Ishilove:

Hello sonofjos, thank you for sharing.

People like us who were born and raised here notice a marked difference in the tempo of activities in other areas of the country. I was in Ondo for a year and I almost ran mad there because life in that state is so... sleepy. Everyone was just moving like geriatric patients, unlike Lagos here where if you are too slow, you will be shoved aside. Last last when it was time to leave, I packed my travelling bags and two mighty Ghana-must-go bags and fled the place by 6am.

Lagos is a melting pot of different ethnic groups with different characters, both saintly and shady, so overtime it developed a character unique to it. We talk angrily a lot of the times because there is someone somewhere always trying to provoke you, cheat you, or steal from you so we are always on guard and on the defensive. Someone tried to pick my bag last year but the kind of eye I gave him must have turned his ancestors in their graves.

Add the congested roads and the traffic and you cannot be calm even if you try to. You will be angry for no reason. Yoruba people call it 'kan ra'. Pepper body. That is why danfo drivers behave like animals because one cannot sit inside hold up day in day out, inhaling noxious exhaust fumes, avoiding police, LASTMA, NURTW agbero, taskforce, police, VIO, those new ones wearing green uniform (I don't know these ones. There are so many uniforms in Lagos) and still be completely sane.

Conductors and passengers fighting is a normal thing. One day I was returning from work and saw two fighting in the middle of the road, and what amazed me was they were sparring like professional boxers, complete with the boxer's stance and leg work. iKid you not. Conductor and passenger. It was the agberos, funny enough, who came to chase them from the road because they were constituting nuisance to other road users. The kid you described did not have any super powers. He was just acting like the typical Lagosian who has been conditioned to act out in the face of provocation. Eat or be eaten. Some of these conductors are very rude and nasty (I suspect it is their own defence mechanism) while some passengers on the other hand are idiots.

The trader in Computer Village was not 'threatening' you. They are simply aggressive marketers. If you don't aggressively market your products you won't make any sales because there a 1001 traders selling the same thing as you. The secret to walking successfully through the Village is rearranging your face to look like granite, avoiding eye contact with anyone and stubbornly ignoring 'threatening'' calls. They cannot hijack you from the road into their shop, abi? Develop military mind!

The same military mind my friend Sanchez01 took to Enugu when he went on a visit. He wanted to board a bus and used ishon (muscle) to run pell mell to where the bus was parked waiting for him. When he jumped in with the skill of a James Bond stuntsman, he met the driver and passengers staring at him strangely.

The driver asked him: "Oga, are you from Lagos?", to which he replied in the affirmative. The driver then remarked "No wonder. It is only Lagos people that behave like they are fighting with everyone."

illicit:



Expensive and fast city....


When I was working at Ogba and living at Abule Egba, Half my salary goes to transport and the same bus you took for 50# in the morning could become 200 in the evening.... I kukuma resigned and went to Ondo state

pocohantas:


The guys are building abs, the babes are doing bumbum surgery. We are looking good for ourselves ni. Sometimes when I close from work in the evening, the kind of guys with abs, beard and brown brogues I see ehn. I just say [i]get thee behind me Satan[ .

Lagosians are always ahead of themselves and they are quite proud of that attitude.

nnamdiosu:


Ish chai ...I just dey read this dey laugh

What you just posted needs to be printed out, laminated and placed in a big board at the entrance of Lagos for everyone coming into Lagos to read and sign under.


It can't be better said.
You see, although I was born and bred in Lagos too, when I was transfered to asaba for some years, I now adopted their calm life style. When I got back to Lagos, my heart beat Everytime I wanted to leave the house.

It shows when crossing road. People in asaba wait till everywhere is cleared of cars, keke, lizards, birds, even ants. But in Lagos, there is a joy we experience when we cross road with car or okada or keke rushing at you. As you successfully swerve , dive, jump, curse them back, you feel like you've gotten a master's degree


It shows in how early the artisans wake up to open their shops. In asaba, by 9, shops might not have opened. In Lagos (especially during school academic calendar, by 6 am, shops have opened)


It's well.
The joy of Nigeria is that we are like a country of countries. Unlike other countries where anywhere you travel, you see the same food, culture, language and behaviour, Nigeria was/is lucky to have multiple personalities in various geographic locations.


Nigeria would have been the best country. If not for 'them'.

Ishilove:

LMAO! The adrenaline rush is second to none

MuttleyLaff:

"Eko akete, ilu ọgbọn" loosely translated means:
"Lagos, bless it, is a wisdom teaching city, not a city for slackers, shirkers, loafers, idlers, layabouts, lazybones, weaklings et cetera"
cc: sonofjos

SoNature:
Most Lagosians are literarily mad and they don't even know.

