there was a program which basically was entitled "lagos most expensive slum in the world" and it did say smilar about people building houses worth 50m naira in a place where next to it is a gutter,mechanic ,you name it and thats basically how lagos is.
personally i would never buy or build in lagos.its over saturated and not worth it anymore.you are far better off spending that sort of money in abuja .

buzugee:

kobo you can argue this point until you are blue in the face, the fact still remains that if you choose to be sensible, living in lagos is wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy cheaper than living abroad. you do not pay
1, capital gains tax
2, inheritance tax
3, road tax
4, auto insurance
5, sales tax
6, city sticker
7, parking fees
8, parking fines
9, street vendors license
10, MOT
11, EXORBITANT PROPERTY TAX
12, council tax
13, water rates
14, gas rates
15 tv license
16 auto registration fees annually

I was in no way arguing with you. I was telling you how it really works outside of your mind there, By the way, you might want to visit facts

http://www.lirs.net/index.php/templates/jt017_j15/tax%20calc/modules/mod_ariimageslider/mod_ariimageslider/js/images/joomgallery/thumbnails/arts_and_culture_4/images/joomgallery/thumbnails/sports_2/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=52&Itemid=117

AjanleKoko:

^^
Actually cellphones aren't that expensive. You don't have the 800 minutes for $50 or whatever, or the GBP50 a month for a Blackberry contract that exists in Europe. You can get a basic functional handset that offers WAP browsing for around $40 or less, and the average tariff these days is N15 a minute. There are even all sorts of promos that offers you free calls to between 1 and 5 numbers, across the networks. On the average, with maybe N2,000, you'll prolly get by with a cell phone.

Internet has improved as well; though the data plans are still capped. But you can get wireless broadband at speeds between 500k and 2Mbps, with data allocations of between 6 and 10GB. Decent by African standards.

That's because telecom has seen the most FDI in the last 10 years; something around $20bn. Even energy has not seen anything close. The oil majors have stopped investing, and have only tried to stabilize their incomes from Nigeria.

Guy, don't make me laugh o. We pay each and every one of those taxes in Lagos. Better check your research very well. Apart from parking fees which go to either private parking facilities (the few that exists) or to security guards who rent out company parking on the down low. Companies pay the government now for parking allocation in front of their premises, anywhere in Lagos. When last you reach Lagos?

bullcrap, people buy and sell cars all the time in lagos and pocket the profit. they dont pay capital gains tax on it. people jump on the streets with their wares.\ to sell. they dont pay vendor license. people ride around with no auto insurance, annual registration and city sticker. people dont pay the govt 40 percent of the value of property inherited from their kinfolk in nigeria. stop lying. people dont pay tv license in nigeria, people dont pay congestion charges, people are not required to have $80 city stickers, people dont buy and sell land and property in nigeria and give the govt 40 percent of the proceeds. quit fibbing. naija is a cheap place to live if you are 'key word' SENSIBLE.

stop trying to keep up with the joneses and half of you wouldnt have the problems you are having

The question is not whethere you can get Cellphone or internet. The question is would you need to cut back from your current in order to afford it? Or would you still get equivalent value to what you are getting now at a cost within what you are paying now for the same.

buzugee:

bullcrap, people buy and sell cars all the time in lagos and pocket the profit. they dont pay capital gains tax on it. people jump on the streets with their wares.\ to sell. they dont pay vendor license. people ride around with no auto insurance, annual registration and city sticker. people dont pay the govt 40 percent of the value of property inherited from their kinfolk in nigeria. stop lying

I no get power to argue like Kobojunkie.
You buy and sell cars and pocket the profit? I suppose you won't import the car into Nigeria and pay duties and shipping? CGT is not significant because the actual valuation of the vehicle is never done by the government. Did you say no auto insurance? Are you serious? People don't pay vehicle registration? Really.

