Living In Abuja

Abuja is lovely. In the winter, the Harmattan is dry and dusty, and the season that follows, the dry season, may get rather hot. However, when the summer rains arrive, living outside becomes much cooler. There is a strong sense of community among expats, and it is not difficult to make friends there; nonetheless, I prefer to spend my time indoors.

There are a lot of working Nigerians who get by on as low as 100,000 to 200,000 Nigerian naira every month. Some survive on considerably less. You may have a lavish lifestyle on a monthly income of N1,000,000, including purchasing new clothing, dining out, and flying on holidays overseas twice or more per year, and yet have money left over to save if you learn to budget like a local in between your lavish spending sprees.

Traveling outside of the city center can be tiresome owing to congestion in some regions (particularly Nyanya), potholes, checkpoints, and other dangers. However, traffic isn’t a problem within Abuja itself, thus driving there isn’t much of an issue.

The city of Abuja features a large number of green spaces, including parks in which people may relax with their families and purchase high-quality alcoholic beverages and proteins such as suya, ice ewu, and other options. Prices in this city are comparable to those in other big cities in Nigeria such as Lagos. Even though Maitama is a rich area, the costs of other goods and services, outside of housing, are not prohibitive.

It is not a city that is conducive to strolling because there are very few sidewalks and the distances between stores are typically too considerable for shopping at places other than neighborhood markets. When you first get behind the wheel, it might be a little nerve-racking, but the low volume of traffic throughout the day makes it manageable.

You will see strategic police check posts all around, especially at night, and all of the estates have private security outfits monitoring their gates and roaming the estates, so there is no need to worry about criminal activity in Abuja because the city is extremely well secured.

When compared to other cities in Nigeria, the quality of the electricity in the Abuja Metropolis is superior. On average, you will have access to power for 22 hours each day. Only during the dry season will your power supply be reduced; even then, you will still have between 10 and 15 hours of electricity each day. Concerning water, there is a Water Board that provides the metropolitan area with water, but if you want to drill your own bore hole, you may do so too.

When compared to Lagos, the prices of locally grown food stuffs are significantly lower in Abuja. This may be because Abuja is located closer to the North than Lagos is. On the other hand, the cost of groceries is often higher, which is most likely attributable to the cost of stores. The cost of eating out is manageable, on average. In neighborhood restaurants, you can have a meal for as cheap as N1500, while more upscale establishments could charge you anything from N5000 and above.

Maitama, Asokoro, and Wuse are some of the areas in Abuja that have significantly different house rental costs. Cost more. The cost of housing in high-end neighborhoods like Victoria Island, Ikoyi, and Lekki in Lagos is about comparable to the average monthly rent in the Abuja metropolitan area.