was beautiful. Today 16 million people live there: this is the new generation of megacities the world is saying goodbye to the countryside. And it’s growing by 600,000 a year.
It’s like every 12 months in Glasgow. It was a monster, force-fed from being morbidly obese, but with a bone structure similar to that of a baby. It wasn’t working properly and just lay there, growing, moaning and in danger of bursting. Nobody says Lagos is beautiful anymore.
However, it is special, as this documentary, Welcome to Lagos (BBC2), zooms in on a tiny fraction of that 16 million population. At the bottom of the garbage pile are actually scavengers of the Olusosun dump, human vultures poking through the stinking trash with their metal claws, looking for things to recycle and sell: cans, plastic, copper wire, rubber, clothes, everything .
During the dry season, fires are frequent and toxic fumes and deadly hazards contaminate daily work. During the rainy season, the place turns into a slimy underground world.
