Former Editor of West Africa magazine, Kaye Whiteman, joins the league of ‘Lagosians’ who have written about Lagos, writes AKEEM LASISI
Many literary enthusiasts rose to celebrate with a former editor of West Africa magazine, Kaye Whiteman, on Wednesday, when his book, Lagos: A Cultural and Historical Companion, was presented in Lagos.
Also, Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, led people from other walks of life to welcome the book to the shelf.
Congratulating the 77-year-old Briton, Fashola said, “I think Kaye Whiteman has done a great and wonderful job. And when you look at the economy of Lagos, it is perhaps the best-kept secret. This is where perhaps the Nigerian dream is best expressed, this is where all our possibilities lie, everybody has a story to tell about Lagos.”
Many writers have found Lagos irresistible; hence, many books, fiction and otherwise, have been set in the city. Among others, the late Cyprian Ekwensi of the People of the City fame, had a lot to write about the city and its inhabitants. Even foremost Chinua Achebe, whose classical works like Things Fall Apart and Arrow of God are set in his Igbo communities, has course to move to Lagos in his No Longer at Ease and Anthills of the Savannah, especially.
Although Whiteman is not a story teller in Lagos: A Cultural and Historical Companion, the man who first arrived in Lagos in 1964 has also given an account of his experience therein. The veteran who currently writes for Businessday also worked with Daily Times.
It is thus not surprising that an Art House Forum had earlier been organised for Whiteman, with the likes of Jahman Anikulapo, Taiwo Ajai-Lycett, Odia Ofeimun and Toyin Akinoso rallying round him.
“In 1964, I flew in from Kano,” Whiteman recalled. “A British Overseas Airways as it was then. They had to stop in Kano but they couldn’t do local flights to Lagos. So, I went to Kano, Kaduna, Lagos. So, my impression of Lagos was pretty different. At that time, the Lagoon stopped at the Marina.”
He added that there were a lot of people in Lagos, although, according to him, everything was still manageable.
He explained, “A lot of people took me around to different places. I went to the parliament. I heard debating on the press bill. I went to the Island Club, which was then a booming place where all the social elite were there. I went to nightclubs. Above all, the focal point of where I was, the Daily Times, which was then the biggest newspaper. They were the people who really showed me around. There was the editor, Peter Enahoro. I had one friend called Tunde Animashaun. He also took me to Ibadan. It was a remarkable city. I enjoyed it.”
On what inspired him to write the book, he said, “I wrote the book on Lagos because I was asked to do it and I liked the idea. I wouldn’t have done it if I hadn’t lived here. You have to live here to understand it. I can’t say that I understand Lagos. But this is my book of my Lagos.”