Study Session 13

CITIES AND URBAN CULTURE IN NIGERIA

13.0 Introduction
In this session we examine the meaning of a city, the impact of colonialism on the emergence
of cities in Nigeria, factors that promoted the growth of cities in contemporary Nigeria, and
key aspects of urban culture in Nigeria.

Learning Outcomes
When you have studied this session, you should be able to understand the following:
13.1 The meaning of a city (SAQ 13.1)
13.2 The impact of colonialism on the emergence of cities in Nigeria (SAQ 13.2)
13.3 Factors that promoted the growth of cities in contemporary Nigeria (SAQ 13.3)
13.4 Key aspects of urban culture in Nigeria. (SAQ 13.4)

Main Content
13.1 Meaning of City and Urban Culture
Let us start this discussion by noting that Nigerian cities are predominantly large in nature and
so may be easy to identify or define. In this sense, we can describe a city as a large human
settlement with extensive systems of utilities, transportation, housing, land use, a huge
demography, a visible communication system and network of roads, public and private
businesses, and so on. Scholars who have studied cities have considered the following
approaches: city as an economic base, a sociological entity, a cultural sphere, a legal entity, a
spatial reality, and a historical entity. What we must add is that the economic status of a city
goes a long way to determine its financial health. As Akin Mabogunje has noted, the towns and
cities of Nigeria are viewed as the crucial nodes or swellings in the spatial economy. You must
also note that the sociological analysis of a city will assist in the understanding of the various
social groups that are contained therein; while the cultural examination of a city may explain
its various cultural components and their relationship with one another. On the other hand, we
want you to note that a historical explanation of a city will shed light on its origins, growth and
the interactions of the various groups in time perspectives. Indeed, as Parr has noted, when
compared with the other factors,
 [t]he size of a city is …of crucial importance when it is being related to such variables
as per capita income, the unemployment rate, inequality in levels of wellbeing and the
extent of diversification and specialisation. It is usually the case that city size is
measured in terms of some aggregate such as total population, employment or income,
and any measure of this type is only possible with adequate information on the areal
extent of the city - i.e. with a specification of its boundary.

The other point you need to understand is that a city usually has dense population and majority
of its residents are occupied in non-rural and non-agricultural pursuits. In a related sense, we
can talk about the concept of “built city,” which is concerned with its built-up area and can also
describe a city to mean a continuous or near-continuous tract of space where you have housing,
manufacturing, commercial activities, transport and similar public acitivities. Examples of
global cities include: Accra, Berlin, Birmingham, Beijing, Cairo, Kampala, Harare, Shanghai,
Nanjing, Tokyo, Boston, Chicago, Glasgow, Lagos, London, Manchester, Paris, Sydney,
Mexico, etc.

Table 1: Some Nigerian cities

North-east Maiduguri, Yola, Gombe, Yola, Taraba, Bauchi,
etc.
North-west Sokoto, Kano, Zaria, Kaduna, Kebbi, Katsina,
Gusau, etc.
North- Makurdi, Gboko, Keffi, Ilorin, Lokoja, Jos,
central Minna
South-east Enugu, Owerri, Uhuahia, Abakaliki, Aba,
Onitsha, etc.
South-south Benin City, Port Harcourt, Uyo, IkotEkpene,
Sapele, Asaba, Yenagoa, Calabar, etc.
South-west Lagos, Osogbo, Akure, Abeokuta, Ibadan, Ado-
Ekiti, etc.
Source: Author’s fieldwork analysis

After we have looked at the meaning of a city, we can now look at what we mean by urban
culture. In a simple sense, we use urban culture to refer to the various practices, belief systems,
social forms, and material traits associated with the life and activities of city dwellers. We can
also use it to mean the following: structural designs, attitudes of city dwellers, their customs,
beliefs and overall atmosphere and sense of connection involving city dwellers. We may also
look at urban culture simply as “the culture of towns and cities.” It is based on this observation
that Daniel Gillberg et. al. want us to see urban culture as an interdisciplinary tool aimed at
deepening the knowledge of how cultural life is transformed both visually and materially,
which will help to create the foundation for urban life in general. This, according to him,
involves both cultural practices and spatial embodiment that can shape the material landscape,
framework or platform, on which urban life revolves.

