Ikiré Jones: [Lagos, Nigeria] I had just narrowly escaped a throttling for taking too many l

Ikiré Jones:

[Lagos, Nigeria] I had just narrowly escaped a throttling for taking too many liberties in the kitchen of an Ajegunle bukateria when I stumbled into painter Joshua Mays in a back alley.  All anguish from the tragic egusi stains on my jacket sleeve was momentarily abated when I noticed that Mr. Mays had recreated the towering landscape on a nearby wall. 

This was a Lagos that would be unfamiliar to our grand-parents.  The image of a city captured years after the Great Crude Explosion: a day when oil bubbled through the Makoko slum floors and flowed freely in Ikoyi’s streets, effectively transforming Lagos into the richest city on the planet.  Now, the once-sullied aspects of Nigeria’s reputation lay discarded and forgotten, and the world's citizens climbed over themselves to dock their dreams at Lagos’ shores.  Transfixed, Mr. Mays and I looked up at the ever-growing spires of New Lagos, painted against the blue horizon, and knew: Our children would never have reason to look down again.