Fixing African Cities

The general outlay of a person’s office or home gives a telling about the type/kind of person they are. This means that if I visit your home or office and things are scattered and upside, it shows the kind of person you are.

The western world understood this concept for centuries and they have taken the lead in showcasing beautiful, well landscaped cities. The government, citizens and media jointly endeavour to showcase the best parts of their cities to the world, little wonder they are able to attract millions of tourists annually. They do this not just to to attract tourism, but to also build the general perception of the cities involved.

In Africa, we have shot ourselves in the legs. We showcase filth, poverty, and chaos (well up until recently when Kigali have taken the lead). It is amazing how we still worry why the world wont take us seriously. We have showcased more bad than good to the world through our perennial display of Africa being a dark continent plagued with several socio economic vices.

Basically the money that needs to be spent on infrastructure like good roads and sidewalks get stolen by individuals in government and the required development never materialises.

Besides corruption the education needed for individuals that lead cities in Africa is very key to development. You have individuals who have no understanding of how city operations look like preside over big cities in Africa.

If any state in Nigeria wants to show they are serious minded, their cities must look very decent to attract visitors. Streetlights needs to work, traffic lights have to work and public bins have to be at every 500 meters. When we maintain beautiful cities that work, the world will take Africa serious. Until then… the World will not view our cities worthwhile to visit. And we will not get a fair share of the billions of dollars spent on tourism annually.