Eko Hotel and Suites

I thought about yesterday's post and said why not show an indigenous hotel today? Eko Hotel is a five star set up by the Lagos government in the 1970s. It is located on Victoria Island. It is now in private hands, though.

Interestingly, when I went there last week, one of its more popular guests at that moment was Sean Kingston, the Jamaican-born singer who had come to do a couple of shows in Lagos and Abuja.

Sheraton Hotel

Franchise five star hotel located at Maryland, Ikeja.

Lagos House of Assembly 2

House of Assembly

Welcome to the Lagos State House of Assembly, Alausa Ikeja. Hope you have a nice time around our lawmaking agency.

Teslim Balogun Stadium

Right opposite the National Stadium is the Teslim Balogun Stadium in Surulere. It is one of the venues that will play host to the FIFA U-17 Youth Championships next year, if Nigeria agrees to host after all as the government is claiming that the cost of hosting the tournament is too high.

It is named in honour of Teslim "Thunder" Balogun, a man whose mythical history is larger than life. It was said that he wore a ring on one of the fingers of his left leg and that he once kicked a ball with that leg which resulted in the disemboweling of a goalkeeper. Myth more than fact anyway. Many young Nigerians grew up listening to such stories about him.

Teslim Balogun was the first Nigerian to play in the English league with Peterborough in 1955. The Observer of London describes him as man with a "powerful shot".

National Stadium

The National Stadium in Surulere was the scene of Nigeria's victory in the 1980 African Cup of Nations football championships. In that final match, Nigeria triumphed 3-0 over Algeria. Some of the major actors that day are still very much around. Segun Odegbami, Christian Chukwu, all greats of Nigerian football.

20 years later in 2000, Nigeria could not repeat the same feat as we lost to Cameroon on the same ground via penalties in the final. It was the third time Cameroon were beating us in the final of the tournament.

Lagos shops

This house on the Lagos Island has been branded by consumer brands. There are many of them like this on the stretch of road leading to CMS. They are usually owned by wholesalers.

Third Mainland Bridge

The Third Mainland Bridge links Mainland Lagos to the Lagos Island. It was recently partly shutdown for about two months to allow for repair works on some creaky joints. It caused a lot of difficulty for commuters who work on opposite sides of the divide as people had to spend hours on end to get to work and return home every day.

It's the longest bridge in Africa, about 11.8km long. It's the longest of the three bridges that connect the Island to the Mainland.

Adebola House

Located on Opebi Road, Ikeja, Adebola House is home to EssAy Photo Studios, one of the best run photography outlets in Lagos.

The Gods Are Not To Blame

Nigeria's independence day was October 1 and the Nigeria High Commission in Ghana hosted Accra to a staging of classic play The Gods are not to blame by Ola Rotimi, an adaptation of Sophocles' Oedipus Rex at the National Theatre.

Meeting Ghana's President

I met Ghana's President John Kufuor last week at the Ghana-Nigeria Business Summit in Accra. I had written a story for my magazine on the challenges of Ghana's new found oil and he made a comment about it when he saw the magazine at our stand at the exhibition.

Nice fellow, him. He'd be leaving office in December as Ghana goes to the polls to elect a new leader after Kufuor's 8 years in office.

When Lagos Met Accra Daily Photos

I am presently in Ghana to attend a couple of sumits and happened to meet the brain behind Accra Daily Photo blog at the just concluded ACP (African, Carribean and Pacific States) summit. Emmanuel Bensah and I have been virtual friends for more than a year now but only just met in the flesh. He was one of the people that inspired me into taking photos of Lagos because of the good job he does with projecting Accra through his blog.

Here's to the progress of our two cities and the continuing influence of the Daily Photos community worldwide which has encouraged people to know more about their world.

Cathedral Church of Christ

Founded in 1867, this is one of the most picturesque church buildings in Lagos. Located on the Marina, Lagos Island, it packs some of the best history of Nigeria's colonial days in its pews. One of its members was Herbert Macaulay, the founder of Nigeria's first political party.

See more about the church here

United Bank for Africa

Head office of the multinational bank UBA located on the popular Broad Street of Lagos.

I apologise for the prolonged absence because I'm not in the country at the moment and this is a picture that's been in my archives for a while. When I return will definitely give you a better feel of Lagos.