Lagos

Lagos is the smallest state in Nigeria by area and by some distance the largest by population. It is the country's commercial and cultural centre, built on the mainland and on a chain of islands around a lagoon, and it runs at a pace nothing else in the country matches.

For a corps member that cuts both ways. There is more work, more to do and more to see here than anywhere else, and there is also more traffic, higher rent and more competition for everything. Corps members posted to Lagos usually find a PPA quickly and find accommodation slowly.

Distances are measured in hours, not kilometres. A journey across the city at the wrong time of day can take three times what it takes at the right one.

Yoruba cooking is built on swallow and soup, and on a willingness to use pepper properly.

• Amala (yam flour) with ewedu, gbegiri (bean soup) and stew — the combination is called abula.
• Jollof rice, argued about nationally and cooked here with a smoky finish.
• Ewa agoyin — mashed beans with a dark fried pepper sauce, eaten with bread. Cheap, filling, excellent.
• Efo riro — a vegetable stew, usually with assorted meat or fish.
• Moin moin and akara — steamed and fried bean cakes, mostly breakfast.
• Asun — peppered goat meat, grilled.
• Pounded yam and eba with egusi or okra.

Ask for the pepper on the side the first week if you are not used to it. Nobody will judge you for it twice.

The South-West is the part of Nigeria where Christianity and Islam are most evenly distributed, and it is entirely normal for one family to contain both. Traditional Yoruba religious practice continues alongside them and is visible in festivals rather than in daily life.

Sunday morning and Friday midday are both quiet periods. Camp runs a church and a mosque with service times on the timetable.

Religious difference is unremarkable here. Treating it as remarkable is the thing that will stand out.

Yorùbá is spoken everywhere in Lagos; English and Pidgin are universal. Yorùbá is a tonal language, so the same syllable said at a different pitch is a different word — expect to be corrected, cheerfully. The marks are the pitch: á is high, à is low, and a vowel with neither is in the middle. The dot under ẹ, ọ and ṣ changes the sound — ẹ as in bed, ọ as in law, ṣ as sh.

• Ẹ káàárọ̀ — good morning
• Ẹ káàsán — good afternoon
• Ẹ káalẹ́ — good evening
• Ẹ ṣé — thank you (to one person, respectfully)
• Èló ni? — how much is it?
• Ẹ jọ̀ọ́ — please
• Ó dàbọ̀ — goodbye

Greeting elders is taken seriously. The ẹ prefix is the respectful form and using it with anyone older than you costs nothing and buys a great deal.

• BRT buses run on dedicated lanes on the main corridors and are the cheapest reliable way to cross the city. You pay by card, bought and topped up at the terminals.
• Danfo minibuses cover everything the BRT does not. Call your destination at the bus stop; the conductor will wave you on or send you to the right bus.
• Keke napep cover short hops, with route restrictions that differ by local government.
• Okada — motorcycle taxis are banned on a long list of roads and in several local governments, and the list changes. Do not assume; ask.
• Ferries cross the lagoon on several routes and are the one form of transport traffic cannot delay.
• Ride-hailing apps work well across the city.

Leave earlier than you think you need to, in both directions. Rush hour on the mainland-to-island corridors starts before 6:00 AM.

Lagos is the most expensive state in the country to live in, and accommodation is where the gap is widest. Rent on the islands is far above the mainland; most corps members live on the mainland and commute.

Landlords here commonly ask for a year or two years in advance, plus agency and agreement fees. That is normal practice rather than a scam, but it means the first month is by far the most expensive. Share with other corps members where you can — it is what most people do, and your platoon is where you will find them.

Transport is the other recurring cost. A room close to your PPA at a higher rent is often cheaper overall than a distant one, once you count the daily fare and the hours.