Every time I see this picture, it amazes me how we have robbed ourselves of the mileage art pieces that should help define us have been kept away from us by default. Do you know how many people look forward to going to take pictures with this towering statue? Millions. It has become one tourist attraction. And where are the masterpieces of art that we have that can be posted like this one with some fulfillment as shown by many who have taken pictures such as this? Where are the 3 wise men? In between the expressway! Inaccessible! Where is Dr Stella Adadevoh's statue? Muritala Mohammed? WOLE SOYINKA? HERBERT Marculey? Tafawa Balewa? Hogan Bassey? Chinua Achebe? FELA's Mum? Bishop Ajayi Crowther?.... and in truth, these were not even my initial thoughts, but as I wrote, it occurred to me that we have not even got to where we have a slice of our history crystallized in an art piece that is accessible so that when people visits Nigeria, they can take pictures and tell the world where they had been! Thank God for the Lekki bridge. Something that is suppose to function as government's response to societal need, now represents a major landmark in our country's landscape. Why? Because we don't have other artistic images that are strategically placed to tell our stories. Unless you go out of your way looking for them. But in other climes these are integrated in common areas.

The Book Of Ali