Chii59:

Oh my! You write so well. I had a good laugh.
Lagos is too stressful jare. I don't know if I can live there o.

DonId:
I spent a great part of my early life in Lagos and got used to the hustle and bustle of life in Lagos. Fast forward to 1998 and I had to go to school in Jos. First few months and I was always angry at the slow pace of life especially with their transporters who would always stop once a passenger says Akwei. I left Jos after university a reformed man and have refused to go back to Lagos (even when work opportunities have presented openings for movement).

Lagos is a “mad” place and shortens peoples life’s (but they don’t know it). Life is not meant to rushing from one place to another every time. I live in a city where I close from work and can be home in 10 minutes without traffic and cannot imagine trading it for 10 minutes inside traffic everyday. Lagosians are wonderful people but life is saner in some other climes. So for those that cannot leave Lagos, I wish you stay out of Lagos for like 2 years and then you will realize that life is meant to lived in peace and not in traffic.

Sapiosexuality:
For me I'd say Lagosians need therapy. When I stayed there, I resisted every urge to behave in a manner they ignorantly call wise. I never rushed to board a bus. I never jumped from a moving bus and my default mood wasn't anger. Lagosians need mental checkup and help.

KingKingKing:
I remember my first time in the North Kebbi to be precise... 9am shops still never open, how drivers would drive "slowly" .. All these made me mad a few months like I always wondered y everything wasnt done in haste like I would experience in Lagos.. Well 6 months. Later I began to adapt...

I still love Lagos life... No matter how dangerous an agbero looks he is always willing to help a stranger...

illicit:



Expensive and fast city....


When I was working at Ogba and living at Abule Egba, Half my salary goes to transport and the same bus you took for 50# in the morning could become 200 in the evening.... I kukuma resigned and went to Ondo state

Holadpearl:
Lol. Best read on nairaland since a while.

Lagos is the only state I've been to that didn't have a "welcome to signage" .

There's no welcome to Lagos.
All you see is ... "This is Lagos"

So @op, This is Lagos....

sonofjos:
Dear lagosians,

Please pardon the grammatic errors.

Being born and bred in the north, I am conditioned to a certain societal behaviour that the first time I went to Lagos, interacting and seeing the people was a bit of a cultural shock to me. I've travelled to many states in the North and few in the south and almost all seemed just about the same as home.

But the first time I visited Lagos a few years ago I had many experiences that made it seem as if was in another country entirely. I'll share a few notable ones.

Please note that I'm not looking for trouble, I'm just giving a honest opinion

It was as if everyone seemd to converse harshly over very simple transactions. One would think they know each other from somewhere.
Many people in the public seemed angry as a default mode. I wondered why.

I boarded a bus to computer village and a primary school kid later joined and was later exchanging very hot words with the conductor who was a very muscular guy over some trivial amount. I watched with interest and it got to a point where I feared for the little guy because If that conductor decided to as much as slap the small boy, there won't be much left. But somehow the conductor calmed down as if he had met a worthy opponent. That boy seemed to me as if he had super powers.

I joined another bus and a fight broke out between the conductor and a passenger. Both of whom were muscular. None would hear sorry. The fight got so bad that the both ended with broken faces and the passenger got a rock and shattered off both side mirrors of the bus. Since I intended to join night bus home, I kukuma dropped and joined okada (it was legal then) which was much more expensive but worth it. I don't know how they ended.

I noticed many young people are muscular body builders. I wonder why.

I was walking on a street at computer village and a guy started threatening and commanding me to come over. At first, I thought he was speaking to someone else when I realised there was no one around me, and he made it clear he was referring to me. Till today, I don't know what confidence made me to keep walking. That was how I escaped O.

Everyone seems to be in hell of a rush.
I even said that if rapture takes place, Lagos would not know anything had happened for two weeks.

But Behind all these seemingly negative atmosphere, I discovered that lagosians are very kind people. Always willing to help.
As a stranger, I found it difficult to find places and routes. But almost anyone you ask is very willing to show you directions. I've had instances where people left their comfort to walk me to places where they gave me directions. Very welcoming set of people to strangers I tell you.

All these mixed experiences made me say that Lagosians are Indeed a very strange people.

Many other things I've experienced at Lagos over my other subsequent visits, but Lagos has remained strange to me.

I mean no disrespect to anyone, I'm just a fellow countryman who wants to better know my country.

