SUFFERInSMILIIN:
There are no yellow buses here or brown taxis

SUFFERInSMILIIN:



Please look at his badge and please look at the green white green name tag on his neck it is only Nigerian police which have this riot squad

SUFFERInSMILIIN:



Please look at his badge and please look at the green white green name tag on his neck it is only Nigerian police which have this riot squad

surplusk:



I can bet it with everything even a baby of yesterday can understand that u can never see anything good coming from Nigeria with the way u go about this sorry I forgot to tell u, I thought u have lost somewhere around Kibera ur lovely home but u actually made it back to Cotonou wonderful. How I wish u were deported from Nigeria baxk to ur shithole Cotonue I dont need to compete Lagos pics vs Cotonou pics its just like a downgrade to humanity I will use Abeokuta or Osogbo only on my own prescription.

Benin Republic (Originally ruled by the kingdom of Dahomey) through a treaty signed by Glele during his rule in May 19, 1868 was ceded to France before the French Navy occupied the city in 1883 to prevent the British from conquering the area.

58 years after gaining independence, a lot of things have obviously changed as Benin republic has had to undergo rapid phases of development largely due to the invasion by the French.

I paid a very close attention to the City of Cotonou during my weekend getaway and did a mental comparison between its fascinating peculiarities and that of Lagos- Nigeria’s most popular city.

Here are 10 Unbelievable ways Cotonou is different from Lagos.


Transport
1. Bikes (popularly called Taxi-Moto) is the most popular means of transportation in Cotonou. Though there are private cars, tricycles, buses and taxis, but the volume of Taxi-motos far outnumbers them.

A typical Taxi-moto parked beside a typical public bus in Benin republic.

2. The official uniform for bikers is either green or yellow. This contributed immensely to the appeal it brought to the highways in general. And more ladies ride bikes compared to Lagos. Though I didn’t encounter any commercial female biker, I saw tons of ladies ride bikes comfortably and as good as their male counterparts.

3. The use of helmets is common. In Lagos, riders use helmets to evade arrest and pull it off once they away from traffic authorities, but in Cotonou, bike riders seemed to know the importance of using helmets every time they are on the road.



4. The number plate of vehicles and motorcycles in Cotonou have just 6 characters, making it very appealing and easier to memorize. Compared to that of Lagos with as much as 8 characters.



Currency
5. The CFA is the standard monetary unit in Benin republic. This colourful bank notes and coins Popularly pronounced as ‘sefar’ are weaker to the Naira at the rate of 1.50 CFA to 1 Naira.




6. Coins are still very much in use and the highest denomination of coins is 500 CFA and the lowest coin being 50 CFA. 20,000 CFA is the highest bank-note in Benin Republic.

7. Unlike what is a major practice in tons of countries around the world, There are no images of any national hero on any of the currencies in Benin Republic. This I suspect is due to the fact that the CFA is jointly spent by 14 countries formerly ruled by the French.



Language
8. The official language is french Fon, Egun and Yoruba are popular indigenous languages used in Cotonou. It was a bitter-sweet experience for me to cope with buying things and asking for directions as a large fraction of the people speak French.


Housing
9. If you’ve been used to the 1 minimum year down-payment style of house letting in Lagos (a style I think adds to the accommodation problems in the city), it’s kind of different in Cotonou as landlords popularly let houses for as short as 1 month like what’s obtainable in Europe. Most of these houses too are already furnished, needing you to only bring in few personal belongings.

10. Almost all the buildings in Cotonou are roofless (let me put it at 9 out of every 10), unlike in Nigeria where roofing is popular. Most houses use these roofless tops creatively for stuffs like gym, mini swimming pools, laundry lines etc.

11. In Cotonou, you’d get taxed if you paint your building. Everyone is advised to use tiles instead. So stop wondering why the best tilers in west Africa are from Benin. This is kind of funny but it’s true.



Environment
12. Compared to Lagos, the streets are generally wider and mostly untarred. hardly will you also find streets with Gutters.


A typical Street in Benin Republic

13. The electric socket in Benin Repubic according to world standards is of the type C / E which is of 220V, 50 Hz compared to that of Nigeria which is type C / E of 230V, 50 Hz. I had to spend 200 CFA in getting a multi socket plug to enable me use my laptop.


Costs 200 CFA


14. There’s as many churches as there are mosques and shrines. The funny thing is that there is s huge catholic church right in front of the popular Snake Temple in Ouidah.

15. Pubs and strip clubs are almost available in every corner. I was at one of the clubs on my first night and unlike the shanawole and casket lifestyle of the Lagos club houses, things are far more calm and serene in Cotounou. I wasn’t too surprised when more than half of the songs played are from Nigeria, same thing in Accra.

