By Lawrence Enyoghasu

Hardly would a town have the kind of rich cultural heritage that Badagry has and fail to optimise the opportunity. The coastal town, located on the western axis of Lagos State is one of prominent slave ports during the infamous trans-Atlantic slave trade, being close to the sea.

Its history as the slave port provides it with endless opportunity for economic gain as throngs of tourists visit the city to have a view of the relics of the historical sites.

Aside that, it’s nearness to the sea made it a much sought after thriving fishing market.

Badagry is a few kilometers from Seme, a border town with the Republic of Benin, notorious for car and frozen food smuggling.

The significance of the town, perhaps, is the fact that the first physical sign of colonialism in Nigeria, the British flag (Union Jack) was first hoisted on the soil of Badagry. The hoisting of the flag officially marked the stoppage of slave trade and the beginning of the process that birthed the Nigerian nation.

Badagry scored yet another first when in 1843 the first educational system in Nigeria as a British colony started with the establishment of the first primary school, Nursery of Infant Church by the Wesleyan Mission (Methodist Church). Nursery of Infant Church later became St. Thomas’ Anglican Nursery and Primary School, under the superintendence of Rev. Golmer of the Church Missionary Society (CMS) in 1845.

This pioneer educational facility also began in a structure, which is now known as the first storey building in Nigeria. The building, built by Reverend Golmer, also doubled as a vicarage for early society, now known as Anglican Church.

The first idea of International Law in Nigeria was sparked off in Badagry when Richard Lander, one of the earliest British explorers to Badagry, was tried in 1825 by a jury of elders according to Badagry custom and tradition at the Vlekete slave market. Richard Lander’s trial in Badagry became the first trial of an alien in Nigeria. He was accused of treason, a crime punishable by death.

Fading glory

In spite of this glorious past, Badagry seems to have failed to harness this historical and tourist advantage for its social and economic profit. A recent visit by Saturday Sun revealed a community hardly different from the average community in the country chaffing under the common physical and infrastructural problems. One of these is epileptic power supply. A commercial motorcyclist who identified himself as Uche said power outage was one of the major problems in the town. “We are suffering a lot from electricity. We only have it for two hours and the next time would be in another two days time. It is unbearable,” he lamented.

The electricity crisis is a disincentive for patronage by tourists, who would want to have chilled refreshments and drinks after long hours of treks to tourist sites in the town.

Indeed, Saturday Sun reporter had a bitter taste of this, when he got to the beach and discovered that the only woman selling provisions there, Mrs Anthonia, had no cold drink, forcing him and other tourists to go hungry and thirsty.

Anthonia, however, said she was still able to make some sale, because many of the tourists would have been dehydrated from the long walk from the boat bay which is almost a 15-minute walk away.

“I make average sale here, but I believe I would have been selling more if I have access to electricity. Most of the tourists demand cold drinks and since I don’t have, they either manage the ones I have or not,” Anthonia said.

At the seaside, fishermen were seen fixing their rickety canoes. Although the Atlantic offers a big opportunity for commercial fishing and trawling, Badagry fishermen are still trapped in the ancient art of subsistent fish catching.

To access and explore the aesthetic environs and facilities of the seaside a tourist must be ready to part with some money to some urchins. No receipt is, however, issued for such payment, apparently leaving room for the creaming off of veritable income that would have served development by the local government authorities. Saturday Sun had to grease the palm of a man who identified himself as Abiodun before being allowed on the tour while another tour guide, Abel Abbas, also had to be paid for his services.

The tour

From the entrance of the Slave Port, it was evident the tour was unlikely to offer anything exciting. The boat that conveyed the tourists was “an apology.” It was the only boat at the bay and the motor engine refused to start on time, with the tour guide and the boat rider continuing to apologize and giving excuse that the boat’s battery might have become weak.

Inside, the boat was filled with empty creates of drinks and belongings of the driver, including clothes and shoes. The bar sector of the boat was glaringly empty with the wood almost falling off from the hook and a loud speaker placed on it.

At last it spluttered to life and headed for the sea. When the boat arrived Gberefu Island (Hallucination Island), which is said to lead to the “Land of No Return”, that is the final departure point for slaves for their ultimate destinations in Europe or the Americas, tourists were already exhausted from the voyage.

On the road on the island, there were tracks of vehicle tyres, although it is not tarred. It is said that the tracks may have been made by smuggled automobiles being driven through illegal routes into the country.

Lamentation of tourists

The company of both local and foreign tourists was full of lamentations and regret at what was supposed to be a memorable day turned a dull outing, due to unavailability of proper tour ride.

One of the tourists, Mr. Akinola Israel, who was in company of his family, lamented that the economic situation in the country forced him to settle down for local excursion for his children. Israel who had been a regular caller at the museum vowed never to return for another visit unless something was done to improve its state. “I have been here couple of times but this is my first time of coming to this end of Badagry; my first time to see the Attenuation Well and the Atlantic.”

He added: “The city itself needs to be given a face-lift. It is still looking ancient. That could be a good idea for tourism, the ancient look. So many facilities are lacking here. The roads needs to be graded, it needs more of attraction especially for kids. There is lot that could be tapped into here. It is a natural tourist site; tourism environment. They need electricity; they need it especially at this end where you have these artifacts and relics. They need good access road so that people can get there easily. Because of the stress I wouldn’t want to walk it again, the road is so rough , I can see that the government is trying to do one or two things, but they need to hasten up so that people will have fun, the ferryboat needs to be replaced.”

Dispelling worries raised by Israel and some other tourists, one of the curators and museum supervisors, Mr. Bode Hungbo, said that there were different works in progress. “Government is trying, they are doing a lot of things, and they are putting efforts to make this place conducive. They want to build some restaurants, hotels, and other things like playing ground. So they are now putting effort into tourism.”

His explanations would seem to have been buttressed. Lagos State governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, made his intention of making the town a lucrative international tourist center. He said this when he unveiled and commissioned some road projects in the town recently.

Commissioning the Imeke-Ajido bridge in the area, the governor said: “Today, we are happy to see that the bridge has been completed and is hereby commissioned for use from this moment onwards, while we believe strongly that before the end of June 2017, we should have a very good road to Whispering Palms, which will also improve on the tourism potentials of Badagry and will also improve the economy of this axis.”