Coming to Lagos: An essay from the collection, Of This Our Country

To define Nigeria is to tell a half-truth. Many have tried, but most have concluded that it is impossible to capture the true scope and significance of Africa’s most populous nation through words or images.

Yet here, through personal essays from 24 of its writers, a more accurate picture comes into view, and in his essay, Helon Habils recounts the memory of his first visit to Lagos, a rite of passage that exposed him to a part of Nigeria as yet unseen, and which for him, brought the count...