respect to the material time against which London Letter is set, is reminiscent of the
decades of military brigandage when principles of democracy and rule of law were
trampled upon by the political class. What is more, the disregard for civil rule and the
invention of new political elite of a military hue announced at the same time the neglect
of state responsibility. The result was the collapse of public infrastructures with a
stupendous streak of consequences for the citizens. What is more, the period between
1980s and 90s witnessed an unprecedented vulnerability of the entire Nigerian nation to
economic recess.
The situation was made poignant by the level of corruption which started in the short-
lived civilian administration of President Shehu Shagari and became consolidated if not
legitimized by the military that toppled his administration. Of particular mention were the
regimes of Generals Ibrahim Babangida and Sani Abacha. While the lack of
accountability, an attitude that often defines military regimes, was substantially
contributory to the level of irresponsibility by this class, the situation also placed the
nation on the edge of an economic precipice, which was evidenced by the drastic surge in
unemployment and crime. The instinct for survival had thus warranted on the part of
citizens a search beyond the borders of the country. For Lagos, the most populous city in
the country, the desperate situation for survival was most evident. Most evident
understandably because, as the first city of hope, it was just logical that many would
leave their rural states and communities to seek a living in the city, a response which was
in order, given the long history of the city as the most attractive potpourri of modern
living and survival.
However, the economic and infrastructural crisis which plagued Lagos at this point in
time could not have solely been attributed to internal disorders of administration. Indeed,
this is when one begins to take into account the impact of western imperialism on Nigeria
and how this version of imperialism also coincided with globalization. Nigeria, to be
specific, was also a victim of the various international monetary programmes which were
dangled, mainly by the West, before the Third World and for which a number of them
fell. Apart from the fact that a number of these loans which came through financial