00:00If you've driven through Uber-Akran lately, then you know the drill.
00:03Leave home early, hope for the best, pray the traffic moves.
00:06Long before Google Maps, Uber, or Bolt, a bridge-building project around Ikeja
00:10had commuters living this very same reality.
00:14A journey that should have taken a couple of minutes could stretch for hours.
00:18Roads were dug up, lanes disappeared, diversions became the new normal.
00:22For thousands of Lagosians, getting through Ikeja became a daily test of patience.
00:27But that's the thing about Lagos, the city has always found a way to keep moving,
00:30even when the traffic wasn't.
00:32Oka saw opportunities where others saw frustration.
00:35Weaving through rows of vehicles with cold drinks, snacks, newspaper,
00:39and anything a stranded motorist might need.
00:42Danforth drivers became masters of the back roads,
00:45slipping through streets like Mende and Okwebi long before navigation apps told us where to turn.
00:51And commuters, they made the best of it.
00:53Conversations started with strangers, debates about politics filled the air,
00:57laughter somehow found its way into the middle of the chaos.
01:00There was one unwritten rule every Lagosian seemed to know.
01:04If you had somewhere important you had to be,
01:07you left home hours early.
01:09Not because you wanted to, but because traffic had a way of deciding your schedule for you.
01:13More than four decades later, not much has changed.
01:17We're still leaving home early, we're still searching for shortcuts,
01:20we're still hoping the traffic will ease before our next turn.
01:23But every generation of Lagosians has learned the same lesson.
01:27In this city, patience isn't just a virtue, it's part of the commit.
Comments