They have ruined the scenic beauty of what used to be old Ikoyi.
It is now a sprawling ghetto of faux modernity.
Gone are the big well manicured lawns, the colonial mansions that reminded us of our heritage and allowed for clean living. The panoramic view and the healthy marriage between nature and the well designed Victorian manors have long disappeared making the whole place a shrine to greed and crass selfishness.
As I drive through old Ikoyi this morning, I see the sprawling ugliness of new money. The bourgeois hunger for avarice and self gloating as evidence in the appallingly ugly buildings that is being put up. These avalanche of stupendous concrete ugliness destroying the roads and making the whole place a cacophony of confusion throwing it up as another example of confusion that is our lot in modern day Nigeria.

What is the difference between Ikoyi, Obalende and Shomolu? I really don't see any difference. The pot holes are the same even deeper in Ikoyi as a result of the giant construction equipments that daily pervade the area. The traffic jam is equally horrendous and security as I hear is now all man FOR himself. The only difference is the cost of the ugliness. Much more money has been spent in Ikoyi to achieve the dirtiness and squalor that is drawing this comparison.

South west Ikoyi was the first to go. It went to the dogs in the 90s allowing Obalende to slowly crawl into its space, driving the elites towards surulere and yaba even as far as Magodo. Keffi, Norman Williams, Biaduo streets all look like a huge internally displaced camp. Dirtier than the mighty refuse dump at Ojota.

What has led Ikoyi into this? It's the stupid high cost of the land. The sinking Lekki and the congested VI has thrown up the cost of Land in Ikoyi out of the reach of the legal honest person allowing only commercial entities and thieves access to its lushness. So what we get now are commercial offices pushing off residents and huge blocks of flats charging hard currency thereby making it out of the reach of the professional elites it was originally designed for.

I thank the owners of Lagos, the mandarins of Glover and the honchos at Alausa plus their Godfathers for this gift of squalor. God bless us all. Mshewwwww .

http://josephedgarng..com.ng/2015/10/old-ikoyi-destroyed.html

cc lalasticlala seun

New money?