If you live in Lagos, Abuja, or Port Harcourt, chances are both your body and your wallet are constantly sweating. Sweating under an unforgiving sun that feels like it has personal beef with you. Sweating at the pump, where fuel prices climb like mountain goats on caffeine. Sweating in the market, where ₦10,000 buys you little more than onions and heartbreak. Sweating at the bank, where the naira itself is on life support and the teller is looking at you like “oga, manage am like that.”
Basically? Life in many Nigerian cities today feels like a reality show called ‘Survivor: Naija Edition’. Too much heat, too many bills, too little peace. You’re forever chasing something money, shade, electricity, or just your sanity.
But then, there’s Jos.
Jos is that cool cousin who doesn’t even try and still outshines everyone. Here, your body and wallet finally exhale. The air? Cold, sometimes playfully chilly as if God installed central AC on the Plateau. The food? Fresh, abundant, and so affordable you’ll wonder if the market women are secretly philanthropists. The people? Warm and welcoming, with smiles that make strangers feel like cousins. The pace? Slow, steady, and kind like life saying, “relax, my guy, there’s no prize for suffering.”
So what is it like to actually live in Jos? Let’s break it down with 5 amazing things you can do in Plateau State without breaking a sweat:
1. Sip Tea Like the British — Whenever, Wherever
In Lagos, if you try to drink hot tea at 3 p.m., people will check your temperature, because who drinks tea in that oven? But in Jos? Tea is a lifestyle. Morning, tea; lunch-break, tea; evening, tea; midnight, tea. Whether you’re in the office, at a bukka, or curled up under a blanket, there’s always a reason to hold a steaming cup. Honestly, in Jos, tea is less ‘beverage’ and more ‘best friend’.
2. Eat Shawarma Like It’s Puff-Puff
Elsewhere, shawarma is that once-in-a-while treat. In Jos? It’s basically puff-puff with better packaging. Why? Because everything you need to make it—cabbage, cucumbers, carrots, chicken, spices—is right here in abundance. It’s cheap, fresh, and everywhere. In Jos, shawarma isn’t indulgence; it’s daily bread.
3. Shop on a Budget, Eat Like Royalty
Somewhere else, ₦1,000 is a one-way danfo ticket (with the conductor still shouting at you). In Jos, that same ₦1,000 buys food you can actually take home and cook. Markets like Farin Gada are bursting with fresh produce, and the prices are so low, you’ll feel like you’re robbing the vendors. Clothes, too, affordable and stylish. Jos is proof that luxury doesn’t have to come with a ridiculous price tag.
4. Build a Home Away From Home
Jos is one of the few places in Nigeria where people come for “just a visit” and end up staying for three generations. Literally. Yorubas, Igbos, Hausas, everyone you’ll find them here, raising families, running businesses, and blending seamlessly with the community. Why? Because Jos is home. The weather feels like Canada on a good day, the people are ridiculously welcoming, and the living is so easy you won’t remember what you left behind. This isn’t just relocation, it is reinvention.
5. Travel With Ease Like You Own the World
Now, let’s talk about commuting. In Abuja, a 12km trip (say, Jabi to Kubwa) looks short on Google Maps. In real life? That’s at least one existential crisis in traffic, two arguments with the driver, and a wallet that sheds tears at every stop.
Now compare that with Jos, say, Terminus to Vom which is 17km, almost the same distance, but here’s the difference. Instead of sweating in gridlock, you’re gliding through crisp, cool air with mountains smiling at you in the distance. Instead of honking chaos, you’ve got kids waving from the roadside and roasted corn calling your name. It’s not just a drive, it’s a mini road trip, and your wallet doesn’t even flinch.
The Plateau Promise
See, life in Jos is simple math: less stress + less spend = more living. Where else in Nigeria can you sip endless cups of tea, eat shawarma like puff-puff, shop like royalty on a budget, build a home away from home, and cruise 17 kilometers like it’s nothing all without breaking a sweat?
You can’t buy peace of mind in Lagos. You can’t shop sanity in Abuja. But in Jos? You just live it.
So, here’s the dare: scroll past this and go back to sweating with your wallet in traffic if you like. But if you’re truly tired of the hustle Jos is waiting.
Your move.