Law and Disorder in Lagos

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Master Baiter Joined: 18 Dec 2004 Posts: 106

It was an informative programme which i hope will remove the stereotype Lagos has. It is safe to step down there if you know what you are doing

Posted: Mon Oct 11, 2010 2:44 pm

It didn't really inspire me to book a quiet, relaxing touristic experience, but that's just me of course Cool

Posted: Mon Oct 11, 2010 3:24 pm

A fascinating insight into the criminal underworld of Lagos. And all organised by gooners. Laughing

Gooner = Aresenal supporter in case you don't know. Wink

Posted: Mon Oct 11, 2010 4:44 pm

Theroux is so unthreatening and unassuming people lower their guard around him, but he's smart and knows which questions to prompt with...

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 30 Aug 2010 Posts: 5

anyone see the skull and cross bones tattoo on the "second in command" guy near the beginning.
they said it was because he was a dangerous man, but i get the feeling he was baited by shiver metimbers Laughing

Posted: Tue Oct 12, 2010 7:51 am

I didn't see any tatoo on that bloke, I thought they were just pointing at his chest Wink

Posted: Tue Oct 12, 2010 8:33 am

It was a good programme, depicting the chaos that is in Lagos in some areas. What I want to know is where do 419er lads fit into the pecking order?

What we saw here was streetboys in gangs ruling areas and demanding cash. Are 419ers seen as above this because they can work a PC?

Posted: Tue Oct 12, 2010 9:38 am

They should just arrest every Arsenal fan they find, problem solved. Wink

Where they put them, when they have arrested all the illegal shopkeepers, I don't know. Usual crap where the rich powerful and corrupt are untouchable, and the poor are rounded up in their hundreds, and what property they do have is destroyed. Louis never did get a straight answer when he asked about that.

I though that MC's PR guy that answered all the questions was very eloquent, though I'm sure he'd slit your throat as soon as look at you.

Posted: Tue Oct 12, 2010 10:10 am

Roycropper wrote:

I though that MC's PR guy that answered all the questions was very eloquent, though I'm sure he'd slit your throat as soon as look at you.

Indeed, and MC is a good name to drop to lagos lads when playing oga Smile

Posted: Tue Oct 12, 2010 10:32 am

TheLovelyJill wrote:

Are 419ers seen as above this because they can work a PC?

No. The lads are the bottom of the pecking order. Quite often, they willl pay protection money to the area boys so that they can work. It's also on the say-so of the local area boys (through their boss) as to wether or not they can work a certain cyber-cafe. There's some cross-over with area boys also working 419 and vice versa but the area boys tend to be the ones with the guns and therefore have more power.

The area boys can be compared to mafia footsoldiers working for the local crime boss. The lads are like local the businessmen who have to cough up cash or face the consequences.

Posted: Tue Oct 12, 2010 11:36 am

^^^ thanks, very interesting.

Posted: Tue Oct 12, 2010 12:15 pm

I tend to SOOI's view. By it's nature Nigeria isn't a well structured society, and muscle will always tend to hold sway. I always envisage Lads as being the criminal element who wouldn't be able to compete on the streets against the 'corner boys' but, of course, everyone pays dues to those area bosses who control everything. However, I do imagine that there is also an element of cross over with some of the bosses controlling 419 closely.

Protection money provides the day to day living expenses but it would be a foolish boss not to keep a close eye on 419 operations that can potentially bring high rewards. I doubt that any Lad could do much in an internet cafe that doesn't get reported back to those in control and betrayal is one way to get ahead. Nothing is more important to a Lad than the friendships he makes at school, and his close old school buddies are perhaps the only people he'll ever be able to trust to any extent. To Lads, strangers are dangerous and they spend their lives avoiding disputes as even small ones can quickly and unpredictably escalate to violence.

Lads aren't all the same and they exist in a society with a lot of corruption where criminality is controlled by very powerful and ruthless people. I supect that's why Lads like to operate outside Nigeria if they can, not from fear of justice, but more from fear of other criminals feeding off them.

Posted: Tue Oct 12, 2010 1:33 pm

^^ thanks, also very interesting.

Good for getting inside the mind of a paranoid lad.

Posted: Tue Oct 12, 2010 2:55 pm

I haven't seen the show myself, but I wonder if things are the same way in Ghana, or Senegal for example, as in Nigeria, where corruption is the norm. Or if the exception. Many people I imagine would want to generalize all of Africa as the same, and I know scams can happen anywhere, but you don't get many scams out of, for example Botswana or Kenya.

If you need me to clarify I can, still early morning for me.

Posted: Tue Oct 12, 2010 4:49 pm

samisnake wrote:

anyone see the skull and cross bones tattoo on the "second in command" guy near the beginning.
they said it was because he was a dangerous man, but i get the feeling he was baited by shiver metimbers Laughing

That looked like a Gomer Boyz tattoo to me....
Laughing

Posted: Tue Oct 12, 2010 5:18 pm

Louis should have been primed to ask on the streets about Mr Gomer.

When he was greeted with silence, he would have interpreted it as terror, like when he asked the shopkeepers if they paid money to MC.

Posted: Tue Oct 12, 2010 7:14 pm

I think Louis has a far greater understanding of African culture than he let on in the program. His dad has written a few books about the continent. I read one years ago (but can't remember the title) about the white mischief he equated to African aid and the effect it had on the population. It was a bit boring and I lost interest about half way through. Wink

Mosquito Coast and O-Zone were quite good though.

Posted: Wed Oct 13, 2010 2:45 am

The BBC only gave me a 1:45 clip where the reporter was in a middle of a shotgun fight. Intense. I read the article and I think it was mainly a gist of the video presentation.

Fiefdoms. "nuff said. I wonder where the fief of G0mer is? Festac? Obalende?

Posted: Wed Oct 13, 2010 5:40 am

For those outside the U.K. who have not seen the programme yet,
it has now appeared on You Tube in six parts - enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSirG2C8lzM - 1/6
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-wGNHO5WyM - 2/6
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mUOyC84_Mk - 3/6
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_9VxHFF2to - 4/6
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHfhmT4zKpw - 5/6
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUa53HUesIs - 6/6

Posted: Wed Oct 13, 2010 7:54 am

Thanks for sharing, SA Interesting insight in the Lagos dolla chopping community. It's even worse than I imagined.

Baiting Guru Joined: 29 Jan 2008 Posts: 2531 Location: AU

ah see i didnt do my homework and here it is.

I only got to watch the 3rd episode but it was very interesting.

How big is that church? Shocked

Posted: Wed Oct 13, 2010 1:25 pm

Thanks, SA! I was looking for a legal way to watch that episode somewhere Very Happy

Posted: Wed Oct 13, 2010 2:33 pm

Aaaand it got deleted already.
Ninjas.

here · Posted: Wed Oct 13, 2010 2:54 pm

there are other places as others have mentioned Cool

a few things that struck me from watching;

we saw a lot of people (as in bottom of the food chain) trying hard to make some kid of a living, running a store etc. - but unlike our pets at least they were trying to make an honest crust despite being preyed upon, my heart went out to them
the higher up the gang structure you go clearly the better educated they seemed to be
I did wonder what was on that TV in the bosses house - that the BBC decided to pixelate out - did it involve goats?
very few kids around? wonder if that was deliberate BBC editing?
would make good watching for any baiter who is worried about the ethics of what we do

what did others spot? and yes very informative

Posted: Wed Oct 13, 2010 2:56 pm

^I had a feeling that wouldn't last long, the BBC doesn't like their stuff to be posted on Youtube. The episode is all over Usenet though Wink

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