Of the Port-City

09ON THE CULW NTOTERFRA TURE,: HERITAND REGENERA A GTION E OFT POR CITIES LOCAL AND GLOBAL DYNAMICS IN THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE PORT-CITY OF LAGOS SINCE THE NINETEENTH CENTURY Ayodeji Olukoju Department of History and Strategic Studies, University of Lagos ON THE W NTOTERFRA : HERITTURE,CUL GA E AND REGENERATION OF PORT CITIES PAGE 2 This paper outlines the local and global dynamics in the LAGOS: A SPATIAL Ikeja areas on the Mainland, which emergence of Lagos as the leading maritime, commercial AND HISTORICAL PROFILE had been part of the old Western Region of Nigeria. and industrial city in West Africa. A combination of official The port-city of Lagos, originally a fishing settlement and, subsequently, policy, ecology, retail and maritime trade, and technology Following British colonization in1861, an outpost of the Benin Empire up till underpinned the transformation of the city. British colonial Lagos was the first city to experience the late eighteenth century (Aderibigbe, Crown Colony and modern municipal rule, the return of the “Saro” and “Aguda,” the establishment 1975; Lawal, 1994), has been defined administration and, together with of newspapers, educational and other institutions that and shaped by a variety of factors: Calabar, also pioneered qualified geography (location and terrain) and promoted literacy and civic pride, and the rise of the male suffrage in Nigeria. It also had historical forces (the trans-Atlantic professions (law, medicine, journalism and teaching) the trappings of modernity – urban slave trade, British colonialism, Christian amenities,Western medical facilities, promoted social development and political participation. missionary activity, indigenous culture, British judicial and legislative institutions, The city exhibits a blend of indigenous and external religious beliefs and Islam, port newspapers, political parties and development and maritime trade). cultural traditions, local music and festivals, and modern pressure groups, and the first set This paper analyzes the interaction popular culture and is long regarded as the pace-setter of Christian Mission schools. It was of these dynamics in their spatial and Nigeria’s capital from1914 till1991. and harbinger of ‘civilisation’ and innovation. Like Mumbai historical contexts. Informed by archival, in India, Lagos benefited from extensive port development newspaper and oral sources, it seeks to and flourishing maritime trade since the nineteenth deepen our understanding of the forces that shaped and continue to influence century. Glasgow-Bombay imperial and maritime links THE EMERGENCE the fortunes of West Africa’s premier OF A PREMIER PORT resonate with those between Lagos and Liverpool. port, industrial and commercial centre. But Mumbai had the advantage of the antiquity and Lagos was rapidly transformed by the strength of indigenous Indian mercantile enterprise. Lagos grew out of its core on Lagos expansion of trade and the growth of Island, the surrounding plains at shipping. By1880, it was nicknamed Ikoyi and Oto and Victoria islands. ‘the “Liverpool” of West Africa’ on Its boundary was extended to the account of its regional pre-eminence. Mainland (Yaba and Ebute Metta) in But the bar at the mouth of the harbour 1911, fifty years after British colonization kept out ocean liners, necessitating the in1861.The next major landmark was use of lighters. However, railway and the creation of Lagos State in1967. road development complemented This extended the metropolitan area extensive and expensive harbour into the Ajeromi, Mushin, Oshodi and works, which opened the port to ON THE W NTOTERFRA : HERITTURE,CUL GA E AND REGENERATION OF PORT CITIES AP GE 3 ocean shipping by1914. Modern banking THE MAKING OF THE and carpentry while the “Saro” were the indigenous settlement on Lagos Island and a unified currency system facilitated COSMOPOLITAN CITY leaders in the professions of medicine, (Olukoju, 2003b, 2004). However, the trade in an economy dominated by law, journalism and teaching.Various colonial government transplanted some expatriate interests (Ogundana,1961; The imposition of colonial law and hinterland peoples – mainly,Yoruba, metropolitan landmarks to Lagos – Hopkins,1964; Olukoju,1992, 2004). order, the growth of produce exports Hausa, and Nupe – also settled in The Marina (cf. Nigerian Pioneer [Lagos], and the rising profile of Lagos as a Lagos at different times and for 20 March1931), the Supreme Court, Port development took a new turn leading commercial centre attracted various reasons (Aderibigbe,1975; Race Course and other public buildings. in the immediate aftermath of World migrants from the Yoruba hinterland. Echeruo,1977). These were sited in the European War I with the alignment of rail and The in-migrants included fugitive slaves section of the port-city. maritime transport.The focus of port and demobilized soldiers, upon the A major challenge of colonial development shifted from Lagos Island to conclusion of the inter-state wars urbanization was the violation of Rising population aggravated housing Apapa, thus underscoring the importance in Yorubaland in 1893 (Aderibigbe, town planning laws by the unregulated and food supplies, two key indices of of the railway to port development. 