LAGOS STATE

Capital: Ikeja
Area: 3,577 sq kilometres
Population: 6,768,670(1997 FOS est.)
Language: Yoruba

Location

Lagos State lies to the south-western part of the Federation. It shares boundaries with Ogun State both in the North and East and is bounded
on the west by the Republic of Benin. In the South it stretches for 180
kilometres along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. The smallest State in
the Federation, it occupies an area of 3,577 sq km. 22% or 787sq. km
of which consists of lagoons and creeks.

Before the creation of the States in 1967, the identity of Lagos was
restricted to the Lagos Island of Eko (Bini word for war camp). The first
settlers in Eko were the Aworis, who were mostly hunters and fishermen.
They had migrated from Ile-Ife by stages to the coast at Ebute-Metta.

The Aworis were later reinforced by a band of Benin warriors and joined by other Yoruba elements who settled on the mainland for a while till the
danger of an attack by the warring tribes plaguing Yorubaland drove them to
seek the security of the nearest island, Iddo, from where they spread to Eko.

By 1851 after the abolition of the slave trade, there was a great attraction
to Lagos by the repatriates. First were the Saro, mainly freed Yoruba
captives and their descendants who, having been set ashore in Sierra
Leone, responded to the pull of their homeland, and returned in successive waves to Lagos. Having had the privilege of Western education and christianity, they made remarkable contributions to education and the
rapid modernisation of Lagos. They were granted land to settle in the Olowogbowo and Breadfruit areas of the island.

The Brazilian returnees, the Aguda, also started arriving in Lagos in the
mid-19th century and brought with them the skills they had acquired in
Brazil. Most of them were master-builders, carpenters and masons, and
gave the distinct charaterisitics of Brazilian architecture to their residential buildings at Bamgbose and Campos Square areas which form a large proportion of architectural richness of the city.

The other two groups of Lagos State citizens are the Ogu people of Badagry and its environs, and the Ijebu in Ikorodu and Epe Local Governments.

Local Government Areas

Agege, Ajeromi-Ifelodun, Alimosho, Amuwo-Odofin, Apapa, Badagry, Epe,
Eti-Osa, Ibeju/Lekki, Ifako-Ijaye, Ikeja, Ikorodu, Kosofe, Lagos Island, Lagos
Mainland, Mushin, Ojo, Oshodi-Isolo, Shomolu, Surulere.