For residents and other road users, it is another taker fire too many as the incident has caused panic, gridlock and frustrations.

Many motorists and commuters are stranded as the bridge connects key areas of the state and its surroundings.

It has hooked those coming and going to Lagos Island, Magodo, Ikeja, Oshodi on the one hand, and those from and to Ogun, Oyo and many other states.

On several occasions, tankers and other long vehicles have caused havoc on the bridge, named after Otedola Estate, named after a former Governor, Otedola, father of popular billionaire, Femi Otedola.

Accidents at the scene have become so rampant that some with superstitious tendencies have suggested that there might be more than meet they eyes there.

But common sense also points to the fact that the geography of the bridge, which is sloppy even as it ticklishly bends, harbours a trap.

Incidentally, a part of it around a Mobil filling station there, is being reconstructed.

Some other recent accidents on the bridge, according to Wikipedia:

On September 20, 2019, a diesel tanker fell off while driving along the Otedola bridge.

On October 10, a tanker carrying 33,000 litres of fuel driving towards Berger had an accident resulting in fuel spillage on the road. Four victims were said to have sustained injuries due to the accident according to Lagos State Emergency Management Agency.

On, October 12, 2019, a tanker with full capacity of 45000 litres of petrol fell at the Otedola bridge. The fuel was immediately transloaded by Lagos State Emergency Management Agency to avoid explosion while causing major traffic.

On, October 17, 2020, around 2-2:30am, A Container Truck loaded with fabric collided with the a Petrol Tanker, both vehicles were completely razed in the fire caused as a result of the collision. According to the Lagos State Police Command’s Public Relations officer Muyiwa Adejobi, There was no Human casualty, and the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency and Lagos State Fire Fighters put off the flames before dawn.

Rachel who has been working on primates conservation for about a decade reveals that about 80 percent of the country’s forests has been lost to uncontrolled farming and logging and that means chimpanzee habitat has been disappearing at an alarming rate.

Recently, Rachel won the ‘Green Oscars’ — the prestigious Whitley Award — worth £40,000 for her work in protecting rare chimpanzees found only in Nigeria. She said the funding from the award will especially boost her work at this time.

“I am extremely proud to have been recognised by the Whitley Fund for Nature. The funding will help me and my team to conserve chimpanzees and other wildlife in this fast disappearing forest ecosystem,” She said.

The Nigerian-Cameroon chimpanzee was declared the most endangered of all chimpanzee groups in 2012. That was when Rachel launched her project in the Idanre Forest cluster and Ise Forest Reserve; refusing to stand by and watch these great apes continue to decline.

Over the past eight years, she and her team have led a genetic study amongst other relevant activities, which in 2018 found that whilst chimpanzee populations in the South West and Niger Delta of Nigeria share ancestry with the Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzee, they are in fact a distinct group. This exciting discovery reinforced the urgent need to protect this group of chimpanzees, helping Rachel to gain support for her cause.

Rachel’s approach combines patrolling, education, research and policy reform to protect this newly discovered primate. With her Whitley Award, Rachel aims to work with the government to establish about 40,000 ha of conservation areas, and to advocate for revised laws to protect the area’s wildlife. With most wildlife preservation laws in the state created in the 70s, many have become obsolete and are in need of reform.

Her team also works closely with communities in and around forest areas, using public awareness campaigns to educate people about the importance of endangered animals and to discourage poaching.

After an unnamed Italian imported the virus to the country, Nigerians are making it a spiritual affair, some are even making room for humour, despite the potential consequences. Like the ebola crisis period, many misinformation have also spread along with, if not faster than the virus itself.

The spiritual side

Some Nigerians believe that coronavirus is a “spiritual attack” on the world and a spiritual defense is needed to combat it. It has been included as “prayer point” in several churches. Perhaps the best example of this spiritual side is in Prophet David Elijah of the Glorious Mount of Possibility Church in Lagos who said in a video that has since gone viral that he was going to “China to go and deal with Coronavirus”.

“I am going prophetically to destroy coronavirus,” Elijah said in the video.

See the video herehere.

Apart from the man of God who is going to prophetically destroy the virus, there are other faith-influenced memes making the rounds like the ones below.

Humor Covid19

Even in the face of potential disaster, humour is never lacking in the country. No wonder the country was once rated as having the happiest people. Several memes have been made just to get a laugh off the virus. One of the most popular of this category is a video by Nollywood actor, Williams Uchemba. In the video, the actor played a crying coronavirus making a call home that Nigeria is not conducive for it to thrive.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Williams Uchemba (@williamsuchemba)

And here are other memes too in that category.

An opportunity to learn history

Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, several references have been made to the Spanish influenza of

1918-1919. Surprisingly, details about how Nigeria was affected has been dug out, something that may have never become popular again if the Covid19 had not happened.