My question to you guys is, why is Lagos the way it is?

Is there anything I missed or misunderstood about Lagos?

Thanks

prekumohtim:


PH is almost the same. The only good thing is that no matter how they shout from morning till night, it doesn't result to fight. Everyone is always in hurry as though there's a building burning somewhere that desire their attention. When I first visited PH, I mistakenly hit someone as I was walking on the road , so I told the person sorry, his reply was , "Sorry for yourself". Some hardly reply , no matter how hot it is, they will just keep on going their direction as if nothing happened

leo22:

I can totally relate.

My first one year in lagos was brutal as i was forming nice guy but i was always cheated by artisans and skilled labour, even when I purchased goods and services it was the same experience. I was calm and respectful and wondered why everyone (especially on the mainland) was hostile to each other but now I know.

You need to see me now screaming at mechanics, workmen etc and this way the job gets done for less, I have thrown decorum out of the window to survive in lagos o, else I would be eaten by vultures out to prey on victims. But still Lagos is sweet.

Sulawesi:


Lagos is the earthly paradise of Chancers

That is why Tinubu and his head-slaves have been able to lock down the state's treasury for their own private use for the past 22 years

sonofjos:
Dear lagosians,

Please pardon the grammatic errors.

Being born and bred in the north, I am conditioned to a certain societal behaviour that the first time I went to Lagos, interacting and seeing the people was a bit of a cultural shock to me. I've travelled to many states in the North and few in the south and almost all seemed just about the same as home.

But the first time I visited Lagos a few years ago I had many experiences that made it seem as if was in another country entirely. I'll share a few notable ones.

Please note that I'm not looking for trouble, I'm just giving a honest opinion

It was as if everyone seemd to converse harshly over very simple transactions. One would think they know each other from somewhere.
Many people in the public seemed angry as a default mode. I wondered why.

I boarded a bus to computer village and a primary school kid later joined and was later exchanging very hot words with the conductor who was a very muscular guy over some trivial amount. I watched with interest and it got to a point where I feared for the little guy because If that conductor decided to as much as slap the small boy, there won't be much left. But somehow the conductor calmed down as if he had met a worthy opponent. That boy seemed to me as if he had super powers.

I joined another bus and a fight broke out between the conductor and a passenger. Both of whom were muscular. None would hear sorry. The fight got so bad that the both ended with broken faces and the passenger got a rock and shattered off both side mirrors of the bus. Since I intended to join night bus home, I kukuma dropped and joined okada (it was legal then) which was much more expensive but worth it. I don't know how they ended.

I noticed many young people are muscular body builders. I wonder why.
I was walking on a street at computer village and a guy started threatening and commanding me to come over. At first, I thought he was speaking to someone else when I realised there was no one around me, and he made it clear he was referring to me. Till today, I don't know what confidence made me to keep walking. That was how I escaped O.
Everyone seems to be in hell of a rush.
I even said that if rapture takes place, Lagos would not know anything had happened for two weeks.

But Behind all these seemingly negative atmosphere, I discovered that lagosians are very kind people. Always willing to help.
As a stranger, I found it difficult to find places and routes. But almost anyone you ask is very willing to show you directions. I've had instances where people left their comfort to walk me to places where they gave me directions. Very welcoming set of people to strangers I tell you.

All these mixed experiences made me say that Lagosians are Indeed a very strange people.

Many other things I've experienced at Lagos over my other subsequent visits, but Lagos has remained strange to me.

I mean no disrespect to anyone, I'm just a fellow countryman who wants to better know my country.

My question to you guys is, why is Lagos the way it is?

Is there anything I missed or misunderstood about Lagos?

Thanks

Ishilove:
Wisdom

eagleonearth:
lolzz you can't believe that a self contained room in yaba not Ikeja oo, is now 450/500K

kalvoken:


You dey craze for saying that I'm mad.

Ooni Ku re!

� � � �

Na play o

sonofjos:
Dear lagosians,

Please pardon the grammatic errors.

Being born and bred in the north, I am conditioned to a certain societal behaviour that the first time I went to Lagos, interacting and seeing the people was a bit of a cultural shock to me. I've travelled to many states in the North and few in the south and almost all seemed just about the same as home.

But the first time I visited Lagos a few years ago I had many experiences that made it seem as if was in another country entirely. I'll share a few notable ones.

Please note that I'm not looking for trouble, I'm just giving a honest opinion

It was as if everyone seemd to converse harshly over very simple transactions. One would think they know each other from somewhere.
Many people in the public seemed angry as a default mode. I wondered why.

