A MESSAGE FROM LAGOS @50 IN RESPECT TO THE RECENT DEMOLITION OF THE 161YEAR OLD OLAIYA BUILDING

​To Lagosians and Especially the Afro-Brazilans.
 
You are invited to a sensitization encounter at SPEAKER'S CORNER, Freedom Park, Broad Street Lagos.
 
The message on the celebration logo exhorts us to ENHANCE (NOT Denounce) the Heritage. In spite of on-going Initiatives, to preserve and enhance the -in this case, Afro Brazilian Heritage that narrates History, not merely of Lagos but of the African Diaspora in monuments - the OLAIYA Building in Tinubu Square was clandestinely bulldozed in some commercial development interest during the recent extended Muslim holiday.
 
This has been an on-going struggle, especially since National Independence. In order to pre-empt a repeat under the ever-hovering bulldozers, please let us gather at the Speakers corner on October 22nd, 2016 at Freedom Park, to discuss strategies against a repeat of this midnight assault on a common Patrimony.
 
What we find especially galling and embarrassing is that this accelerated demolition took place at the very time when at least two foreign governments had committed to assisting with the preservation of the Brazilian structures in Lagos and had begun is work closely with Nigerian preservationists.
 
The format will be an Open House exchange with the hopeful consensus of an appeal, not only to the government of Lagos but to the Federal government to adopt and effect a uniform policy for the Preservation of ALL national heritage sites and buildings even in the frenzy of development.