I'm sure you've not been in Lagos in God knows how long. Better ask your friends, make sure its those who are legit, not the ones who live in Alakuko or somewhere on the outskirts. Those are the places where all the property is undocumented. Ask people who own houses in the metropolis whether they don't pay Land Use Charge, pay a percentage of the value to process governors consent when property is transferred, pay for building plan, etc.

AjanleKoko:

I no get power to argue like Kobojunkie.
You buy and sell cars and pocket the profit? I suppose you won't import the car into Nigeria and pay duties and shipping? CGT is not significant because the actual valuation of the vehicle is never done by the government. Did you say no auto insurance? Are you serious? People don't pay vehicle registration? Really.

I'm sure you've not been in Lagos in God knows how long. Better ask your friends, make sure its those who are legit, not the ones who live in Alakuko or somewhere on the outskirts. Those are the places where all the property is undocumented. Ask people who own houses in the metropolis whether they don't pay Land Use Charge, pay a percentage of the value to process governors consent when property is transferred, pay for building plan, etc.

ANY COUNTRY IN THE WORLD YOU import a car into, you will pay duties and shipping. thats besides the point. the govt in the west want capital gains tax on the profit after you have sold it. 40 percent of it. and even if they are required to pay those things, like 90 percent do not pay it because nigeria is not computerized. i have owned a car in lagos before. i had no license or any documents. i had nothing. drove it for 1 year before i sold it and came abroad. I HAD NOT ONE SINGLE DOCUMENT FOR THE CAR. NOT EVEN A LICENSE. nobody stopped me or bothered me or asked me anything or required me to do anything

^^
I'm sure you were living in Akute or something. No license and nobody stopped you, ever? Not even VIO?
Likely story.

actually i lived off allen avenue in ikeja. i was only young. about 20 yrs old. yup, nobody stopped me. i drove that car to ile ife (OAU) and UI and back numerous times. not one single stop.

Buzugee, the Ol' Gee , he is a cold war veteran!! if you check his sneakers i bet you'll find bank notes from different countries, trust no one even the banks!!

AjanleKoko:

You'll prolly need to be licensed by NERC if you generate above 1MW electricity in Nigeria.

Hrm, I didn't know there was regulation like that. I'll look into it. Thanks.

ROSSIK:

BULLSHIIT. The minute you come with this ''blacks are bad, whites are angels'' HORSESHIIT, I will call you out.

I've literally had it up to HERE with people like you who seem to think white folks are something they are NOT.

Get this. Whites show off just as much as blacks, if not MORE. The problem with people like you is that you have a COMPLEX. When you see black folks ''living large'', it seems ''unnatural''  to you. Afterall aren't we all supposed to be broke and destitute according to CNN?

But if a white boy drives by in a Lamborghini or Rolls, it's ''ok''. Nothing to worry about.

On Oscar Awards nights, how many blacks do you see stepping out of top-of-the-range Limos in $60,000 gowns and suits?? Is it not mostly whites?

You don't even notice when they bling.  But a black man drives by in a Merc or Beemer, and ''he is showing off''. Sorry. We reject that. Get rid of your complex and stop disturbing us.

Oh please shut your trap and stop trying to appear like you are 7 foot tall. Learn to read and comprehend. Read my first comment 10 times over and maybe you will comprehend. It seems it is you who has inferiority complex because you have blown my comments out of proportion. Please point to where i made whites seem like angels?

Please use simple logic when you are debating and stop screaming like a child who is about to be circumcised. You are twisting my words in order to score cheap points and appear to other NLers on this thread that you are the better man. This is a sensible debate not a popularity contest. I am not surprised since you are one of GEJ supporters,  like your boss GEJ no logic is applied;all you do is “wururu to the answer”.

My point is very simple to understand if all your brain cells are functioning adequately. Take Nigeria as an example, politicians who embezzle money will spend in an obscene way while others starve. They will even build a $10 million dollar home in a remote village where their next door neighbor has a 2 bedroom mud hut. Rather than contribute to the development of the whole community , they  will tar only the road leading to their home.

