Ikole
Ikole is a local government area in Ekiti State, Southwest Nigeria. It's occupied mainly by the Yoruba tribe and Yoruba is the major language spoken there.
Understand
Ikole Ekiti is a relatively large town in Ekiti State. The Oba of the land is referred to as the Elekole of Ikole Ekiti. There are various towns within the walls of the land which are being headed by kings too. We have Asin-Ekiti, Usin-Ekiti, Ootunja- Ekiti, Ikoyi amidst others. The Elekole supercedes and heads all the other kings in the land.
The town is mainly dominated by christians. Muslims, and traditional worshippers are also present in the land. There is usually a season of the year (around August) when they practice their masquerade festival. This is majorly carried out by youths of the land.
The town is relatively very secure as well.
Get in
You can get in via bus from any part of Ekiti State. You can enter Ekiti from most Southwest states in Nigeria like Lagos, Ibadan or Ondo, then from there you can take a bus to Ikole LGA.
Taxis, which are usually refered to as "Akoto", are the major means of transport within the town.
Get around
See
Do
Buy
Like most places in Nigeria, you would need to buy most of your goods from local stores which can be found on every corner of each street in the town.
- Decency Multibiz Global Ventures, ☏ +234 814 561 0674. 24 hours.
- Mummy Toyin Ventures, Overcomers Hostel, Road Ikole, ☏ +234 706 085 7575. M-Sa 7AM-9PM.
- Ikole Main Market.
- Daily Market Shops.
- Odo Oro Market.
- Dixoret Ventures, Ifaki - Oye - Ikole Rd, Oye, ☏ +234 703 424 0678. M-Sa 7AM-10PM.
- Ejiwumi Stores.
- Jalmat Store, Ifaki - Oye - Ikole Rd, ☏ +234 806 318 5416. M-Sa 8AM-6PM.
- Oluwaseun Supermarket.
Eat
You can get foods from local restaurants and hotels in this town. The major food in this town is pounded yam (Yoruba: Iyan). You really should try it out
- Paramount bar and restaurant, local government, Asin Rd, Ikole, ☏ +234 803 491 5409.
- Afrifoods Cottage, Iwakun Street, Besides General Post Office (Elekole's Palace, Ikole, ☏ +234 905 266 9292. M-Sa 7AM-8PM.
- Divine Chef.
- Onisuru Mega spot, 21 Okederu Asin-Ekiti Ikole, ☏ +234 806 449 8771. M-Sa 8AM-9PM.
- YummyCraving, House 12b, Ikole, ☏ +234 813 995 4238. 24 hours.
- Simply Hott, ☏ +234 903 640 4816.
- Awesome Restaurant, ☏ +234 813 344 5738.
- Chiller's Bar & Restaurant, ☏ +234 902 130 6418. 24 hours.
- Restaurant Foods & Drinks.
- Marvelous Restaurant.
Drink
- Empire Pub, Temidire/Ara road, irode area Ikole. 24 hours.
- Downtown Exclusive Bar Ikole.
- Paramount bar and restaurant, local government, Asin Rd, Ikole. M-Sa 9AM-10PM.
- Adamson Cool Spot, ☏ +234 816 000 5103. M-Sa 8AM-10PM.
- Lounge De'Alva, ☏ +234 703 239 8512. 24 hours.
- YOLO Lounge, ☏ +234 803 515 9054. M-Sa 2PM-2AM.
- Upwings lounge and bar, ☏ +234 814 893 1804. 24 hours.
- Lampese bar.
Sleep
Most of the hotels in this town are low budget hotels and you shouldn't really expect much from them.
- S.M.J Hotel, College Road, Ikole, ☏ +234 816 072 2762.
- Ore-Ofe Guest House, ☏ +234 915 540 2954.
- Ibisco Guest House, Ibisco Junction, Opposite General Hospital Beside NNPC Mega Station, Ikole.
- Grosso Hotel, Omotayo street, off oba Adetunle Adeleye road, new Iloka, Ikole.
- Ayedogbon Guesthouse, Along Ikole Road.
- Mayegun Royal Hotel, ☏ +234 904 735 9503.
- Ramat Guest Lodge.
Connect
Most locations in Ikole have 2G/3G mobile network coverage. Service may be disrupted the farther away you go from the city center, and you might occasionally experience network outage for all or some of the mobile phone service providers in those remote areas of the city. Different networks tend to be more stable and reliable in different locations of the city at different times.
If you are planning a visit to this city, you should probably consider having multiple SIM cards, preferably for all the mobile service providers, since you can't tell which will be more stable and reliable at a time in your location during your visit. And if you will risk not having any of them, you might be better off not risking the MTN network, because, from indications, it seems to perform well than the others, though its rates may be high and its offers and services might be stringent, but you are less likely to be concerned of erratic voice and data connection compared to others.
Airtel is another service provider which is fairly satisfactory for all you might need to connect to the world, including rates and network stability. Of course, Glo (or Globacom) boasts of fast network speed for internet browsing activities, but that might not be enjoyable in some locations in Ikole. And 9Mobile usually also performs well in internet browsing speed but not without locational limitations.