#istandwithpastorsam_adeyemi that’s number of death recorded here in Nigeria in 1918 caused by Spanish influenza.. pic.twitter.com/39FzPF0XAz

— Adeyemi charles (@Yemade007) April 8, 2020

Fake news

Crisis allows fake news to thrive. The social media is awash with fake news on the virus, but thanks to determined journalists and fact checkers, many of the ridiculous lies about the virus have been exposed. For example, a write up claiming to be from Stanford University on how to check if one had the virus has been debunked as lies. Many more will still be discovered and exposed.

Opportunistic scams

On March 29, President Muhammadu Buhari issued a lockdown order in Abuja, Ogun and Lagos, the epicenter of the Covid19 disease in Nigeria. The stay-at-home order ignited a fresh reaction. Scam.

Phishing scam rose with a measure of success for the first few days. The scammers sent out messages on WhatsApp to folks telling them the government wants them to access some money and they are to fill an online form. People who fell for it unknowingly gave out their passwords along with bank details to the scammers. Other variants of the scam involve claims that mobile networks are giving free data or Netflix is doing a promo. They are all scams.

Conspiracy theories

Not very long into the lockdown in some states and restriction of movements in others to curb the spread of the Covid19-causing coronavirus, different theories started arising. Spread mainly through WhatsApp videos were people claiming that 5G infrastructures and not coronavirus was responsible for the illnesses and death around the world. The claim started with random posts on social media, many of them non Nigerians. Then some popular Nigerians took the baton. Popular among these were former Kogi West Senator, Dino Melaye. He claimed in a video that 5G network waves were dangerous to human health and that is what is responsible for Covid19. A popular pastor in the country, Chris Oyakhilome also came forward, implicating the 5G network as a tool of the  antichrist dishing out the coronavirus. He later recanted.

Pastor Chris Oyakhilome, one of the biggest Pastor in Africa and probably in the world is also pushing this 5G “New World Order” #COVID19;. pic.twitter.com/vuy44eJDm2

— Wale Gates 🇳🇬🇬🇧 (@walegates) April 4, 2020

Violence

Violence is fast becoming another reaction to the pandemic and its resultant disruption of livelihood means. In towns around the borders of Ogun State and Lagos, there have been distress calls with videos to show the assailants.

Uncertainty, death and clash of culture in Kano

Weeks into Nigeria’s battle to stop the spread of the pandemic, grave diggers in Kano raised the alarm of a sudden rise in engagement. The spotlight was beamed on the state and the National Center for Disease Control was blamed by some in the social media for “failing Kano”. However, the state authorities announced that the deaths were unconnected to the Covid19 pandemic. The number of people who died ‘mysteriously’ in the state in the last weeks is rumoured to be 640.

‘Verbal autopsies’ would be conducted on the dead as many of them were buried very soon after they died according to Islamic tradition.

Meanwhile, Kano with 219 confirmed cases has the second highest number of confirmed cases in the country after Lagos with 976 cases. The total confirmed cases in the country is 1,932 as of May 1.
You can follow up on the most up-to-date statistics on Covid19 here.

Notwithstanding the increasing number of cases, the authorities have relaxed the total lockdown in Lagos, Abuja and Ogun states. The announcement has been met with mixed reactions, but one can only wait to experience how it will work out.

Kindness, solidarity, innovation, revelations, bonding, creativity and many more have also been witnessed since Nigeria began actively fighting the pandemic. In the end, the extremes don’t matter as long as the novel virus does not eat away at the most populous black nation on earth.

The sweet
Reduction in bike-related robberies and accidents: Many people agree with the government when it comes to the menace of insecurity caused by the use of commercial motorbikes. Before the ban, the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Lagos State, Gbenga Omotoso revealed that 30 robbery cases involving motorcycles were reported in 2019. In the same statement, Omotosho also said that in the last three years, more than 200 cases of motorcycle accidents were recorded monthly at health facilities across the state. Since the ban, not many of these incidents have been documented.

Omotoso disclosed recently that data from the State Police Command confirmed that Okada-rider accidents reduced from 19 in January 2020 before the restriction order to one between February 1 and February 20.

Fitness: Many Lagosians now walk distances they hitherto cover on bikes or rickshaws. Even though many of these count the new routine as stressful, some have expressed its helpfulness in their lives. Afeez Olokodana, a shopkeeper at the Oregun end of Ogudu road now walks from Seven-Up to Oregun and back every day. “The government is supposed to provide alternative before banning bikes and Keke like that, but it is okay, at least I get my daily dose of exercise while coming and going to work and I now sleep better at night,” he said.

Walking is one of the best exercises for general healthy living.

