By Nkemka Uche
‘The Lagos Tour’ is a new, monthly feature from Future Lagos that will explore Lagos using photography.
This month we visited Surulere, a residential and commercial district on the Lagos mainland, east of Lagos Island. The district is famous for it’s suya (spicy barbequed meat) and barbecue spots. The National Stadium complex is also situated in Surulere and is one of the district’s major landmarks.
The main streets are usually home to commercial activities such as banks, electronic shops, boutiques, and tailors. They are vibrant all day long. While side streets mainly contain residential buildings. However, there is often an ambiguous separation between residential and commercial spaces due to informal stalls found within residential compounds usually on the ground floor. The names of some neighborhoods in the district can be heard in contemporary Nigerian music. For example, Wizkid sings: “Surulere, Masha, Kilo, Akerele, Shitta, Small London dey feel am” on Dr Sid’s Surulere (remix).
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Nkemka Uche is a photographer and music curator based in Lagos.