Living in Oshodi teaches you how to hustle by instinct. Every day, you see people selling, moving, shouting, surviving. Opportunity here is loud, urgent, and immediate, you grab what you can and move on.
But recently, I started spending more time around Lekki. At first, it felt like another country inside Nigeria. Quiet streets, tall buildings, cafés with glass walls, people working on laptops like they’re in a movie.
I went there thinking, “What job can I even find here?”
Then I started observing.
In Lekki, opportunities don’t shout, they whisper. You have to look closely. I noticed tech hubs and co-working spaces hiring customer support reps and interns. Real estate offices constantly looking for marketers and sales agents. Restaurants and cafés needing baristas, social media managers, photographers, delivery riders, and customer service staff.
Even small boutiques were looking for people who could handle Instagram pages, packaging, and online orders. I realized that in Lekki, knowing how to use a smartphone well can be a job skill. Good English, basic computer knowledge, and digital skills suddenly mattered more than physical strength.
Coming from Oshodi, it felt intimidating. Transport is long. Rent is high. The environment can make you feel like you don’t belong. But I also saw people like me, young guys from mainland areas, working as tech assistants, dispatch riders, content creators, security staff, cleaners, waiters, and startup interns.
What changed my mindset was this:
Oshodi taught me how to survive. Lekki showed me how to position.
I started thinking differently. Instead of asking, “What job is available?” I asked, “What problem can I solve here?”
Can I help a business talk to customers online? Can I learn basic tech skills? Can I connect people to services? That’s when Lekki stopped looking like a rich man’s playground and started looking like a field of quiet opportunities.
Now, I don’t just see buildings. I see offices. Startups. Restaurants. Digital agencies. Construction sites. Each one is a door, if you’re prepared to knock.
Your location does not limit your destiny, your mindset does. Sometimes, you just need to move physically or mentally to a new environment to see opportunities clearly.
If you had the chance to explore opportunities outside your area, where would you go, and what skill would you use to stand out?
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