Afrika in Focus - Tourism: Spotlight on Lagos The Mega city that never sleeps!

Forget the usual holiday circuit. We head to Lagos, Nigeria, and show why Africa’s megacity delivers a richer, more alive trip than many popular global destinations. From the Atlantic shoreline to neon-soaked nights, Lagos blends business, creativity, and community into a city that moves at full volume—and invites you into the rhythm.

We start with the big picture: Lagos as Nigeria’s economic heartbeat, home to major ports, the stock exchange, and a fast-growing tech scene often called the Silicon Lagoon. Then we zoom into the streets—where the energy is loudest. Beaches like Takwa Bay, Elegushi, and Landmark offer everything from calm swims to day parties. 

Markets such as Balogun and the Lekki Arts and Crafts Market turn shopping into cultural discovery, with textiles, fashion, and contemporary crafts that travel home with stories. If you’re hungry, this is where Lagos wins hearts fast: suya smoke on night air, jollof that sparks friendly rivalry, and comforting plates of eba with egusi.

Culture in Lagos never waits. The Nike Art Gallery stacks floor after floor of contemporary African art and makes it easy to connect with creators. Fashion Week and major concerts amplify the city’s global voice, while clubs and live music spaces keep the night going until dawn. We also share practical tips to manage traffic, plan by neighbourhood, and make the most of rideshares and local transport.

There's also the world famous nightlife.  Lagos has a bustling and vibrant nightlife with various trendy bars and clubs vibrating to the sound of Afrobeats.

The goal is simple: spend less time stuck and more time soaking up the city’s pulse. What makes Lagos special isn’t a single landmark—it’s the blend. Beaches meet boardrooms, galleries meet street food, and late-night sets meet early-morning deals.

Come for the holidays and you’ll find a city that feels like a story in motion: bold, warm, and charged with possibility. If this guide helped, follow the show, share the episode with a friend, and leave a comment with the first Lagos spot you’d hit. Your tips might shape our next travel deep dive. Subscribe on YouTube and Spotify, and don’t forget to rate and review to help others find the show.

Sources:

Discover Lagos in Nigeria with a Local

Top 10 Things to Do in Lagos, Nigeria in 2025

What Can $100 Get in LAGOS, NIGERIA? (Africa's Craziest City)

Chapters

• 0:02 Welcome And Tourism Focus
• 0:27 Spend The Holidays In Africa
• 1:27 Subscribe, Follow, And Support
• 3:36 Lagos By The Numbers
• 6:56 Ports, Finance, Tech, And Culture
• 8:34 Why Lagos Should Be On Your List
• 10:54 Getting Around And Practicalities
• 11:40 Beaches, Markets, And Food
• 13:06 Art, Fashion, And Major Events
• 14:10 Lagos As Experience And Farewell
• 15:23 Next Week’s Ghana Review Tease

