Most people who do not live in Sapele Road might disagree that it is the Lekki of Benin City but no other vicinity comes even close. Now, to avoid confusion, when I say Lekki, I mean the Ajah part, certainly not Lekki Phase One (before someone will give me bombastic side eye).
And I know some of you will still disagree and say a better comparison will be with Surulere, Yaba, or better still, Ikeja, but I said what I said abeg. And here are about four good reasons why Sapele Road is the Lekki of Benin City.
Leisure Life
In Ajah, you’ve got fun and leisure-oriented places like Sky Mall, Lufasi Nature Park, and a myriad of fast-food joints. What’s more, it’s not very far from places like Shoprite Lekki Mall, Spar, and Chevron Drive. Sapele Road has similar fun spots like Kada Cinemas, Shoprite (yet to open at the time of publication), Market Square, and a good number of restaurants. Interestingly, it is just a stone’s throw from GRA and all its promise of fine dining and pocket-draining leisure.
Desirability
Sapele Road is the happening place. Everyone and their mother wants to live here because of how it’s so close to all the fun places. I mean just look at the criminal traffic you experience on that road at any given time – there are just too many people there. Another added benefit is that it has a long stretch of road and the farther down you go, the cheaper it gets. So you get people living in outskirt parts like Ogheghe and Iyanomo claiming Sapele Road.
Lekki is too expensive for the regular guy to live in but it’s often the first place people think of when they make it big. If they opened an affordable housing estate in Lekki today, before anyone can say, Osas Robinson, it would have been sold out.
Traffic
Sapele Road is notorious for bad traffic, especially at PZ and Limit Road junction. While it’s always one nonsensical thing or the other that causes it, it is bad enough that it happens several times a day. I mean, you don’t want to be in Sapele Road traffic around the 6 pm – 7 pm rush hour.
Ajah is also known for having really bad traffic, in fact, it is considered a terrible curse by its residents. While Lekki has a better-spaced road system, sitting in one bad Lekki traffic can remind you of Sapele Road.
Rent
Relax, I’m not going to say rent in our dearly beloved area is comparable to Lekki’s, we all know that’s not true. I mean, some people in Lekki Phase One pay what is the equivalent of two years of Sapele Road rent in a month. And this is on top dirty water oh, good for them sha.
But by Ancient City standards, Sapele Road, alongside the obvious GRA and Airport Road, has some pricey ask for rent. If you compare its rent to places like Ugbiyoko and Egor Barracks, it begins to look criminal.
Highbrow
This is more a question of what you consider highbrow. The problem with Sapele Road is that it is highly commercialized and accessible, so it doesn’t immediately look like a posh area. But there are some good places on Sapele Road that are so GRA-like, residents pretend they are (looking at you, Country Home).
Ultimately, my point is Sapele Road is the place to live. It is close to the GRA area, has the best leisure spots, and has one of the best road networks in Benin.
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