For once, we need to clean the air about the slum city perceptive attributed to Shomolu - Bariga and environs. Shomolu-Bariga is a developing city like any other and can rank among the fastest growing cities. Shomolu-Bariga and environs like any city trying to shed its urban skin, there is bound to be diehards who will resist change though change we all profess is constant. After all, change is always gradual.
If you asked the Law enforcement agents in charge of these old cities, they will confirm to you that indeed the prevalent cultists’ activities and crime often reported in the media occurs in well known trouble spots in the area. And as the Baale aptly put it crime at this point is a nationwide phenomenon.
Every human settlement has a hotspot and Shomolu-Bariga and environs are no exception. We can assure you that for the past 10 years Shomolu-Bariga have been in the incubator transforming from a rural slum to a middle income class neighbourhood. At present, there are countless modern residential development ongoing in the area yet all government agencies responsible for urban development are not on ground with infrastructural development to receive an emerging modern city. The same mistake that hampered the growth of Ajah and Ikorodu, now another emerging city might join the list of cities suffering from government induced stunted growth.
As a medium with a goal to set agenda for community growth and development, we are sure that at this rate of development in these communities by 2020, when Lagos is expected to be among the top mega-cities in the world, these communities will be some of the pivots on which that dream will rest. The local government will be in a good position to provide statistical evidence of ongoing development and recently concluded renovations in their prospective areas. The state government too will have good records to project with in order to meet the infrastructural needs. Nobody should be deceived about these Communities, do please cast aside your Fallacy of Generalization because this is a city that is a victim of perception and government total neglect.