Another example is the recent 50years celebration where your mentor (GEJ) squandered over N10billion to celebrate a failed nation. The money used to celebrate our 50 years as nation could have been used to improve electricity. But the common African mentality “embezzle and waste while others suffers” which i am sure your boss GEJ has will not let him do the right thing.

This has got nothing to do with complex, this is instead a comparison of societies. Western societies are materialistic but they develop their countries. African societies are materialistic but they do not develop their societies.

While there is greed in the west and amongst their people , they do their best to ensure that their countries are developed and that everyone has a fair chance to make it. They take care of their people. African countries do not do that , they only favour the elites (politicians and the wealthy).

You talk about the royal wedding ,can you compare the U.K to any country in Africa apart from SA? Do you hear of the prime minister of Britain embezzling money? The U.K has good infrastructure and there is social welfare for their people.Can you compare that to a country like zimbabwe where Mugabe lives in opulence but his people are dying of starvation everyday.Can you compare that to the way Mobutu seseko plundered Congo resources but his people lived in abject poverty? Can you compare that to the way BP cleaned up the oil spill in the US within 90 days but the Niger Delta has been continuously polluted for the past 30 years with no end in sight?

Do you see westerners queuing up in their thousands at African embassies trying to get a visa? Capital NO

But i am sure you see Nigerians and Africans queuing up in their MILLIONS at various western embassies because the west offers them a better life.

Have you ever head of a Nigerian Visa lottery or African visa lottery? capital NO

But i am sure you have heard of the American visa lottery and you know a few people who have used the lottery to "escape" out of Nigeria.

Got my point now? Jeez ! If you still don’t understand the message i am trying get across to you , then i suggest you contact me so i can enrol you in the nearest nursery school where you can learn the basics, ABC and all. Stop being melodramatic when you are debating, it makes you sound gay. Are you gay by any chance?I tried to be civil with you but you obviously come from the deepest part of the forest so civility is not in your genes.

^^

Actually I can't help but agree, insults aside.
Nigeria in particular, we have a great appetite for luxury items, while we don't produce even a pin from any factory. We now have a Porsche dealership in Lagos, a city with some of the worst roads anywhere in the world. People build mansions besides slums and refuse dumps, drive state of the art jeeps through tattered roads, etc. It defies logic, really.

SegzyJoe:

@ KNOW ALL,
You re kiddin me,  Lagos is  by far cheaper than Abuja, houses around my office are sold for [b]N950 million, Ni.3 billion, infact the least you could get in Asokoro is around[b] N600 to 750 million[/b]. So by comparison, Lagos is far cheaper than Abuja.
Am sure no diaspora can afford house in Abuja, except such is part of the looting elites[/b]

Are you serious    How big are those houses? Are those even houses at all or private resorts? I will never put that much money on a house in NIGERIA no matter haw rich i am ,that is just wrong.I heard that some of those old colonial houses in Ikoyi and VI are going for nothing less than N400million because of their location.That is just crazy.

SegzyJoe:

@ KNOW ALL,
You re kiddin me, Lagos is by far cheaper than Abuja, houses around my office are sold for N950 million, Ni.3 billion, infact the least you could get in Asokoro is around N600 to 750 million. So by comparison, Lagos is far cheaper than Abuja.
Am sure no diaspora can afford house in Abuja, except such is part of the looting elites

Yep.
But you know Asokoro is top of the line. Due to high demand, property prices would be obscene in those locations. Just like Ikoyi, Banana Island, etc.
There are very few areas in Nigeria that have all the amenities: reasonably okay roads, security, drainage, water supply, reasonable power supply, and the rest. However, there are lots of Nigerians with a huge appetite for luxury and undocumented cash, hence the obscene prices.

No point trying to compare property prices in other countries that are well-developed to prices in Nigeria.