16. Ankara is the official wear. there’s no such thing as preserving it till Fridays and Owambes.

Economy
17. It’s obvious the country isn’t rich but have managed to remain modest.

18. The most popular bank is Bank of Africa while The most popular mobile telecommunication network is Moove, closely followed by MTN and far behind is Glo.


A zoom sim card I bought for 1,000 CFA,. That’s approximately N650


19. Suya sellers are neater, but might need to ask for tasting before you’re being spared a slice. and instead of newspapers, thick brown papers are used instead.

20. popular street foods include:

Acheke: A combo of cassava grains, Fish, vegetable and beans.


Costs 300 CFA per plate. That’s like N200

Adepe: smoked tiny snails
Baguette: the most popular of them is a long bread without sugar you must have seen in some parts of Lagos.

Did you find this insightful or interesting? Please I’d love to read your opinion through the comment box below.

Kazikazi:
That is almost true.so we have a canyon to bring tourist money

SUFFERInSMILIIN:
There are no yellow buses here or brown taxis

SUFFERInSMILIIN:
The difference between Lagos and cotonou Benin Republic and why Benin Republic is better




https://nomadicnegro.com/facts-about-benin-republic/

Danielnino00:


Gradually u are confessing where u are from..

The chicken has come to roost

Just30:


boy
go back to your mother basement.

I got nothing to prove to you.
The fact that you will compare joburg to New York makes you stupid.

thats just being plain
put joburg and NYC on a table and everyone will always choose NYC because NYC is far liveable.

samorobo:



Jiln5 you might need to shut up..I feel like you are placing joburg above almighty new York...
You are talking 2 gautrain and 11 Metrorail...new York might be experiencing traffic but I doubt joburg is better...new York has a massive transport facilities which eases traffic flow and when you factor them per head you will notice more people has access to more movement compared to joburg due to the diversified transport system....

New York pedestrian lane is naturally wider than that of joburg...in my view it should be about two times the size of joburg in width ..meaning more people get to move quicker and freely....

Your gautrain and metro rail is 3 and 11 respectively has you said but new York has 36 lines for it subway and has numerous rails that takes people from more distant boroughs into the city .they lnclude the NYC suburban train, long island railroad and so many more..

They use ferries in NYC thereby move more people from the roads and easing traffic..

Better and larger road network than joburg

Their buses is way more numerous than yours....

They have aerial team, do joburg have..

The city is great for cycling

Oh I forgot ..they also use helicopter to commute the city...

samorobo:


It has been posted ...and close up shot was also offered to aid your viewing since I discovered you are suffering from myopia

samorobo:
Kazikazi you just discovered that Vanessa mdee is dating our brother Rotimi(you can remember him from the empire series)

NairobiWalker:



Logos

Problemkid1:
What's even in that joburg that, that dude wants to compare with New York City. Even Casablanca is far more better than that joburg. I see joburg as a crappy city to me. Very dirty city. Cape Town is even better than that dirty city. He's very stupid for comparing that nonsense to New York.

Problemkid1:
What's even in that joburg that, that dude wants to compare with New York City. Even Casablanca is far more better than that joburg. I see joburg as a crappy city to me. Very dirty city. Cape Town is even better than that dirty city. He's very stupid for comparing that nonsense to New York.

kikuyu1:


These categories are meaningful but we shouldn't get too attached to them - groups aren't concretised in neat linguistic or ethnic pigeon holes. There admixture, sometimes a surprising amount.
E.g., walk on the street of any Kikuyu town and out of ten there are pygmies, WA types, Somalis, a Semite or 2 but mainly in varying mixtures.
An uncle of mine serving in Sierra Leone was the twin of a Cameroonian Mbororo Fulani, my younger sis us taken for a Marehan and I mentioned earlier I've a Burundi Tutsi doppelganger.

kikuyu1:


EVIDENCE? Not me I hope: I only stated the obvious; that you should be way ahead on par with Mauritius 11000 USD GDP per capita.

NairobiWalker:



Logos

Problemkid1:
Nai-Robbery

Danielnino00:


Gradually u are confessing where u are from..

The chicken has come to roost

Troy404:
Suffer guy explain to me what is happening here , is this cultism or what.

SUFFERInSMILIIN:


It is mostly in Yoruba tradition to put marks on your face. But for me I regard it as poverty and illiteracy

SUFFERInSMILIIN:


I like the way you confuse me in fact I am beginning to become confused about what country I am from. First you said I was a Kenya , Ghanaian, South Africa, Zimbabwean Botswana now Benin Republic. I am totally confused I did not know people from Benin Republic do not also like Nigerians

Troy404:
Aerial view of Laghost that they wont show you, sometimes i read what they type and wonder who cursed them. Their is absolutely nothing to brag about in that city.