Navigator

A ferry's navigating compass. Notice where the pin is pointing, NW; reminds me of the Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint movie North By Northwest.

Boatman

A boatman guides his boat into the Apapa quays.

Barges

Everything comes in two just like yesterday's ferries. These barges are anchored on the Apapa quays.

Ferrries

Two ferries are anchored at the jetty on the Lagos Lagoon.

Central Business District

Another view of the Lagos Central Business district. Many of Nigeria's banks have their head offices in these high rise buildings.

Lagos Business District

Shot this frame of the Lagos Island business district from the Apapa quays today. In the middle of the image is the highest building in Nigeria, the Stallion Plaza owned by the Union Bank.

Our president dies...

Nigeria's President Umaru Yar Adua died last night in Abuja after prolonged illness. It's a sad time for the nation and we're in seven days mourning now.

I say may his soul rest in peace.

His prolonged illness had almost polarised the country and pushed us to the brink of collapse. Perhaps it is best we finally got a closure on this matter. God knows best why things happen.

So we now have a new president, the former Vice President Goodluck Jonathan was sworn into office this morning.

Long live Nigeria!

Theme Day: Statue The African Renaissance Monument

I was recently in Dakar, Senegal where the country launched this huge monument called the African Renaissance to mark its 50th independence anniversary.

Standing at almost 50 metres tall on a 100metres high hill in the Oukam district of Dakar, the renaissance monument which overlooks the Atlantic Ocean is a testimony to the taste of Senegalese in high art.

It depicts a woman, a man and a child emerging on top of a hill. It is very breezy on top of the hill and it gives a wonderful view of the whole of Dakar. It is something many Senegalese will be very proud of many years to come.

Cape Town's Table Mountain

I was in Cape Town, South Africa last week where I photographed the world famous Table Mountain from the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront. It is such an awesome sight to behold and it has a pride of place in Cape Tonian culture.

I plan to go on a hike to the mountain next time I visit the city during the World Cup.

Lagos Carnival

Lagos held a carnival on Easter Monday as part of activities to mark the Black Heritage Festival. It is part of a bid at turning the metropolis into a preferred tourism destination.

Colourful floats with beautiful costumes paraded the streets of Lagos Island and converged at the Tafawa Balewa Square for a spectacular finale.

Togo at the polls

Togolese went to the polls yesterday to vote for a president. Leading candidates include Faure Gnassingbe, incumbent and Jean Pierre Fabre of the opposition UFC.

Togo will turn 50 this year alongside 16 other African countries including Nigeria that got her independence in 1960 (Africa's magic year).

I am covering the elections and it has been peaceful so far and one hopes it remains that way.

Joy!

There are no restraints during this photo shoot with Demilola, a colleague I had featured on this blog once before.

When the people marched...

Civil society groups marched out to protest the continued absence of the Nigerian president a couple of weeks ago in Lagos. This week, the outcry has paid off and his deputy has been installed in an official acting capacity. Who says that a little pressure in the right places does not work?

The people will not keep quiet until their lives are made better through life-improving policies.

Power to the people!

Set- football as we play it

Kids thrilling themselves to a game of neigbourhood football. Match ups like this are called "set" as you have another set of players waiting in the wings to play once one team has racked up a certain number of goals against the other.

The goal posts used for games like this one are small, about half a metre wide, and are usually called "monkey posts".

Notice that they play bare footed, that's how many African football stars began, by kicking around in the dust and then becoming household names worldwide through determination and hard work.

The African Nations Cup is taking place in Angola at the moment, it's Africa's own World Cup and many of these kids will like to be in the shoes of their heroes one day.

Makeshift bells

These old rims are used as bells by security guards in the estate where my parents live. Usually at night, the security guards hit on them to announce their presence and to warn off any marauder who might be planning mischief.

Frances Ademola - Ghana's pioneer art gallery owner

Breaking the silence I bring to you Ghana's pioneer art seller Frances Ademola. The 81 year-old lady has been running The Loom, Ghana's first private art gallery, since she returned home in 1969 after a 12 year sojourn in Nigeria. Being in Ghana these days, I have come to know her and enjoy the weekly visits to her gallery on Kwame Nkrumah Street in Accra where she shares a lot of insight with me on her life, work and Ghana and Nigeria of the past. It's always great learning for me.

Wondering why the site has not been updated? It's because I have had to move to work in Ghana. You can find my Ghana work on accracityphotos.blogspot.com

Barcelos

Inside the Galleria is Barcelos, a Portuguese-themed South African restaurant/snack bar that specialises in flame grilled chicken. Shot this image last Saturday as a couple leave holding hands. I just might have something for couples. I need to get married, maybe.

Inside the Silverbird Galleria

This is the Silverbird Galleria's atrium. Most weekends there's a beehive of activity inside. People generally come to see recent Hollywood blockbuster movies as well as shop and have fun. There's an earlier post from last year showing it from the outside. Not a fantastic shot by the way.

For MJ

The Silverbird Galleria has been putting up a show for MJ since his passing with this image of the legend beamed by I-know-not-what-kind-of-technology-and-didn't-bother-asking. Maybe I should have tried to find out. All I know is when one walks on it you have this vision of the image melting/shifting around you. Simple, it's a projection! I knew it.

To MJ who gave us a great time and who we grossly misunderstood. We Love You!

Chimamanda, the Beautyful

Nigeria's most celebrated young writer Chimamanda Ngozi-Adichie was in town last Saturday to read from her new book of short stories titled The Thing Around Your Neck. It was at the noisy Silverbird Galleria that she read to a teeming audience some like me who were seeing her for the first time.

Not many writers get to be celebrated like she has been, deservedly so. Hence, my title for this post which is taken from Ghanaian author Ayi Kwei Armah's novel The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born. Certainly, Nigeria has a beauty-ful one in Chima. She's inspiring a new generation of young Nigerians to aim for the sky in whatever they find their hands to do.

I certainly do love the thing around her neck.