13.2 Colonialism and the emergence of Cities in Nigeria

We will now turn our attention to how colonialism or the coming of the British to Nigeria
affected the emergence of cities in the area. We will start by noting that by the close of the
nineteenth century (19th) when the British took over the jurisdiction and administration of the
Nigerian area, the entire landscape comprised largely self-sufficient traditional communities
engaged mainly in agriculture and commercial activities. Several of these communities, with a
few exceptions, did not qualify for the status of an urban centre or city. However, by the 1900s,
the phenomenon of a largely urbanised non-agricultural, white-collar or self-employed African
city was beginning to take shape with Lagos and Calabar leading the way. Let us remind
ourselves that cities induce their own culture that differentiates them from rural areas or
countryside. We must not forget to note that before the arrival of the colonial administrators,
an average African settlement had social amenities that were to a large extent functional and
well adapted to their needs. Nevertheless, when the colonial administrators came, attempts
were made to develop urban settlements with modern functional facilities such as standard
roads, electricity, piped borne water, and so on. As time went on changes in trade,
industrialisation, population explosion, rural-urban migrations and transportation significantly
affected the condition, location, size, configuration and functions of several Nigerian
settlemnts.

However, we must note that the attitude of the colonial administrators to urban growth was
obviously hostile because their official interest rested with promotion of rural native
administration and rural export staples. Hence, the colonial government was hardly prepared
for the rapid growth of an urban population. For example, we can observe that there was very
little formal town planning beyond the random enforcement of a variety of sanitary rules and
ineffective land control procedures. Rather, city planning was done on a slowly or ad hoc basis
by administrative officials and concerned individuals. The implication of this is that there was
little harmonization as far as town planning was concerned. In contrast, European officials were
satisfied with guaranteeing that the small European settlements in towns were firmly protected
in segregated reservations which shielded them from the problems and realities of the majority
of other urban people, especially Africans.

What we must also note is that apart from the already existing urban settlements, the colonial
officers made attempts to create new towns, which later grew to become cities. Thus, the
colonial regime founded towns such as Enugu, Kaduna and Port Harcourt. For instance, Port
Harcourt was formed in 1912 to facilitate the export of coal from the collieries discovered by
geologist Albert Ernest Kitson in Enugu in 1909. Enugu is located 243 km. (151 mi) north of
Port Harcourt, and was linked by the Eastern Railway Line, built by the British. We should
also note that the status of Port Harcourt increased in 1956 when crude oil was discovered in
commercial quantities at Oloibiri near the town of Port Harcourt. Thereafter, Port Harcourt’s
economy benefitted from petroleum exploitation when the first shipment of Nigerian crude oil
was exported through the city in 1958. Since then, the status of Port Harcourt as a port city, an
industrial town, a commercial hub and a political capital grew in leaps and bounds. It must be
observed that the indigenous inhabitants were the people of Diobu, who ceded their land to the
British in 1912, while the other villages that were later absorbed into the city included
Oroworukwo, Mkpogua, and Rumuomasi. Others were the fishing camps and settlements of
the Okrika-Ijaw group.

On the other hand, Enugu was founded in 1909, when Mr. Kikson, a British mining
engineer/geologist, discovered a large coal reserve in the Udi ridge while prospecting for silver.
The colonial Governor, Lord Lugard took keen interest in the discovery and by 1914 the first
shipment of coal from Enugu to Port Harcourt started. The extractive activities in the area
attracted people to Enugu and in 1917 the settlement attained the status of a town. Thereafter,
Enugu became a commercial centre, an administrative seat of power, an industrial base and so
on.

Lastly, Kaduna was founded by the British in 1913 to serve as its administrative headquarters
in North Nigeria. It became the capital of Nigeria’s former Northern Region in 1917. Note that
the first British governor of Northern Nigeria, Sir Frederick Lugard, chose Kaduna due to its
proximity to the Lagos-Kano Railway. Kaduna retained this status until 1967 when many states
were created across Nigeria. We should note that the establishment of these new towns were
facilitated or influenced by European presence in Nigeria. Indeed, Ervin Galantay has observed
that several Nigerian towns owe their existence to railway lines built by the colonial
administration which led to the creation of a string of urban nuclei, such as Aba, Umuahia,
Makurdi, Kaduna, and Jos, among others.