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:02

Good evening and welcome to this edition of Africa in Focus with myself Kwame, Ghanaian writer, broadcaster, journalist, podcaster entrepreneur. And in this week's episode of Ghanaian Africa in Focus, sorry, we're looking at tourism. And this week we're featuring the megacity of Lagos in Nigeria. So as part of our tourism series, we are advising you to spend your Christmas holidays and um Christmas holidays and new year holidays in Africa as opposed to going to the West or Asia. So we encourage uh or we are promoting tourism here on uh Africa In Focus and we have done for the last two years. So we're highlighting many, many African cities. So I've done Ghana, and by the way, if you're interested in coming to Ghana uh this December, Ghana is high proactivity in December, uh 30 December. So you can just go on Google and Google Dirty December 2025, and you can get all the details of the fantastic events that be taking place in Ghana, specifically Accra, uh Kumarse, the Volta area of Ghana, and also the Cape Coast area during 30 December. All right, so but for our focus for now is on Lagos, uh, the capital of Nigeria. So before we start the show, again, just to advise that if you like what you hear, please share it with your friends, family, social media networks. Uh, subscribe to Ghana African Fix on YouTube, uh, hit the notification bell, uh, meaning that YouTube will notify you every time we upload a new podcast. Similarly, we're also on Spotify. And um, look out for Ghana African Fix on Spotify. Uh, click the follow button, and Spotify will notify you every time we upload a new podcast. So had some great feedback from Spotify for this year, and I'll share details with you of that in next week's show. We're gonna do a review of Ghana 2025. So it's been a good year on Spotify for my Spotify uh family, and we'll tell you more about that uh next week. And also, if you want to donate to the show, uh, we do a set of donations in kind so you you can do a one-off payment for as little as three dollars a month. You can either do that as a month subscription or just a one-off payment, and you're not obliged to do that, but we do appreciate uh you supporting us for the work that we do to give you some more great content from Ghana and from Africa that and particularly with our sort of African African-centered viewpoint that you don't hear on any podcast at all. So if you want to donate, uh just click on the uh donate button on the funnels to the show, and uh you can donate uh as little as three US dollars a month. And if you still want to come to Ghana to do business, um work and business opportunities, Ghana Cal, etc., then we do offer a consultancy session whereby we can tell them make a package for yourself. So we charge uh 30 US dollars a month, sorry uh for an hour session, or 20 US dollars for half-hour briefing. And what we're gonna do next year, we're gonna do probably in the first quarter of next year, we're gonna offer you know uh five free consultancy sessions if you want to more information about doing business in Ghana, living in Ghana, etc. So that's something to look out for next year, 2026. We'll definitely be um doing some free from five. We're having five, that'll probably be February, March. We'll we'll offer five free uh consult sessions for the lucky for people that you know email first. So it will be like um first come, first serve. So the first five lessons, subscribers that email me, we'll get a free conversation session about doing business in Ghana and what to know about living in Ghana, etc. All right, so let's get into the share today. Uh looking at the great city of Lagos, Nigeria. So oftentimes Nigeria has a very, very bad reputation, particularly in the Western media, by being a very corrupt country and also the home of African scammers, you know, like 419 and Intel scammers and what have you. But aside from that, you know, Lagos is a very, very bustling metropolitan super African city. Yeah, and you definitely want to put Lagos, you know, on your bucket list as a place to visit, you know, whether it's in this year for Christmas or next year, because Lagos in Nigeria is basically Africa's mega city. More than 20 million people live in this great city of Lagos, but I'll come to that in a minute. And so just to give you a brief overview of Lagos, Lagos is Nigeria's economic heartbeat, contributing the largest share to the nation's GDP and ranking as Africa's second largest city economy with a GDP. Now, check this Nigeria um Lagos alone has a GDP of about$260 billion. Yeah,$260 billion. That's Lagos has a bigger GDP than some African nations like Ghana. Ghana GDP is about 100 billion, right? But but Lagos alone is double that, more than double Ghana. So it tells you how powerful Lagos is and how important Lagos is to the economy of Nigeria. So as I mentioned, Lagos alone has got a GDP of over 250 billion US dollars. It is both the commercial capital and global finance, finance, trade, technology, and culture center for Nigeria. So as I mentioned, Lagos has a population of over 20 million people, yeah, making it Nigeria's most popular city. Okay, it's located coastal, coastal strategically positioned on the Atlantic Ocean, giving it direct access to international trade routes. Also, Lagos says of Nigeria's financial, commercial, and cultural capital, even though Abuja is a fiscal capital. So, like I mentioned, you know, Lagos accounts for over a quarter of Nigeria's GDP, with its economy valued at more than 259 billion US dollars in 2023, making it the second largest city economy in Africa after Cairo. Trading ports. So the city hosts Apapa and Tinkan Island ports, which handle the majority of Nigeria's imports and exports. Finance and banking. Lagos is home to Nigeria's Stock Exchange, major banks like Barclays, Standard Chartered, UBA, Zenith Bank, Access Bank, and financial institutions positioning it as West Africa's financial hub. Technology and innovation. Lagos is often called Africa's Silicon Lagoon and has a thriving tech ecosystem with starters attracting global investment. Entertainment and culture, Lagos, or rather, Nollywood, which is Nigeria's film industry, and African music are centered in Lagos, generating