Many people have also alluded to the contribution of the #okadaban to their physical fitness.

Return to default setting: Commercial bike riders who abandoned their trade because of the easy money afforded by the bike business are reconsidering. Tunde Oludare who rides from Unilag gate to Fadeyi bus stop said he is going back to his carpentry work. Even though the axis where he rides is not affected by the ban, he tells of his friend who died while trying to escape arrest by policemen for riding on one of the roads where bikes were banned. “We have been doing this okada work together for about 12 years now, and he just died like that yesterday the said the police car hit him,” he said. “Since I heard the news my determination to leave this work has become stronger.”

Like many other okadas and kekes after the ban, there’s a “for sale” label on his bike.

The bitter

Loss of livelihood: On February 1, 2020, some people woke up with the awkward feeling of not knowing what to do next. Their only source of income gone, they are left in the lurch regarding the next move. Some have expressed desire to take on any work, even crime, due to this sudden loss. Even the government that made the law is affected. Where will replace the revenue from the riders now?

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A post shared by Temiloluwa O. Bamgbose (@temiloluwabamgbose)

Violence: As a direct response to the ban, on February 3, 2020, okada and keke riders took to the streets to protest the ban. Violent clashes erupted between the protesters and the police in several places including, Ijora, Iyana Ipaja and Ikeja.

All Her Intestines Came Out –Father of Schoolgirl Hit by Stray Bullet

Watch full video>>>>https://t.co/ktqUweKpKQ pic.twitter.com/1RfQC8uyD4

— Punch Newspapers (@MobilePunch) February 17, 2020

Traffic jam: In the weeks following the ban, there were more complaints of traffic jams on the roads. The most likely explanation to this sudden increase, according to many commuters, is the rise in the rise in numbers of personal vehicles on the road. People who would hitherto leave their cars at home now bring it to town, people also use more taxis, hence the increase in traffic jams.

The future

Like the present, the future is double edged. The state government has promised to provide small commuter vehicles on roads affected by the ban. Many Lagosians are eager to see the alternative. The alternative may help with the livelihood problem too. If the sweet part of the #okadaban story is consolidated and the bitter parts are sweetened, then the megacity would have taken several steps in the right direction. If the losses are not cushioned, it is only going to be a matter of time before the bikes and kekes come back more daring and meaner. Will the gains of the ban be sustained? Will the losses be alleviated? Time will tell.

Asa’s message in Lucid is clear. Love, broken heart, desire, intentions, feminism and resilience. Fans of fine music are not unfamiliar with Bukola Ẹlẹmide’s titillating soul/ jazz/ pop/ afro music, so this fourth album isn’t very different. In fact, the striking similarity of the album to her previous works speaks of ingenious consistency.

The 14 tracks in the album released in October 2019 run for 47 minutes. It was released under the Shanachie (U.S.) and Chapter Two Records/Wagram label.

Murder in the USA opens Lucid and sets the tone for an overall sombre theme of the album. In what sounds like a brief moment of madness, the character shot her lover and expresses her regret after being arrested. Somehow the song invokes the memory of Jimi Hendrix’s ‘Hey Joe’ but unlike Joe who escaped to Mexico after shooting a lover, Asa’s character surrenders to the police and faces jail. Could this be the jail in her 2007 hit Jailer?

The beginning (track2) is a story of the singer’s character taking the initiative to repair a broken relationship. In simple explicit words, she describes the beginning of the end of many love stories and offers a solution accordingly — go back to the beginning.

Good thing (track 3) and 9 lives (track 12) speak of resilience and rising above adversities, especially those occasioned by abusive relationships. The song calls to mind Asa’s 2011 single, Why can’t we, that was later included in the Beautiful Imperfections album released in October 2010. Like Be my man, from that same 2010 album, Stay tonight (track4), You and me (track7), Until we try (track 11 and my personal favourite) and Don’t let me go (track 13) speaks of a strong woman initiating a relationship and keeping it together. This is impressive because in many cultures, especially in Nigeria, the singer’s home country, it is almost taboo to see ladies making the first move.

Femi mo (track8), and My dear (track 14) are in a class of their own, like Bami dele (2010 Beautiful Imperfection album) and Awe (2007, Asha album). Asa proves herself a master storyteller in this album with ballads, spinning stories spanning all the spectrum of love including sentimental topics like unrequited love.

Except for one or two of the songs in the album, Lucid is not music for the party. It is music for reflection and meditation. If music was a drug, Lucid would be classified under downers as subtly suggested by the album art. If you are depressed and are looking for something to lift your spirit, most of the songs in Lucid are not for you. But, if you are looking for smooth jazz, with beautiful guitar and drums arrangements that you can use to tame a rush of jumpiness, Lucid is your go-to album.