No thanks to the recessive economy in which the country has found itself and the bad roads leading to the ports. Driving into the city from Western Avenue, one is greeted with an already lonely road, creating an impression that things have really changed with the old Lagos town. As it is with other port cities of the world, Apapa used to have a buzzing night life helped by freight forwarders, customs agents, dockworkers and seafarers who manage to find their way into the city having somehow sneaked out of their vessels to have a feel of the city.
The city never disappointed. But today, the prostitutes who have played a major role in providing the needed leisure and sexual entertainment to players in the import-export chain are only managing to hang around, as many of their age-long customers have either been forced out of business, or are currently in economic hibernation.
By 10 pm, when the musical entertainment picked up, one could barely resist the temptation of spending the night in the port city. A few places habouring prostitutes could be located on Burma Road, Payne Crescent and some adjuncts streets exiting on Warehouse Road. As at 10pm, one of the night joints visited by the reporter refused to reach peak. The place was scanty and the musical corner lay lonely like an orphan.
For example, the level of imports coming into the country has gone down seriously and this means that lesser number of dockworkers, seafarers and clearing agents are coming around.
And those who have businesses to do are not making money to readily spend on leisure. Now, Tin Can is no longer motorable and you know that our place is on the side of Tin Can. Most of our customers were people who have jobs at Tin Can Port and a lot of people used to come into Apapa through Tin Can, but now, they have been cut off because the road is completely out of service.
