Yes, it does and I will tell you when because contrary to popular opinion, the city of Lagos sleeps.
Let me explain. Have you ever tried finding a bar in Ilupeju, a few minutes shy of midnight on a Friday night?
The answer is that you will not be spoilt for choice except you are an ogbologbo like Toni Kan, the mayor of Lagos.
Try finding a Gentleman’s Club with its doors wide open late on a Monday evening in Lagos. I can assure you that you will comb the city at least twice before better reasoning will set you on a path that leads home.
What am I saying? The myth of Lagos being a city that hardly sleeps is one you must garnish with a pinch of salt.
Naysayers are probably shaking their heads now.
Wait, let me finish.
When you say Lagos doesn’t sleep, do you mean there is an entire industry that is awake at night when others are asleep? No. The average Lagosian keeps a 9-5, lives a considerable distance from his office, spends some decent hours in commute and cares quite deeply about his rest in between weekdays.
Of course, there are the occasional freelance workers and business owners working on their own terms but they are not in the majority.
This is why you will hardly find a Nightclub open on a Monday night in Lagos.
Unlike Port Harcourt or Bayelsa where the party never stops, Lagos takes frequent breaks. Fridays are ideal for partying in Lagos for obvious reasons. Wednesdays are for those who don’t mind winging it. Tuesdays and Thursdays are weak except you are really willing.
Add to this the growing culture of lounges.
Lagos nightlife is being gentrified by the appearance of glorified beer parlours with plush sofas, shisha pots, strobe lights and steep liquor prices.
These contraptions called lounges often serve the dual purpose of being over-priced sport bars during the day and at nights, they transform to lounges replete with strobe lights and pretty waitresses.
At nights, their clientele becomes more distinguished with deafening loud music and restrictions on the kind of alcohol they sell (no beers) simulating the nature of a typical Lagos nightclub.
Some greedy entrepreneurs, in spite of the lack of space, will sneak in a pole and dedicate a day of the week, usually Wednesdays, for guest performances from barely clad women.
What you have in Lagos is a glut of lounges and a sprinkle of nightclubs.
Worse, these nightclubs and lounges are not evenly distributed around the city. What you have are certain districts of Lagos, notably major streets, that don’t sleep.
So, while locations like Surulere’s Adeniran Ogunsanya, Ikoyi’s Awolowo Road, Victoria Island’s Adeola Odeku, Lekki’s Admiralty Way, Yaba’s Commercial Avenue, Ikejas’ Issac John, Alade Street and Allen Avenue have a vibrant night life with a cohesive ecosystem comprising food vendors, area boys posing as valets and commercial sex workers, other precincts of the city indulge in dead sleep.
So when I say, Lagos sleeps at night, you may not agree with me but you must understand.