1975). By this time, Lagos had become development of the overcrowded cost of living in colonial Lagos.The Great The extension of the railway to Kano cosmopolitan with a racially and socially indigenous quarters on the Island Depression compounded the woes of in Northern Nigeria in1912 facilitated a diverse population. In addition to the and mainland of Lagos.The bubonic the city dwellers as did World War II phenomenal rise in groundnut production majority indigenous Lagosians, the plague of1924-30 ravaged the city exigencies – epitomized by salt, gari in the Kano region. Paradoxically, as the descendants of slaves of West African, and prompted the establishment of (processed cassava flour) and petroleum port and its hinterland developed, mainly Yoruba, origins had flocked to the Lagos Executive Development scarcity – and rising cost of living Lagos earned the unsavoury reputation Lagos from Sierra Leone, Brazil and Board (LEDB) in1928.The consequent (Olukoju, 2000).These developments as an “expensive port.” High port tariffs Cuba (Echeruo,1977). demolition of squalid structures, generated labour militancy and discouraged shipping without freeing port evacuation and resettlement of slum culminated in the World War II-era operations from fiscal deficits (Olukoju, The Sierra Leonean émigrés dwellers, and enforcement of town cost of living (COLA) wars, which 1994). Still, Lagos remained critical to (known as “Saro”) and their “Brazilian” planning simply transferred unregulated also aligned with late-1940s nationalist colonial port development policy, which counterparts (who bore the generic development to the Lagos suburbs of politics (Oyemakinde,1970). Lagos was oscillated between port diffusion and name “Aguda” – though a good number Mushin and Ikeja (Olukoju, 2003a, 2004). the hotbed of Nigerian nationalism, not concentration.The collaboration of of them were Muslims) soon occupied An unsavoury dimension of town simply because it was the national capital imperial/colonial governments with particular areas on Lagos Island – the planning was the colonial policy of and economic hub.The newspapers and metropolitan and local business pressure “Saro” at Olowogbowo and the Brazilians residential segregation, which created a the Legislative Council were outlets for groups ensured the growth of the colonial at Popo Aguda – distinct from the other separate European Quarters on Victoria anti-colonial activities. economy – in spite of the intervention quarters in the African section of the Island and Ikoyi with an enclosing cordon of global and local adversities, such as the city.The “Aguda” pioneered various sanitaire to ward off pestilence which world wars and the Great Depression. artisanal occupations, especially, masonry was feared to emanate from the ON THE W NTOTERFRA : HERITTURE,CUL GA E AND REGENERATION OF PORT CITIES AP GE 4 Lagos experienced unprecedented, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL rate agitation, the deposition of Lagosians indulged in conspicuous phenomenal growth during the second DIMENSIONS AND DYNAMICS Eshugbayi Eleko, the schism in the Lagos consumption, opulent housing, half of the twentieth century thanks to Muslim Community, the acquisition of expensive cars, an aristocratic lifestyle Mid-nineteenth century Lagos the post-war boom and the port-city’s Ikoyi for European settlement and the and elaborate marriage ceremonies. already exhibited considerable racial, increasing political, social and economic demolition of houses in the wake of the Dress for Muslim and Christian cultural and social diversity. Each group significance.The population of the city bubonic plague (Cole,1975). Songs in Lagosians was designed to reflect contributed to the mix of foreign and rose dramatically from some 250,000 support of rival factions in chieftaincy social status (Euba,1987), though indigenous cultures. In spite of foreign in1950 to 10 million by1991, the year in disputes, party politics, land and related this was taken to an extreme in two influences, the indigenous fabric of Lagos which the national capital was transferred matters are still recalled in contemporary respects: the aso ebi (uniform apparel) social life and culture proved resilient. to Abuja. By the close of the century, Lagos, where the tradition continues in practice (which was roundly condemned The latter combined

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