Lagos is a city that thrives during the day and comes alive at night when other cities sleep. Living in Lagos has its good and bad sides, residents are fully aware.

Tunji got to work 30 minutes late and was called into the Human Resource Manager’s office. He shivered at the thought of losing his job which he got 8 months ago after a 2 year job search.

Stepping into her office, she smiled at him, told him to sit and handed him a letter. With shaky hands, he opened the letter while recounting the ordeal he had been through just to get to work.

“Tunji lives in the Ikorodu axis of Lagos which is said to be on the outskirts but is still a part of Lagos. He gets up at 4am every morning and gets to work at 7:45 am after spending 3 hours 15 minutes daily in traffic. This morning as usual, he got to the bus-stop and there was no vehicle going his way. The thought of taking the ferry crossed his mind but his fear of water shoved it out of his mind.

A car suddenly stopped in front of him calling Obalende and he flew in before the crowd could push him. Music from the radio filled the car and he happily sang along, thankful for his luck.

The traffic moved slowly and as it thinned on the third mainland bridge, Tunji looked at his watch and realized he was 20minutes faster than other days but happiness suddenly became worry as he heard a sound and the car slowed to a stop. Stepping out of the car, the sound turned out to be a flat tyre and he began to panic as it is hard to get a vehicle on the third mainland bridge. Changing the tyre took over 40 minutes as the Car Jack was rusty and when he finally got to Obalende, he had to struggle to get a Keke napep heading to his direction.

He finally got to his office building at 8:25 and he walked in at 8:30 which led to the silent drama in the Human Resource Manager’s office.”

As he opened the letter in fear of being suspended or sacked, he heard his name and he turned towards the door, what he saw shocked him.

#TheLagosSeries #TrafficSeries

……to be continued!

This is the struggle of every hustler in Lagos State.

Feel free to share your stories with me. On IG & Twitter @ladycath_.

Also, drop your comments in the box provided.

Alisha jumped out of bed. Something had woken her and she was trying to figure out what it was. Picking up her phone by her bedside, she realized it was the time that made her jump out of bed. She woke up an hour ago, decided to take a 20-minute nap and had overslept. Sadly, she would be late to work as it seemed.

Alisha resides somewhere in Abule-Egba but she always leaves home at 6am to meet her resumption time of 8am in Ikeja. She is a customer sales representative at a company located on Allen Avenue.

Getting to the bus stop, the odds seemed to be against her as there was a mammoth crowd hustling for buses and the traffic was terrible. She opted for the only option she had – boarding a bike to Ikeja Along. The journey lasted less than 30 minutes, and she crossed the railway in no time, strutting to the Keke stop point to board one to Allen. On getting there, there was a long queue waiting for drivers to come so she moved on to the main bus stop, after the bridge.

Here the struggle began. As she walked through Obafemi Awolowo road, different hawkers selling memory card, pink lips balm and advertising all sorts started stretching their hands to touch her. Cat calls here and there “fine girl”, “ my future wife”, “my color” rent the air and she suddenly became a taekwondo professional, dodging dirty hands and ill-touches.

She cringed at the thought of their hands on her body as she had once seen a hawker urinate then use the same hand to grab a passerby without cleaning it.

Alisha got tired of dodging and snapped at one telling him to stop it but this only seemed to encourage them as they added insults to the cat calls.

Just when she thought one was finally going to grab her, a Keke parked in front of her, calling passengers heading to Allen, and she immediately jumped in, thanking the driver who had no idea what she had been through.

This is the struggle of the Nigerian lady in every city and major market in Nigeria – particularly in Lagos State.

#TheLagosSeries #TouchSeries

Feel free to share your stories with me. On IG & Twitter @ladycath_.

Also, drop your comments in the box provided.

Be yourself; Everyone else is already taken.

— Oscar Wilde.

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