A Peep Into The Glamour, Glitz Of Lagos Nightlife

DESPITE the security challenge in Lagos, most parts of the city still bubble at night with activities. The availability of social amenities such as, fairly good roads, security patrols and well-lit streets in some areas have encouraged the thriving of these fun centres.

Lagos, from Thursday nights, catches the bug of gyration with, hotels and relaxation centres, generally referred to as fun centres, preparing grounds for events, which are usually at their highest peak on Friday nights.

Also notable is the fact that nightclubs are now springing up in places where such facilities never existed, like Iba, Abule Egba and Ijanikin in the suburb of Lagos. Adding new attractions are strip or nude zones. This is part of the club where stripteases or exotic dances are regularly performed.

Visiting this zone would make anybody that has just been baptised into night crawling to remain a patron. These strip teasers, mostly in their late teens, and early 20s, come in different sizes, shapes and colours.

Another, common feature about these clubs is that they are divided into sections such as the VIPs, membership and the general hall. At the VIPs, patrons pay entrance fee of N10, 000.00 and above depending on the club and they are entitled to anything on demand. Apart from this, they are free to do anything they want, including smoking — hard or soft cigar — depending on the club and as well could explore the wenches hanging around, depending on how heavy their purses are.

t the membership section, activities here are more organised and exclusively for registered members. It is gathered that top businessmen and politicians catch their fun in this section, while the general hall is meant for all and sundry.

At the Cave Exclusive, GRA, Ikeja, strippers are scantily dressed, leaving your imagination to run riot before their performance, while the bar attendants, who are mostly, young beautiful ladies, move around, attending to patrons in underwear.

As this goes on, the environment is charged by in-house band that serenades patrons with sensual music.

Apart from these attractions, some auxiliary service providers partner with these fun centres to ensure that night crawlers have the best of time. These companies provide registered vehicles that could drive patrons to their houses, in case they do not want to be noticed or identified in the night. They provide security men that could guide any patron through out the night, even to his home. Also, there is another outfit that provides mistresses for men, who consider the free women that usually hang around unfit for them.

According to Mr. Mike Initolo, manger of one of the companies providing auxiliary services, “the ladies are medically fit; they are constantly taken care of to make sure they do not contact any venereal dieses. Aside from this, we do not just give them to anybody, except those we are sure of.

“ Our clients cuts across expatriates, ambassadors, top government functionaries and sometimes, governors. We release them to people that have high premium for their health.”

On reasons night clubs now leave the uptown areas to the suburbs of Lagos, Olu Patrick Omeje, CEO of Bomb Restaurant and Bar, Surulere, who also runs a nightclub in his facility, said the clubs are not only a platform for workers to take away their stress after the hustle and bustle of the week, but as an avenue that create jobs of the teeming Nigerians.

“People generally want to enjoy themselves, and doing this must not always make them take the risk of driving far into the night; it is risky and more expensive. So, clubs are springing up here and there to provide these services. A man should be able to walk to a club near his home and come back without expending much time driving,” he said.

Eme Inia said the nightclub business is another sector of the economy, where some of the operators of fun centres make over N8 million per month, depending on the location and season of the year.

“It is an area yet to be properly tapped into. It is the pivot of some hotels and involves activities including sex, poker, drug and things you cannot imagine.”

At Delight Treat, Isolo, the open bar is usually crammed with revelers, who are eating, drinking and chatting away, as waiters moved between tables with trays of grilled fish, stewed goat meat and drinks, while an in-house band thrills patrons.

The number of cars parked outside this joint, almost to the point of building a gridlock at the junction and the ladies donning suggestive dresses show that the place is a hot spot of fun.

At Pekah Guest House, Opebi Road, Ikeja, the joint is crammed to the hilt with guests, while loud music spilled from two adjoining bars, as well as from cars pulling up in front of the facility; as always, sex, money and beer are the main attraction. Little wonder young hookers in their teens and early 20s are the major features.

Are the activities of the club not a distraction to you? Michael Aremu, a computer consultant, who lives two streets away from Pekah’s, said, “it is a two-way thing; it has its negative and positive effects. The club has made the area popular and accessible from anywhere in Lagos, but it put us at the centre of crime. These ladies at times, fight at night, to the extent that policemen do come to make arrests and during this period, if you are unfortunate to be returning late you may be taken for one of the crawlers, it is that dangerous.

“Also, the club has made hard drugs to be sold openly in the street to anyone that cares to buy; and the surprising thing is that policemen see them and turn away their eyes. Another aspect is the women, who easily allow men to lay them in the dark corners, this act has made most streets to install streetlight and in some places raised high gates,” he noted.

ON Isaac John Street, where three night clubs – The Place, Sandra’s Bar (now renamed Continental Bar) and Metro Park – compete for attention, fun seekers are not moved by happenings around as the facilities’ security men ran metal detectors on them before allowing them in.

The presence of these spots have transformed the street from a quiet business district, replete with shopping malls, fast foods outlets and branches of commercial banks, into an emerging hub of nightlife in Ikeja. Aside from hookers seen in near naked dresses, these clubs charge low entrance frees.

As these centres attract fun seeker to the street, smart businessmen are beginning to harness their presence to let out their boys’ quarters to couples that desire to bonk at N700 per hour.