Lagos - Third World capital that is more expensive than LA

Published on Saturday 23 August 2008 22:07

THE governor's son sits hunched at the bar, contemplating his nearly empty bottle of Hennessy. On the dance floor, the airline director's daughter sways back and forth to a hip-hop beat. Nearby, the star footballer, just in from London, tries to squeeze past his growing circle of fans and hangers-on. In the centre of the club, the oil magnate's son gets on top of a table and takes a swig from a bottle of Dom Perignon.

Just another Saturday night in Lagos. Already a city of superlatives (it has variously been deemed Africa's most traffic-plagued, most populous and fastest-growing megacity), Lagos has a new title to add to its mantle: most expensive.

The Nigerian city has always been one of the most powerful commercial hubs in West Africa, ever since slaves were first shipped to Europe and the Americas. But because of the rising price of oil, the declining dollar, large privatisation efforts and a mad dash for the city's remaining plots of land, Lagos is more flush with cash and full of glitter than ever.

A recent study of the most expensive cities for expatriates by the consulting firm Mercer found that Lagos ranked 30th, making it only slightly less costly than New York but considerably more expensive than Los Angeles. In Lagos the high prices are that much more eye-popping because the average Nigerian survives on less than 1 a day.

Evidence of vast amounts of money is everywhere. Dinner for two at an average restaurant costs more than 100. A cocktail costs more than 7.50. A box of cereal costs 6 at a supermarket. Hotel rooms under 200 are difficult to find.

In the aisles of glistening new shopping malls, expatriates and wealthy Nigerians browse for – and often buy – 5,000 watches and 2,500 mobile phones. New BMWs, Mercedes-Benzes and Bentleys plod along through grinding traffic, bumping over rocks and weaving around potholes.

Multi-million-dollar yachts speed up and down the creek separating the two islands. The creek was recently determined to be too shallow for the biggest yachts, so a dredging project has been started to deepen the waterway and make it accessible for the more lavish boats.

Apartment rents on the islands start at 1,500 a month, but rents of 3,000 to 3,500 a month are common, and renters are required to pay two or three years of rent in advance.

But high prices do not always mean high quality. The city was built to accommodate fewer than 100,000 residents, but it is now home to an estimated 14 million people or more, according to the state government. So no matter your station in life, it is impossible to avoid the city's traffic or its lack of reliable water and electricity. Most homes and businesses on the islands run on diesel-powered generators nearly 24 hours a day, resulting in energy bills of thousands of pounds.

Tayo Emden, 33, a British-educated Ghanaian who has lived in Lagos for five years as a director of a telecoms company, said the costs were just too high to stay. "After living in London with colleagues, we thought Lagos would be nice and cushy, but we're having second thoughts," Emden said. "You used to get a lot of bang for your buck, but that's not the case any more."

Because of widespread corruption, the vast amounts of money coming in rarely trickle down in Nigeria. Despite this, more and more people stream into the city every day, drawn by the prospect of wealth absent from most of Nigeria.

"People are moving to Lagos because you can find work. You don't need to know anybody or have anything," said Francisco Abosede, the state minister for public planning.

Early on Sunday morning, as the rich and famous begin to stumble out of clubs and into the hazy light, they are quickly surrounded by dozens of young boys acting as informal parking attendants or hawking chewing gum, mints and phone cards. If they are lucky, a small tip may be handed to them from behind the narrow slit of a tinted window on a departing BMW.