Are you planning to relocate to Lagos or you are just visiting? The city is arguably the first destination of choice for many Nigerians embroiled in the pursuit of happiness, perhaps good-paying jobs. About 18 million people currently live in the Center of Excellence as it is popularly called and that number is sure to keep growing uncontrollably over time.
Lagos is the most beautiful city in Nigeria. It is also the most popular. This is because of its gorgeousness and closeness to the Atlantic ocean.
As mentioned earlier, if you happen to find yourself in Lagos, courtesy of a new job or you managed to browbeat some relative/friend of yours to allow you to stay with them before you get something going for yourself. Sooner or later, you would have to secure for yourself an apartment in the city. Whether you get a real estate agent’s service or you get to check out apartments on a listing site, one thing you have to consider is this:
Lagos is a different city when it’s the rainy season
When it rains in Lagos (it does a lot) the ambience is different. The beauty usually fades into the flood and only returns when they recede. In many parts of the city, roads turn into streams and not the clean free-flowing type. Unless you drive a truck or a jeep (if the flood isn’t too high), you will be trapped indoors for days! And it is almost irrelevant whether you’re in the bourgeoisie “Island” part of town or the “Mainland”.
So to avoid troubles from heavy flood or flood at all, make sure to check out the street beforehand unless you want to consider taking the ferry out of your street to get to work till the rains stop.
So, while making plans to move into a new apartment, you have to do right by yourself by going to the neighbourhood during the rainy season to get a feel of the area. Check that the street is tarred and that the drains work if there are drains.
When you walk into a street, always do well to check if there are drainages, most important, find out if they also work.
Always take an apartment above sea-level, if you can. Somehow, the landlord and the agent might conveniently forget to tell you that the reason the ground floor apartment is cheaper than those upstairs is that you are likely not going to enjoy your stay owing to flooding troubles and you might end up losing both properties and your sanity.
You have to be diligent with this. Housing is expensive in Lagos and you don’t want to get to feel like you were tricked into moving into an apartment in a neighbourhood plagued by flooding. Do your scouting in the rain.
However, if all of this is music to your ears and you for a reason or another want to unleash your inner fish by seeking to live around water all year, then, by all means, do it well. Go to Makoko. You’ll feel right at home.
