Lagos state is the busiest state in Nigeria, there is no doubt about that, because anyone that has been to Lagos can testify to that. Everyone you find in Lagos is having the hustle and bustle mentality, the vibe from the environment is contagious because you will be motivated to hustle. If you are not hustling and bustling, you are kind of seen as a lazy citizen, except you are working from home.
Alright that’s just a brief Insight of what the hustle vibe in Lagos feels like. Now let’s go to one of the busiest places in Lagos. The name is Lagos Island Market located in idumota Lagos state. This market is one of the busiest and biggest market in Lagos State, The market has lots of commercial bank headquarters located in it.
I think they were strategically built in the market for obvious reasons 😂. So that you can easily withdraw money from the bank make purchases and the sellers can easily deposit their money made from sales in the bank.
The only time I saw the market not busy is during the Covid-19 restriction period. The period made the government declare the market to be open only twice or thrice a week. I remember going to the market when it was the off market opening day and the market was so scanty, I was shocked because I never imagined this famous busy market to be this less busy, well that’s the power of COVID-19.
Whenever I want to go to the market I try to prepare my self to be extremely vigilant and careful because the market is always crowded with different people coming to buy and sell things. If you want to feel like a celebrity, the famous Lagos island market is your go to place. You will definitely feel like a celebrity, this is because of how busy the market. The moment you enter inside the market you start getting dragged by touts(negative celebrity treatment) because they are all fighting each other to win you over. These touts loiter around the market with no shops, but will always persuade you to patronize them. This is their own way of hustling, they get customers for other shops, whenever these customers patronize the shops they take them to, the owner of the shop gives them money for bringing customers to their shops. Most times they also beg the customers for money. This is how they make their daily bread and you can imagine how frustrating it can be trying to convince someone to patronize the shop you are recommending. Because of the frustration gotten from customers rejecting them, they sometimes steal from customers to survive.
The frustration is too much that they are always agressive in persuading anyone they see in the market. As long as you are a person who doesn’t sell in the market, they assume you are a potential customer and follow you around till you agree to buy from them. It can be so annoying because sometimes they end up harassing you.
I couldn’t take enough good pictures of the market because I dare not stand alone if I don’t want to get harassed by these touts. So standing and taking pictures of the market was very difficult for me, and aside that, there is a big risk of my phone getting snatched. If my phone gets snatched, remember the market is crowded and filled with a lot of people, I can easily lose the thief in the crowd.
Okay, so this is part of the experience you will get in the Lagos Island Market, if you are not careful. Aside this, this place is one of the best place to shop for anything you want, you can get lots of things in this market with varieties of options and for cheaper prices. Lots of people come to this market to buy stuff at wholesale price rate, take them to their different shops, add prices and sell them to make better and higher profits. So when you come to Lagos island you shop for cheaper prices and have varieties to choose from.
I wanted to buy some polo t-shirts, I have this clothe seller in the Lagos Island Market, I have known him for quite some time now. He has really good shirts, going there to buy clothes from him require a great amount of self discipline because if you are not careful you will end up spending more than you budgeted for, because he has really good nice quality clothes.
While coming back from the market, because I live in the mainland, to move from the island to the mainland you need to pass the Lagos Third Mainland Bridge. While we were inside the bus, we heard one of the bus tire burst, the driver had to stop by the side of the road to replace it. Every one came down from the bus to reduce the weight of the bus, this way driver was able to use the Jack to life the bus and change the tire.
This was my experience visiting the Lagos Island Market.