Dis Guy:

Buzugee, the Ol' Gee , he is a cold war veteran!! if you check his sneakers i bet you'll find bank notes from different countries, trust no one even the banks!!

lmao

@ KNOW ALL,
You re kiddin me, Lagos is by far cheaper than Abuja, houses around my office are sold for N950 million, Ni.3 billion, infact the least you could get in Asokoro is around N600 to 750 million. So by comparison, Lagos is far cheaper than Abuja.
Am sure no diaspora can afford house in Abuja, except such is part of the looting elites

i personally believe there is lots of $$$ in Nigeria, honestly,

SegzyJoe:

@ KNOW ALL,
You re kiddin me, Lagos is by far cheaper than Abuja, houses around my office are sold for N950 million, Ni.3 billion, infact the least you could get in Asokoro is around N600 to 750 million. So by comparison, Lagos is far cheaper than Abuja.
Am sure no diaspora can afford house in Abuja, except such is part of the looting elites

Was about to say something similar. The property market in Abuja is insane!

SegzyJoe:

@ KNOW ALL,
You re kiddin me,  Lagos is  by far cheaper than Abuja, houses around my office are sold for N950 million, Ni.3 billion, infact the least you could get in Asokoro is around N600 to 750 million. So by comparison, Lagos is far cheaper than Abuja.
Am sure no diaspora can afford house in Abuja, except such is part of the looting elites

But at least you get some sort of security, better roads and perhaps closer to your political connect if you have that kinda money to play around
you can actually decide to take long walks in the evening or during the weekend

Quote from: SegzyJoe on Today at 08:43:02 AM
@ KNOW ALL,
You re kiddin me,  Lagos is  by far cheaper than Abuja, houses around my office are sold for N950 million, Ni.3 billion, infact the least you could get in Asokoro is around N600 to 750 million. So by comparison, Lagos is far cheaper than Abuja.
Am sure no diaspora can afford house in Abuja, except such is part of the looting elites

Was about to say something similar. The property market in Abuja is insane!

When you have over 450 lottery winners in person's of Senators and Reps men earning in excess of a $1 million dollars per year one would expect the properties in such places not only to be insane and chaotic but lacking direction or any sense of value for money.

SegzyJoe:

@ KNOW ALL,
You re kiddin me, Lagos is by far cheaper than Abuja, houses around my office are sold for N950 million, Ni.3 billion, infact the least you could get in Asokoro is around N600 to 750 million. So by comparison, Lagos is far cheaper than Abuja.
Am sure no diaspora can afford house in Abuja, except such is part of the looting elites

ya na true
i evun read 4 paper say al d 'real elites' dey compete 4 properties whaut 1.5 to 2 billa so 4 mi dou lag xpensiv,dey sti dey farrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr 4rm ABJ

SegzyJoe:

@ KNOW ALL,
You re kiddin me, Lagos is by far cheaper than Abuja, houses around my office are sold for N950 million, Ni.3 billion, infact the least you could get in Asokoro is around N600 to 750 million. So by comparison, Lagos is far cheaper than Abuja.
Am sure no diaspora can afford house in Abuja, except such is part of the looting elites

ya na true
i evun read 4 paper say al d 'real elites' dey compete 4 properties whaut 1.5 to 2 billa so 4 mi dou lag xpensiv,dey sti dey farrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr 4rm ABJ

Is Lagos the only liveable place in Nigeria? Check out other places like Calabar and Uyo. I aint living in Lagos if I ever move back home, unless . . . I prefer a small town like Uyo or Calabar.

Unless you own your place of work, sometimes you have no choice xcept Lagos or Abuja.

obowunmi:

Unless you own your place of work, sometimes you have no choice xcept Lagos or Abuja.

What of civil servants, entrepreneurs, bankers not based in Lagos and Abuja? Truth is you can make a living, and a comfortable living (and there are some folks who live comfortably elswhere, compared to Lagos and Abuja) aside Lagos and Abuja.

