Lagos may be rough and tough but friendship wins out

There’s only one good reason to become an expat in Lagos.

Many long-term expats are in it for the challenge, always providing the financial rewards are enough. Africa in general is recognised as challenging in many ways, but Nigeria and its capital Lagos are often presented in a manner which suggests anyone who arrives to work is either crazy or desperate. Whilst both may be true, Lagos is in many ways an experience which can teach those willing to learn what’s really important in life.

It’s no surprise that the sprawling Nigerian commercial capital does unbelievably badly in just about every expat survey, so much so that potential job-seekers may wonder why anyone actually accepts such a reassignment. Stuck time after time at the bottom of study rankings, it’s now considered the worst destination on the planet in which to live and work. In the latest study to find the best and worst world cities for expat professionals, Lagos ranked in the bottom ten of all the expat hubs surveyed.

One exception was the weather factor at 40th position out of the full list of 82 cities, but everything from availability of healthcare through the local economy, work/life balance, career prospects, quality of life, housing, urban living, getting settled, local transportation and finance. Of course, political stability and personal safety also lurked within the last ten rankings, making it impossible to understand why any intelligent expat would decide to relocate to the worst place in the world.

For expats who’re living and working there, the answer is easy – friendship, a necessity often impossible to obtain in a good number of more highly-rated world locations. Lagos was top-rated as one of the world’s five best locations for making and keeping real friends. Also highly rated was expat social life in the city, especially as there is no real necessity to learn the local language. Given the high number of expat online advisories all blaming a lack of friendship and the resulting loneliness as a major reason for failed assignments, it seems Lagos has got one major aspect of expat life exactly right.