Lagos is the largest city in Nigeria and the third most populous city in Africa, with a population of 15.4 million as of 2015 within the city proper. Lagos was the national capital of Nigeria until December 1991 following the government's decision to move their capital to Abuja in the center of the country. The Lagos metropolitan area has a total population of roughly 23.5 million as of 2018, making it the largest metropolitan area in Africa. Lagos is a major African financial center and is the economic hub of Lagos State and Nigeria at large. The city has been described as the cultural, financial, and entertainment capital of Africa, and is a significant influence on commerce, entertainment, technology, education, politics, tourism, art, and fashion. Lagos is also among the top ten of the world's fastest-growing cities and urban areas. The megacity has the fourth-highest GDP in Africa and houses one of the largest and busiest seaports on the continent. The Lagos metropolitan area is a major educational and cultural centre in Sub Saharan Africa. Due to the large urban population and port traffic volumes, Lagos is classified as a Medium-Port Megacity.
Odinigwe Benedict Chukwukadibia Enwonwu MBE, better known as Ben Enwonwu, was a Nigerian painter and sculptor. Arguably the most influential African artist of the 20th century, his pioneering career opened the way for the postcolonial proliferation and increased visibility of modern African art. He was one of the first African artists to win critical acclaim, having exhibited in august exhibition spaces in Europe and the United States and listed in international directories of contemporary art. Since 1950, Enwonwu was celebrated as "Africa's Greatest Artist" by the international media and his fame was used to enlist support for Black Nationalists movement all over the world. The Enwonwu crater on the planet Mercury is named in his honour.
Christopher Uchefuna Okeke, also known as Uche Okeke, was an illustrator, painter, sculptor, and teacher. He was an art and aesthetic theorist, seminal to Nigerian modernism.
Tourism in Nigeria centers largely on events, due to the country's ample amount of ethnic groups, but also includes rain forests, savannah, waterfalls, and other natural attractions. Tourists spent 2,6 billion USD in Nigeria in 2015, this dropped to 1,5 billion USD in 2017, probably due to the rise of the Boko Haram insurgency of 2015.
Surulere is a residential and commercial Local Government Area located on the mainland of Lagos in Lagos State, Nigeria, with an area of 23 km2 (8.9 sq mi). At the last census in the year 2006, there were 503,975 inhabitants, with a population density of 21,864 inhabitants per square kilometer. The local government area is bordered by Yaba, Mushin and Ebute-Metta.
The following is a timeline of the history of the metropolis of Lagos, Nigeria.
Valerie Jean Maynard was an American sculptor, teacher, printmaker, and designer. Maynard's work frequently addressed themes of social inequality and the civil rights movement.
Festac '77, also known as the Second World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture, was a major international festival held in Lagos, Nigeria, from 15 January 1977 to 12 February 1977. The month-long event celebrated African culture and showcased to the world African music, fine art, literature, drama, dance and religion. About 16,000 participants, representing 56 African nations and countries of the African Diaspora, performed at the event. Artists who performed at the festival included Stevie Wonder from United States, Gilberto Gil from Brazil, Bembeya Jazz National from Guinea, Mighty Sparrow from Trinidad and Tobago, Les Ballets Africains, South African Miriam Makeba, and Franco Luambo Makiadi. At the time it was held, it was the largest pan-African gathering to ever take place.
Ayeni Adekunle is a Nigerian entrepreneur, writer and published author. He is the founder of Black House Media Group, headquartered in Ikeja, Lagos, Nigeria.
ErhaborOgievaEmokpae, OON, was a renowned Nigerian sculptor, muralist, graphic artist and painter who is regarded as one of the pioneers of modern arts in Nigeria. Some of his notable works include the a bronze replica of the ivory mask of Queen Idia that was used as the official emblem of the Second World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture and a popular painting of Queen Amina. He is also responsible for the decorations on the four entrances of the National Arts Theatre, in Lagos.
