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Finding Your Happy Place, Episode2: Ikeja

Ikeja is the capital city of the Center of Excellence, Lagos. The hub of everything government-related, from government house to ministries and so on. Ikeja is located in the Lagos mainland.

“IKEJA is an abbreviation, meaning Ikorodu And Epe Joint Administration. It was coined by colonial administrators for ease of administration”

To some people, Ikeja is not a fascinating residential area, it appeals more to them as a business location, while to others, Ikeja is home to both business and residential. However, as the saying goes, “if you do not step out you might never find out”, some people have a mere perception of Ikeja only from the outside or from hearsay even without visiting the place for a personal experience. Here is an opportunity to know more about Ikeja and hopefully you visit the place soon and even add it to your bucket list of real estate locations.

The city Ikeja has remained the capital of Lagos state for a very long time, although the colonial masters settled for Lagos Island, Ikeja has always been the place where power resides.

One very common facility in Ikeja is the abundance of luxury hotels, the number of hotels at Ikeja as of the publish date of this article is likely to be the number of sands at a seashore. This is most likely to the fact that both the international and local airports are located at Ikeja. With a high number of travelers every day in and out of the state, it is only reasonable that there are hotels in the same geographical area as the airports. The traffic situation in Lagos is more than enough to discourage a traveler who just landed in Lagos from going a far distance away from Ikeja looking for a hotel, this is not to say there are no hotels elsewhere in Lagos state, but it is saved to say Ikeja houses most of the hotels in the state.

The capital also boasts of being the base of the state’s political power. Government Houses, Ministries, Parastatals, Courts, etc., can all be found at Ikeja. For ease of governance and management costs, most governments prefer to concentrate their daily dealings around the same area. The presence of all these government houses in Ikeja has made the city a more siren, clean, safe, and organized location for both commercial and residential purposes.

Ikeja also has residential parts, aside from the hotels and government houses, the city provides locations such as Ogba, GRA, Omole Estate, Grammar School, and so on for residential purposes. These places are very accessible to major facilities such as Schools, Religious Houses, Gyms, Playgrounds, Hospitals, Business Centers, ICT Hubs, the popular Ikeja Computer Village, and Ikeja City Mall, one of the biggest malls in Nigeria. The cost of housing in this area is not as expensive as Lekki, however, it still runs into millions of naira. Unlike some other places in Lagos, where clean drinkable water is hard to come by, Ikeja does not experience this challenge. Even the popular flooding issue in Lagos is alien to Ikeja.

The road network of Ikeja is something we have to mention in this piece, without a doubt we can say that Ikeja has one of the best road networks in Lagos. The roads are built wide with proper drainages, street lights, and walkways. Most of the roads also have proper road signs where applicable and traffic lights. With the recent introduction of traffic cameras in some areas of Lagos state, drivers are saner when driving in Ikeja because traffic laws are highly enforced in this part of the state being the capital. Due to the good road network, Ikeja experiences a fair share of Lagos traffic. Movement from Ikeja to other parts of the state is relative depending on where you are headed. From Ikeja to any part of the mainland it is quite accessible, but from Ikeja to the Island of Lagos, that is quite a distance, however with proper timing and understanding of Lagos routes you should not get stuck in traffic when headed to anywhere in Lagos from Ikeja.

The security system in Ikeja is definitely one to beat in the whole of Lagos state. Being home to the number one citizen of the state and many other important citizens, the level of security is very high. A lot of high-profile government and private conferences are held at Ikeja and these conferences attract big names in the country which draws high security. You are most likely to find a police or army checkpoint at most Junctions in Ikeja especially in Alausa where some government buildings are sited. In fact, estates in Ikeja do not border to go for extra private security because the government-provided security is more than enough. ‘Even a fly can hardly escape the eyes of security in Ikeja’.

One downside to this location to some people may be the distance to the island, however, looking at the plans of the government to create rail lines all over the state, this is likely to be a thing of the past anytime soon.

On this episode of Find a Place, Ikeja has been our focus, and we do hope you have found reasons to explore the place and extend your real estate reach to this location as there are still buildings going for sale and rent there. Should you be thinking of exploring this location, it’s important to choose BuyLetLive as your guide on that journey for the best in service, charges, and luxury.

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