Think about how colonialism influenced cities and urban culture in

Nigeria.

13.3 Factors that Promoted the Growth of Cities in Contemporary Nigeria

We will now turn to the factors that facilitated the growth of cities in contemporary Nigeria.
We must note that several factors have encouraged the birth and growth of cities in Nigeria.
First, many Nigerian modern cities owe their birth, growth and influence to their status as
administrative centres, headquarters or bases. For instance, the growth of some cities has been
influenced by the advantages they derive from being designated as seats of power or
administrative headquarters. In fact, most state capitals in Nigeria as well as the Federal Capital
Territory (FCT), Abuja have grown rapidly because of government’s funding of infrastructure,
enormous town-planning attention, commercial, political and socio-cultural activities in these
areas. That means that state capitals in Nigeria usually have the potential to become major
centres because of the provision of social amenities, the construction of offices and houses,
encouragement of commercial and industrial activities, and other related activities such as
private sector investment, and rural-urban migrations. Using the example of Owerri, we can
observe that immediately it was designated as a state capital, some 8000 government
employees transferred from the former Eastern State Capital at Enugu to the place, leading to
the speedy expansion and monumental development of Owerri. Thereafter, it grew rapidly from
a market town into a beehive of political, administrative, commercial and social activities.
However, we must note that there are cities that are not necessarily state capitals but have
expanded rapidly because of their commercial or cultural relevance or importance. Examples
may include Onitsha, Aba, and Ile-Ife.
Second, cities have grown because of their status as commercial and economic centres.
Cities such as Aba, Onitsha, Kano, Yola, Idah, Auchi, and others have grown because of their
connection with commercial routes, as commercial centres or as industrial areas.
Third, cities also have grown rapidly because they have retained their status as
traditional or cultural centres. Cities such as Benin City, Oyo, Ile-Ife, and Sokoto, among others
have retained their statuses as traditional headquarters that predated colonialism. You will
observe that while they may be considered trado-cultural headquarters, they have also
undergone some levels of transformation as modern cities with traditional and cultural
characteristics rooted in them.
Fourth, industrialization also has facilitated the growth of cities in Nigeria. For instance,
rapid industrial development has been responsible for the growth of cities such as Sapele, Port
Harcourt, Enugu, Jos and Lagos, among others. These cities grew rapidly because of their links
to industrial establishment as well as the raw materials which they provided. For example,
before 1966 Sapele was regarded as Nigeria’s fastest growing urban community because its
growth was facilitated by the development of timber and the rubber trade, pioneered by the
Miller Brothers who established the Nigerian export timber trade at Koko in 1917. There was
also the United African Company, which was formed in 1929, which inherited the saw-mill
and shifted the site of their operations to Sapele in 1935, leading to the rapid growth of the
town. Hence, we can argue that one of the consequences of industrialisation in Nigeria has been
the growth of urban centres and the transformation of a mainly rural to an urban population.
Lastly, you will observe that cities have also grown because of the effects of continuous
rural-urban migrations. This follows the process of urbanization, which has benefitted from
population shift from rural to urban areas. As Ayodeji Olukoju has observed, one immediate
outcome of the rise of cities such as Lagos and others is the steady increase in their populations.
In the same vein, you can observe that the phenomenal growth of towns or cities has led to
various development problems such as traffic congestion, waste management crisis, housing
deficit, poor environmental management, pollution and poverty.

