Lagos and Abuja, are like rivaling siblings with the same father but different mothers. One is clearly the official capital of Nigeria and the other one is a benevolent King that abdicated his throne for his love of wanting to be totally free and independent but get misinterpreted as a country, or the capital of West Africa by foreign eyes.
Economic and political differences aside, the night live between these two cities are as different as the perceived regimes of President Goodluck E. Jonathan to current President Buhari.
Defining the landscape for this argument; Abuja and Lagos are both overcrowded compared to the rest of Nigeria, but a lot of people that live and work in Abuja city have one or two things to do with government, so basically they have a lot more free time, knowing how most government jobs have a large amount of time allocated for unserious workers due to lack of intensive supervision. And when you have been doing nothing all day, you would feel tired all night and going out will be the least of your problems.
Lagos on the other is like a boiling pot of sweet Jollof rice and egg, or a delicious sandwich of beans, bread and egg. These two delicacies will always be synonymous with Lagos for first time foreigners and residents. I would like to say everything can be found in Lagos city, and in a city where everything can be found, just like the jollof rice at the top of the pot and burnt jollof rice at the bottom of the pot, experiencing the night live of the city is just your location.
In Abuja, you just have the Airport for cheap flights, some cinemas, parks, clubs but most clubs are been shut down now. And with most people living at the far side of town with no cheap and effective means of transportation, they visit this places once in awhile.
Unlike like Lagos where, first of all there is ALL NIGHT TRAFFIC, now that on it self alone is an active night live, any small heat and a party can start. The entire State is quite small and houses are close together due to lack of space. A street can boost of at least one nightclub and five restaurants to start with. And the scarcity of time due to the fact that everybody is Lagos is hustling, waking up 3am to go to work and closing work around 8pm and dodging traffic on your way home, this daily circle creates the environment for active night live.
People are always finding cool spots to relax, from amazing hotel bars with international standard to malls, cinemas, traffic parties, constant supply of events and conferences to local street bars and mama put’s (ask a Nigerian to explain the meaning), and on the extreme case people boarding a six hour flight to london or a flight from Lagos to Abuja to party and come back the next day.
What do you think was my evaluation fair enough?