I boarded a bus to computer village and a primary school kid later joined and was later exchanging very hot words with the conductor who was a very muscular guy over some trivial amount. I watched with interest and it got to a point where I feared for the little guy because If that conductor decided to as much as slap the small boy, there won't be much left. But somehow the conductor calmed down as if he had met a worthy opponent. That boy seemed to me as if he had super powers.

I joined another bus and a fight broke out between the conductor and a passenger. Both of whom were muscular. None would hear sorry. The fight got so bad that the both ended with broken faces and the passenger got a rock and shattered off both side mirrors of the bus. Since I intended to join night bus home, I kukuma dropped and joined okada (it was legal then) which was much more expensive but worth it. I don't know how they ended.

I noticed many young people are muscular body builders. I wonder why.

I was walking on a street at computer village and a guy started threatening and commanding me to come over. At first, I thought he was speaking to someone else when I realised there was no one around me, and he made it clear he was referring to me. Till today, I don't know what confidence made me to keep walking. That was how I escaped O.

Everyone seems to be in hell of a rush.
I even said that if rapture takes place, Lagos would not know anything had happened for two weeks.

But Behind all these seemingly negative atmosphere, I discovered that lagosians are very kind people. Always willing to help.
As a stranger, I found it difficult to find places and routes. But almost anyone you ask is very willing to show you directions. I've had instances where people left their comfort to walk me to places where they gave me directions. Very welcoming set of people to strangers I tell you.

All these mixed experiences made me say that Lagosians are Indeed a very strange people.

Many other things I've experienced at Lagos over my other subsequent visits, but Lagos has remained strange to me.

I mean no disrespect to anyone, I'm just a fellow countryman who wants to better know my country.

My question to you guys is, why is Lagos the way it is?

Is there anything I missed or misunderstood about Lagos?

Thanks

sonofjos:
Dear lagosians,

Please pardon the grammatic errors.

Being born and bred in the north, I am conditioned to a certain societal behaviour that the first time I went to Lagos, interacting and seeing the people was a bit of a cultural shock to me. I've travelled to many states in the North and few in the south and almost all seemed just about the same as home.

But the first time I visited Lagos a few years ago I had many experiences that made it seem as if was in another country entirely. I'll share a few notable ones.

Please note that I'm not looking for trouble, I'm just giving a honest opinion

It was as if everyone seemd to converse harshly over very simple transactions. One would think they know each other from somewhere.
Many people in the public seemed angry as a default mode. I wondered why.

I boarded a bus to computer village and a primary school kid later joined and was later exchanging very hot words with the conductor who was a very muscular guy over some trivial amount. I watched with interest and it got to a point where I feared for the little guy because If that conductor decided to as much as slap the small boy, there won't be much left. But somehow the conductor calmed down as if he had met a worthy opponent. That boy seemed to me as if he had super powers.

I joined another bus and a fight broke out between the conductor and a passenger. Both of whom were muscular. None would hear sorry. The fight got so bad that the both ended with broken faces and the passenger got a rock and shattered off both side mirrors of the bus. Since I intended to join night bus home, I kukuma dropped and joined okada (it was legal then) which was much more expensive but worth it. I don't know how they ended.

I noticed many young people are muscular body builders. I wonder why.

I was walking on a street at computer village and a guy started threatening and commanding me to come over. At first, I thought he was speaking to someone else when I realised there was no one around me, and he made it clear he was referring to me. Till today, I don't know what confidence made me to keep walking. That was how I escaped O.

Everyone seems to be in hell of a rush.
I even said that if rapture takes place, Lagos would not know anything had happened for two weeks.

But Behind all these seemingly negative atmosphere, I discovered that lagosians are very kind people. Always willing to help.
As a stranger, I found it difficult to find places and routes. But almost anyone you ask is very willing to show you directions. I've had instances where people left their comfort to walk me to places where they gave me directions. Very welcoming set of people to strangers I tell you.

All these mixed experiences made me say that Lagosians are Indeed a very strange people.

Many other things I've experienced at Lagos over my other subsequent visits, but Lagos has remained strange to me.

I mean no disrespect to anyone, I'm just a fellow countryman who wants to better know my country.

My question to you guys is, why is Lagos the way it is?

Is there anything I missed or misunderstood about Lagos?

Thanks

Lovely write-up. I smiled all through while reading.
I've been to Lagos a couple of times though

SeriouslySense:
Everyday i go out in port Harcourt, there is always someone fighting on the street or new story , Also Kidnapping is almost weekly self