13.4 Aspects of Urban Culture in Nigeria

When we talk about urban culture, we mean the way city dwellers think, live and relate with
one another in their day-to-day activities. City dwellers share in common certain traits and
problems which arise from the size and diversity of the population of cities, the nature of the
functions they perform and the peculiar environment in which the people live. Specifically, we
can note that Nigerian cities have a dynamic culture that separates them from rural areas. First,
most cities in Nigeria are multicultural in nature. This means that most of the activities that go
on in them have the inputs of different cultural elements across Nigeria and beyond. Lagos is
an example of this multiculturality. Hence, you can observe that several cities in Nigeria look
like a “no-man’s land” as far as the cultural displays of fashion and clothing, cuisines, funerals,
language, and leisure activities are concerned. You will agree that these cultural elements are
conspicuously multicultural in character.
Second, we should note that city life is essentially competitive and individualistic. In
other words, the traits of individualism and the profit motive are obviously present in most
cities in Nigeria and elsewhere in the world. Indeed, you will note that one of the main effects
of the twin processes of industrialisation and urbanisation in Nigeria is the introduction of the
capitalist ethos with its typical class system. To a large extent, you will observe that there is a
shift of emphasis from the tradition of mutual cooperation to one of competition for scarce
resources and exploitation of one person against another. Thus, social relationships are largely
dominated by the profit motives, extreme greed for money, suspicion, exploitation and
demonstration of status symbols. This contrasts sharply with rural life where usually, the rich
and able in each family help the less fortunate or less active ones to survive and emphasis is on
group rather than on the individual.
Third, you will observe that city life is largely interactive and diverse. Despite the
obvious social stratification in urban centres, urban dwellers in contemporary Nigeria have
learnt to redefine their diverse cultural values through interaction. Indeed, urban cultural
diversity and mix is positively expressed in the acceptance and adoption of the apparently
dominant culture within a given urban area. For instance, the Aso-ebi culture is observed in
several cities in Nigeria. This urban culture has spread to several parts of Nigeria, including
the rural areas and has reflected lifestyle, shared networking, imagination, social capital, and
originality across several cities in Nigeria. The dress styles involved in the Aso-ebi culture can
be seen as a uniquely Nigerian or African contribution to the global fashion and leisure
industry.
Fourth, we must emphasise that despite the apparent culture of glamour and aesthetic,
city life in Nigeria is also a mix of affluence and poverty. Since the 1980s when the Structural
Adjustment Programme (SAP) was implemented in the country, urban poverty has grown
rapidly in Nigeria. Moreover, unemployment has widened and worsened the pool of the urban
poor. Therefore, the urban space has been precariousness difficult for its inhabitants. Daily
subsistence such as food, clothing, shelter, healthcare and education are lacking for or difficult
to access by a large proportion of the population. This is made worse by the non-agricultural
nature of most cities in Nigeria where most of the unemployed struggle daily to survive by
living from hand to mouth.
Fifth, as a consequence of the above, you will observe that cities in Nigeria are
more prone to crimes and criminality than their rural counterpart. Crimes such as armed
robbery, prostitution, hooliganism, burglary, and others are rife in cities. These problems have
been made worse by the fact that there are no enough security operatives to police the huge
population of cities in Nigeria. Besides, cities have a way of “shielding” criminals from being
caught by law enforcement agents because of their sizes, diversities and complexities. Indeed,
the conditions created by city culture have produced a kind of new post-cosmopolitanism,
fueled by globalization and new forms of technology.
Nevertheless, we must emphasise that most urban dwellers in Nigerian cities have now
adapted to the culture of the urban society. They have developed or acquired new ways of life,
and modified old ones. Besides, new cultural forms of expression have been created in the
urban space and the people are aware of the need to move away from the traditional ways of
doing things to what is acceptable in an urban space.

Summary of Study Session

After going through this session, you have learnt the following:
(i) The meaning of a city
(ii) The impact of colonialism on the emergence of cities in Nigeria
(iii) Factors that promoted the growth of cities in contemporary Nigeria
(iv) Key aspects of urban culture in Nigeria.
Self-Assessment Questions (SAQs) for Session 13
Now that you have completed this study session, you should assess how much you have learnt
by attempting the following questions. You can write your answers in a note book so as to be
able to discuss extensively on it with your tutor at the next interactive session.
SAQ 13.1: Explain the meaning of a city and city culture.
SAQ 13.2: What do you think were the impact of colonialism on the emergence of cities in
Nigeria?
SAQ 13.3: Discuss four aspects of urban culture in Nigeria.
SAQ 13.4: Highlight key aspects of urban culture in Nigeria.
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