Hustling in Lagos

Lagos remains the most economically important city in Nigeria, west Africa and the whole of Africa at large. It ranks number 19 in the most expensive cities to live in the world and second most expensive in Africa. It is the main economic market of the whole of Africa and there is barely a product that won't sell in Lagos. Citizens of nearby countries in west Africa travel to Lagos for business and marketing reasons.

It is a city full of job opportunities such that it is popularly said that if you are in Lagos and not working, then you are lazy.

Hawking, whether mobile or static is a very productive business in Lagos. There is barely a major street in Lagos where you won't find an hawker, hawking either snacks, or some other products. Pure water, bottle water and soft drinks are very common. You'll see men, even ladies running after vehicles to sell something, and they're being encouraged by their patronizers.

I can't but mention transport system in Lagos. Lots of men, boys and even ladies, yes, married women ride buses and cars in Lagos to earn. The money being generated into the government's purse through this is very huge, but we are not going there. We are talking of how the poor survives through transport systems. The high population of Lagos at every area of the city and the fact that people do not stay at a place makes transportation income also very high. This account for the constant traffic and busy roads in Lagos. Most bus drivers have a conductor who coordinates the bus, calls passenger into the bus and also collects money from passengers.

The aspect of food cannot be left out. A city without food would be an hungry one. The high population calls for higher food production, both raw and cooked food. The busy and time consuming nature of most jobs makes it difficult for people to cook at home, hence most people resort to eating at restaurants and from street food hawkers. Some people leave home by 6am in the morning and get back very late in the night due to great distance between their various homes and working places. I am a typical example of this. I leave home as early before 7am and get home by 8pm in the night. In most days, if not everyday, I eat breakfast and lunch at work and most times eat dinner at home. In this way, food sellers are heavily being patronised.

Time will not permit me to talk about other aspects of earnings of Lagos, such as dancers and MC's, various handworks (like electricians, mechanics, hairdressers, carpentry, trust me all these handworks and more are all major sources of income), phone businesses (as sales promoters, phone engineers, accessories,etc), caterers, graphics designers, cyber cafés and so on. Some people only work as work agents, they help people find jobs and collect a percentage of their salaries for a specific period of time. What about house agents? They earn cool cash. Some people just invests in building houses for rentages all in strategic locations in the city and they make their money through that.

The huge population of people, and the high population density of Lagos is the major factor in all money making business in Lagos. There would always be people to patronize you! However, the cost of living in Lagos is equivalently high. To make savings in Lagos, most people have at least two jobs, one to feed and survive and the other to make savings or for important projects. The cost of feeding, cost of house provisions, cost of transportation and cost of housing is high compared to other cities in the country. Hence, one has to be smart to make something out of his hustle in Lagos.