SegzyJoe:

@ KNOW ALL,
You re kiddin me, Lagos is by far cheaper than Abuja, houses around my office are sold for N950 million, Ni.3 billion, infact the least you could get in Asokoro is around N600 to 750 million. So by comparison, Lagos is far cheaper than Abuja.
Am sure no diaspora can afford house in Abuja, except such is part of the looting elites

Thank you sir. I was gonna say this. After living in Abuja for a few years, and never having been to Lekki, I was surprised when someone said houses there cost N50million to N100 million. I was expecting higher from what I heard of the place.

You think N100 million is expensive, then visit Abuja. Forget Asokoro and Maitama where the N600 million naira houses are. Visit Garki or Wuse.
Before I left Nigeria, we lived in a block of 24 flats built for civil servants. During the OBJ regime, the decision was made to privatise those flats.

As of today, some of those flats (2bedroom, 1 toilet, 1 bathroom, plus living room and kitchen) sell for N50 million and up in areas of Garki. .
Wish I could call them apartments. Calling them that will make a mockery of the word "apartment." These are what you would consider low cost housing in other parts of the world.
Wish i had photos.

YOU GO FEAR.!!

It's really difficult for me to accept Nigeria is more expensive. I have to agree with Bugzee on this one. Every City has it's expensive spots. Why do you have to live in Lekki in Lagos? You don't go around looking for the most expensive places in London.

Talking about the most expensive places in London. I was working with a prominent Ghanian who once worked with Goldmann's Sachs. He wanted a total IT solution for his 8 bedroom house he bought in Regent's Park in London. How much was the house? £9 million. And there was nothing in it. Absolutely empty top to bottom.

I did a similar job for someone in Canary Wharf, they are paying £2,000 a week.  . . Yes a week for a 2 bedroom apartment. In a serviced apartment somewhere in Kesington, I won't name the place. £2,500 a week for a one bed apartment. And all these places are not even in Knitsbridge, the most expensive place in London.

And to the not so expensive places. We have small office space in Canningtown in London. The space is approximately 5 meters by 3 metres. £900 a month. What makes it worse is that it's the bottom of a fly over that has been converted to office space. Nothing special. Not added features. Every other thing you pay for.
Canning town London is like Ikotun egbe in lagos. Anyone can afford to leave there.

In Stratford London where I live, a 1 bedroom flats go for as much as £1,200 a month. The living room is not as big as my kitchen in Lagos. No storage, no parking included, the bedroom can barely contain a bed. To buy a brand new 1 bed apartment in Stratford now, you are looking at upwads of £200,000. And Stratford is supposed to be cheap.

Petrol costs an average of £1.36 a litre. Diesel, £1.42 on average.

Using the same tools and with the same skill set, it will cost you £50 getting out a plumber to fix your broken pipe for a few hours. Service charge only - no materials. In Lagos, it will cost at least five times less.

I can go on and on. It can never be cheaper living in London. It is wayyyyy cheaper living in lagos.

^^ but London is still sustainable, the house prices re-adjust once in a while, stratford is now an Olympic area
but price of some products in Lagos is something else

the cost of living vs the living wage is not balanced at all

Dis Guy:

^^ but London is still sustainable, the house prices re-adjust once in a while, stratford is now an Olympic area
but price of some products in Lagos is something else

the cost of living vs the living wage is not balanced at all

He's simply unfair in his analysis. In London (highbrow areas),

You know that electricity is not a luxury.

You can call on the Ambulance services

You can call on the Fire Service

You can dial for emergencies.

Tranportation is modern (including waterways and canals)

Water runs in your apartment.


Cookers and heating gadgets are already installed

Bins get cleared (though you have to pay your local council yearly.

Roads are tarred and well maintained

All streets have streetlights.

Decent green living.

And the general sense of security.

From the comfort of your apartment you can get most things done.



Compared to Lekki or whatever, You Are On Your Own.

^^^I am saying that Lagos is bad but it's too expensive and not value for money.