Jason Chukwuma Njoku is a British-Nigerian businessman. He is the co-founder and CEO of iROKOtv, a video-on-demand service for Nigerian movies.
Uzo Egonu was a Nigerian-born artist who settled in Britain in the 1940s, only once returning to his homeland for two days in the 1970s, although he remained concerned with African political struggles. According to Rasheed Araeen, Egonu was "perhaps the first person from Africa, Asia or the Caribbean to come to Britain after the War with the sole intention of becoming an artist." According to critic Molara Wood, "Egonu's work merged European and Igbo traditions but more significantly, placed Africa as the touchstone of modernism. In combining the visual languages of Western and African art, he helped redefine the boundaries of modernism, thereby challenging the European myth of the naïve, primitive African artist."
Emmanuel Taiwo Jegede is a Nigerian poet, storyteller, painter, printmaker and a sculptor.
Felabration is an annual music festival conceived in 1998 by Yeni Anikulapo-Kuti in memory and celebration of her father Fela Kuti, a Nigerian musician and human rights activist known for pioneering the afrobeat genre of music. The one-week-long event which is held annually at the New Afrika Shrine in Ikeja, attracts visitors from different countries and has thus been considered as an official tourist destination by the Lagos State Government.
Victor Ehikhamenor is a Nigerian visual artist, writer, and photographer known for his expansive works that engage with multinational cultural heritage and postcolonial socioeconomics of contemporary black lives. In 2017, he was selected to represent Nigeria at the Venice Biennale, the first time Nigeria would be represented in the event. His work has been described as representing "a symbol of resistance" to colonialism.
Tenstrings Music Institute is a contemporary music college in Nigeria, renowned as the country's biggest music school with study centers in Ikeja, Surulere, Festac Town, Lekki, Port Harcourt and affiliated schools in other parts of the country. Over the last nine years, Tenstrings has enrolled students from at least ten other African countries, including Ghana, Zambia, Kenya, Uganda, Cameroon, e.t.c.
Tam Fiofori, also known as "Uncle Tam", is a Nigerian documentary photographer. Notable for his albums chronicling Nigeria's history, Fiofori is also a filmmaker, writer, critic and media consultant. The subjects of his films include the Nigerian artists Biodun Olaku, J. D. 'Okhai Ojeikere and Olu Amoda. Much travelled, Fiofori lived in Harlem, New York, in the 1960s, becoming Sun Ra's manager, and producing writing that is considered "a founding connection between Ra and the movement that would be known as Afrofuturism".
Ibrahim Bata Malgwi Haruna is a retired officer of the Nigerian Army. He was a Federal Commissioner for Information and Culture between 1975 and 1977. He was also the Chairman, Executive Council, of Arewa Consultative Forum from 2009 to 2012. He holds the traditional title of Walin Garkida. He has notably been accused for ordering the Asaba Massacre, an atrocity committed during the Nigerian Civil War, but this is actually untrue; the massacre was ordered by Ibrahim Taiwo, as Haruna was not in command at that area. See Elizabeth Bird and Fraser Ottanell's "The Asaba Massacre: Trauma, memory, and the Nigerian civil war", pp. 77.
Ade Abayomi Olufeko, is an American-born designer, technologist, and entrepreneur primarily active in Lagos. His international work in humanities has been leveraged by Consortiums, NGOs, and high-impact leaders. He is the founder of Visual Collaborative, an American festival, and publishing platform that partners with artists, scientists, lawyers, and innovators on socio-economics. In 2003, he became a recipient of the IBM Gerstner Award for exceptional service during a malware epidemic.
Titi Ogufere is a Nigerian interior designer, critical design thinker and publisher at Essential Media Group. She is the Creative Director at Essential Interiors Consultancy, a pioneer interior designing company in Nigeria. The award-winning practice was set up in 2002 and has since established an international identity with a wide variety of projects that are context-specific, innovative, experimental, critical and theoretical.
