Popular Nigerian cyclist Ed Wonder has slammed the Lagos State Ministry of Culture and Tourism for not participating in the tour of Lagos by streamer IShowSpeed.

According to him, Lagos has immense cultural depth and countless stories worth showing the world. He, however, lamented that the state failed to capitalise on the streamer's brand to showcase itself to the world.

"What happened in Lagos wasn’t a failure of iShowSpeed. It was a failure of institutional imagination and responsibility," Ed Wonder wrote on X.

"iShowSpeed didn’t just come as a tourist, he came as a global media moment. A walking broadcast channel with millions of young viewers, exactly the demographic every serious tourism ministry is desperate to reach."

He said other African countries understood this by not leaving things to chance, because they planned, partnered, curated experiences, and subtly guided the narrative - cultural sites, controlled public interactions, local creatives, food, dance, history, safety, order, and storytelling.

"What Nigeria did instead was… nothing. We allowed one of the biggest cultural megaphones on the internet to wander Lagos uncoordinated, exposed mainly to street chaos, beggars, clout-chasing influencers, crowd control issues, and reactive moments instead of intentional storytelling. That’s not 'raw authenticity.' That’s absence of strategy.

"And that’s the painful part. Because this wasn’t about Lagos being bad or lacking cultural experiences. Lagos is powerful. But power without direction looks like disorder

"When a Ministry of Culture and Tourism fails to step in at moments like this, it sends a clear message: Tourism promotion is not treated as a serious economic and diplomatic tool. Countries that get it know this: Tourism today is not brochures and conferences."

He lamented that independent creators have been doing this work for years without government backing, intentionally shaping Nigeria’s story one place at a time. "That contrast is loud and honestly discouraging," Ed Wonder said.

He concluded by asking salient questions, saying, "Why do we only react after the opportunity has passed? Why is tourism still treated as ceremonial instead of strategic? And the next time a global spotlight lands here, the question shouldn’t be what went wrong? It should be who was in charge and why they were absent?"

ASA