billions in revenue and global incidents. And finally, real estate and infrastructure. Rapid urbanization has made Lagos a hotspot for property development, though it is also faced the challenges of housing affordability and congestion. So there's a lot of traffic in Lagos, so bear that in mind when you visit Lagos. So, why should you visit Lagos? So we're giving you an overview of Lagos. Yeah. Now we're going to give you some uh tip bits as to why you must visit Lagos. And I'll leave you three videos uh that I may manage to scan from YouTube as to the great city of Lagos, what to do and what to see in this great African city of Lagos, Nigeria. So, why you must visit Lagos? So Lagos is Africa's ultimate city of energy, culture, and opportunity. So you must definitely visit Lagos for his beaches, world with our nightlife, art, and sheer vibrancy. So it's not just about Nigeria's larger city, Lagos is a place where tradition and border collide, creating unforgettable experiences while in Lagos. So, as I mentioned, why Lagos stands out? It's a cultural powerhouse. Lagos is the beating heart of Nigerian culture from non-with films to African music, it's where much of Africa's creative energy is born. Busting that life. Clubs, lounges, and live music venues keep the city alive till dawn. Rich history and heritage. So in Lagos, you can explore museums, level national museum, historical sites, and cultural festivals that showcase Nigeria's diverse traditions. Hospitality and people. So Lego, Lagosanians, as they're called, are warm, bold, and welcoming. Meeting locals is often the highlight of any trip. So just like in Ghana, people in Lagos, Nigeria, are very, very warm, friendly, and welcoming. And as a tourist, you will get a very, very good time and good customer service in Lagos. So, what to see and what to do when you get to Lagos. So, as I mentioned, one thing bad about Lagos is the traffic. So you do you will get stuck in traffic. Uh, Lagos does have a good infrastructure in terms of um buses, you know, the mini buses that be called Chocho in Accra or Ghana, and also the um uh the um public transport system, which is basically similar to they have also you know similar to what it is in the UK, where they've got buses that do you know local routes, so and also they've got Uber and Boat. So getting around Lagos and traffic shouldn't be too difficult. So, what you can expect to do in Lagos, this great African city. So, beaches and waterfronts, you can go to Takwa Bay, a lugushi, and landmark beach offer realization, water sports, and vibrant social scenes. Market and shopping, the Balogun Market and the Leki Arts Center and Craft Market are treasure troves of fashion, art, and locally made Nigerian goods. Food scene, Lagos is a calorie paradise, whether it's suya, which is spicy good meat, which is which is beautiful, by the way. I find soy is very, very beautiful. The world famous giraffe rice, but I do think we in Ghana do better giraffe than Nigeria. I'll probably get attacked by my but by my Nigerian uh subscribers, but you know, Ghana we do better giraffe rice, or you can sample international cuisine, the city satisfies every palace also, in terms of cuisine, you can also eat the world famous eba and a gucci. So ega eba is pound de yam and the gucci is basically this um uh stew made from a gucci uh leaves, which is basically similar to uh you know in cuntumbu or spinach or plava sauce that we have in Ghana. So if you like your food, but if you like spicy food, then definitely definitely Lagos is somewhere you must visit. Now, Lagos is famous for art and creativity, so galleries like the Nike. So it's Nigeria's calling Nikkei N-I-K-E. You probably know if Nike, the famous company going from Nigeria. So Nikkei Art Gallery and Cultural Hubs showcase contemporary African art and design. So this is somewhere that I would definitely definitely recommend that you go, the Nikkei Art Gallery or the Nike Art Gallery, which is home to some of Africa's fantastic and innovative art and design. Again, in terms of fashion and events, you definitely want to go to Lagos Fashion Week in Nigeria in Lagos and Afro Nation concerts, which are highlights of any visit to uh Lagos, and the city thrives on global scale events. So when Nigerians put on things, they do it in a big way. So Lagos Fashion Week and also Afra Nation are mega events in Lagos. So, in wrapping up, why you must visit Lagos, unmatch energy. Lagos is chaotic, fast-paced, and electrifying. But that's exactly what makes it unforgettable. Lagos is also Gatewitch Africa, a Nigeria's economic hub. Lagos connects you to the wider African story of resilience, creativity, and growth. Lagos also offers a unique blend. So few cities in Africa, let alone the world, combine beaches, business, art, and nightlife so seamlessly. Lagos is both a playground and a powerhouse. So in short, Lagos is not just a city, it's an experience. It's an African experience. So if you want to feel Africa's pulse, immerse yourself in culture, and witness a growing metropolis that thrives on hustle and creativity. Lagos of Nigeria is the place to be. So that's it for our load on Nigeria. Why you must visit Lagos in Nigeria, the Boston capital of Nigeria. And uh, you know, if you like what you hear, appreciate your friends, uh, your family, social media networks. Okay, subscribe to Ghana, African Focus on YouTube, subscribe to Ghana, African Focus on Spotify. Okay, and let us know what you think. Yeah, let us know what you think about African focus and particular episodes on tourism in Africa, particularly at Lagos, Nigeria. Please leave your comments if you subscribe on the homepage on Buzzprout, or if you listen to Africa, Ghana, African Focus on Spotify, please leave a comment. We'd love to know what you hear, and also you can make suggestions for future podcasts. All right, so in this episode, we'll be doing a review Ghana 2025, reviewing the key events and issues that have shaped Ghana in 2025. You definitely don't want to miss that. Special Ghana in Focus next week, looking back at the year 2025. Alright, so for myself, Kwame, and from all the crew here on Advocate in Focus, it's thank you very much for listening, and we'll see you next week for some more Ghana in Focus.