A Brief History of Lagos State

Administrators in Lagos State:

Governor :             Senator Bola Tinubu

Deputy Governor: Mrs. Kofo Bucknor-Akerele

Senators:                Dr. Wahab O. Dosunmu (Lagos West)

                                Tokunbi Afikuyomi  (Lagos Central)

                                Otunba Adeseye Ogunlewe (Lagos)

Pronunciation: [lA´gos, lä´gôs]
city (1989 est. pop. 1,274,000), SW Nigeria, on the Gulf of Guinea.
It comprises the island of Lagos. Lagos is Nigeria's largest city, its administrative and economic center, and its chief port.   Industries include railroad repair, motor vehicle assembly, food processing, and the manufacture of metal products, textiles, beverages, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, soap, and furniture. The city is a  road and rail terminus and has an international airport. An old Yoruba town, Lagos, beginning in the 15th cent., grew as a trade center and seaport. From the 1820s until it became a British colony,  Lagos was a notorious center of the slave trade. Britain annexed the city in 1861, both to tap the trade in palm products and other goods with the interior and to suppress the slave trade. In 1906,  Lagos was joined with the British protectorate of Southern Nigeria, and, in 1914, when Southern and Northern Nigeria were amalgamated, it became part of the small coastal Colony of Nigeria. In 1954 most of the colony was merged with the rest of Nigeria, but Lagos was made a separate federal territory. From the late 19th century to independence in 1960, Lagos was the center of the Nigerian nationalist movement. From independence until 1991, Lagos was the capital of Nigeria.
    The capital was then moved to Abuja, although some governmental departments remain in Lagos.  The Univ. of Lagos (1962), the College of Technology (1948), the National Museum, and a large  sports stadium are in Lagos.
    Lagos is the most populous city in Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa.  The metropolitan area, an estimated 300 square kilometers, is a group of  islands endowed with creeks and a lagoon. Lagos is projected to be one of the  world's five largest cities by 2005.
    In an effort to reduce massive urbanization in the metropolitan area, the   Federal Government has formally relocated to Abuja, though a numbe of units still remain in Lagos for logistics reasons. The original settlers of Lagos, or Eko as it is called by the indigenous  population, were of Benin and Awori Eko heritage. The city was founded in the fifteenth century as a Portuguese trading post exporting ivory, peppers, and  slaves. It subsequently fell into the hands of the British, who began exporting food crops after outlawing slavery in 1807. Although Nigeria gained  independence in 1960, a two-and-a-half year civil war broke out in 1967.  After the war, migration to the city, coupled with huge waves of refugees  and migrants from other African countries, produced a population boom that  has continued to the present day.
    Lagos is the commercial and industrial hub of Nigeria, with a GNP that triples that of any other West African country. Lagos has greatly benefited from Nigeria's natural resources in oil, natural gas, coal, fuel wood and water. Light industry    was prevalent in post-independence Nigeria and petroleum-related industry dominated in the 1970's, directly affecting the rapid growth of Lagos.
Oil production, which began in the 1950's, increased seven-fold between 1965 and 1973, while world oil prices skyrocketed. By 1978, the metropolitan area accounted for 40% of the external trade of Nigeria and was home to at least 40% of the national skilled population. The global recession of 1981, which precipitated a sharp fall in oil prices, sent Lagos reeling into debt and runaway inflation that persisted for a more than a decade but has recently declined. As a result, a massive programme of infrastructure and social services expansion came to an abrupt halt.
    Energy and water access, sewerage, transportation and housing have all  been adversely affected by haphazard development of a geographically disjointed city. Unlike the rest of Nigeria, 90% of the population of Lagos have               access to electricity, with the city consuming 45% of the energy production of the country.
    Despite an abundance of natural waters, the city suffers from an acute and worsening water supply shortage. And due to inadequate sewerage, much the city's human waste is disposed of by the drainage of rainwater through open ditches that discharge onto the tidal flats. ith congested bridges, traffic congestion is a daily problem in Lagos: it takes an average of two to three hours to travel 10-20 kilometres. A high-speed, elevated metro-liner is in the  planning stages.
    Since 1985, state urban renewal plans have concentrated on upgrading the environment of slum communities by building roads and drainage channels and  providing water supply, electricity, schools and health clinics. With cooperation from the citizens, success has been recorded in a number of pilot urban  renewal schemes, which focus on building roads and drainage channels and providing water supply, electricity, schools and health clinics.

Marina
 

Marina is the centre of Lagos Island.  Lagos, which was the former capital of Nigeria, has Ikeja as her capital. The above image is taken from the Apapa side of the port. The orange/yellow building is the former Chellarams building. The short building immediately to the right is the General Post Office, and the short building to the right of the Post Office is the Nigeria Ports Authority building. This area can be considered a downtown area of Lagos.

 Like most capital cities of the world, Lagos, the former capital of Nigeria is known worldwide for its  bustling business activities. It is Nigeria's largest city, chief port and economic and cultural centre. Apapa is the chief port district, on the mainland. With an area of approximately 43 square kilometers, Lagos comprises several islands and the adjacent mainland areas. Notable among the  places on the Island are Victoria Island, Ikoyi and Isale-Eko; the Mainland is made up of        Ebute-Metta, Yaba, Surulere, Apapa, Ikeja and Agege among others. The State can boast of  probably one of the best International airports in the country, which is located in Ikeja, the capital of  the State. Ikeja and its environs take the lion share in the location of industries, but Lagos Island  has the highest concentration of retail/commercial outlets and bureaucracy. There is a Federal  Secretariat, located in Ikoyi on Lagos Island and the commercial nerve centre of Lagos is Broad  Street, close to the Marina. There are also two seaports - Apapa Port and Tin Can Island Port, both in Apapa while the Iddo terminus belongs to the Railway Corporation.