Tuesday, July 5, 2011

LAGOS HISTORY

On May 27, 1967 Lagos State was created by virtue of state Decree No. 14 of 1967 (creation and Transitional Provisions), restructured Nigeria into 12 states before this period, the Federal Government administered Lagos Municipality through the Federal Ministry of Lagos Affairs as the regional authority, while the city of Lagos was governed b Lagos City Council . the metropolitan areas (Colony Province) of Agege, Badagry, Epe, Ikeja, Ikorodu and Mushin were administered by the Western Region. The state took off as an administrative entity on April 11, 1968 with Lagos Island serving the dual role of being the state and Federal Capital however, in 1976, the state capital was moved to Ikeja and Lagos Island ceased to be the capital. Lagos ceased to be the capital of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on December 12, 1991 as the seat of the Federal Government was relocated to Abuja but, nevertheless Lagos remains the nation’s economic and commercial capital.
The state is located in the South-Western part of Nigeria along the narrow coastal plain of the Bight of Benin. On the globe it lies between longitude 20o 421E and 3o 221E and also between latitude 6o 421 N. It shares boundaries with Ogun state of Nigeria in the North and in the East in the West by the Republic of Benin and stretches over 180 kilometres (km) along the Guinea Coast of the Bight of Benin on the Atlantic Ocean. The state comprises of twenty (20) Local Governments and five (5) administrative divisions of Lagos (Eko), Ikeja, Epe, Badagry, and Ikorodu. It covers an area of 358,861 hectares or 3,577 square kilometres (sq. km.), geographically it is the smallest state in Nigeria. The state accounted for over 9million out of the nation estimated of 150 million according to the last census conducted by the National Population Commission (NPC) in view of this the United Nations (UN) estimated that at its present growth rate, Lagos State will be the third largest mega city in the world by 2015 after Tokyo in Japan and Mumbai in India. The population growth rate is about 600,000 per annum with a population density of about 4,193 persons per sq. km. the average density is 20,000 persons per sq. km. in the built-up areas of the Lagos metropolis. Current demographic reveals that the state population growth rate of 8% has resulted in its capturing of 36.8% of Nigeria’s urban population.

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