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Brief History of the City of Ibadan.

 

In the 19th century, Yorubaland was characterised by insecurity. The intra-Yoruba war (1825-1893) and themilitary Jihad originating from Sokoto Sultanate2, which

spread from the north to the south of Nigeria, provokeda huge movement of people from the north to the southof Yorubaland, and from the countryside to the walledcities. Thus, many old cities disappeared (Old-Oyo,Owu) whereas a new generation of fortified towns cameinto being (New Oyo, Abéokuta, Ibadan). 

Ibadan was created in 1829 as a war camp for

warriors coming from Oyo, Ife and Ijebu. A forest site andseveral ranges of hills, varying in elevation from 160 to275 metres, offered strategic defence opportunities.Moreover, its location at the fringe of the forest promoted

its emergence as a marketing centre for traders andgoods from both the forest and grassland areas. Ibadanthus began as a military state and remained so until the

last decade of the 19th century. The city-state alsosucceeded in building a large empire from the 1860s tothe 1890s and extended over much of northern andeastern Yorubaland. It was appropriately nicknamed idiIbon, “butt of a gun”, because of its unique military char-

acter. The warriors constituted the rulers of the city andthe most important economic group (Falola, 1984: 192).

However, the economy of Ibadan primarily rested onagriculture (yam, maize, vegetables…), manufacture(mainly weapons, smithery, cloth and ceramics indus-

tries) and trade (slaves, palm oil, yam, kola for export,shea butter, salt, horses, weapons from outside). The colonial period reinforced the position of the city inthe Yoruba urban network. After a small boom in rubber

business (1901-1913), cocoa became the main produceof the region and attracted European and Levantinefirms, as well as southern and northern traders fromLagos, Ijebu-Ode and Kano among others. Their activties covered both the import of manufactured articles

and the export of local agriculture produce, notablycocoa, palm oil, palm kernels, rubber, hides and skins(Mabogunje, 1968: 195). The railway to the Northreached Ibadan in 1901 and all road traffic from Lagosto the North converged in Ibadan. The city became a

major point of bulk trade. Its central location and acces-accessibility from the capital city of Lagos were major considerations in the choice of Ibadan as the headquarters ofthe Western Provinces (1939), which became the

Western Region of Nigeria in 1952. This changeinvolved a substantial transfer of political power fromthe British Colonial Office to the nationals of the coun-

try and began the process of ministerial appointmentsand the rapid expansion in the number of governmentworkers and buildings in the city (Mabogunje, 1968:200). The importance of Ibadan was further enhanced

in 1948 by the founding of the University College whichlater became the University of Ibadan. Ibadan also had

a well-equipped teaching hospital, at that time the onlyone in the country. The concentration of qualifiedpeople increased purchasing power in the city and stimulated rapid growth in commerce and in employment opportunities. However, Ibadan did not succeed inattracting many big industries: there were only 47industrial establishments employing over ten peopleand 2,000 small-scale industries employing fewer than

10 people in 1963 (Mabogunje, 1968: 201). 

Although the objectives of the First to the ThirdNational Development Plans (1960-1980) were theacceleration of industrialisation, levels of industrialisation remained low in Ibadan city. By 1979, the industriallandscape was still dominated by small-scale activities

(Oketoki, 1998: 294) although a few big companies hadbeen established mainly in the new industrial estates.

The SAP introduced in 1986 was intended to encourageboth Nigerian and foreign investments and thus limit theamount of imported materials and promote export- oriented industries. Thousands of small-scale andhousehold industries have appeared since then inIbadan. Consequently, there was an increase in employment in the informal economic sector in the 1980s and1990s (Akerele, 1997: 39). The economic crisis and the decrease of public funds radically changed

the landscape of the city: a general decay of urban facilities (roads, railway, water and electricity supply) and ofsocial services (education and health) affected Ibadan

like other Nigerian towns. Whereas urban poverty became a national problem in the 1980s, the development of corruption and bad government administrationincreased dramatically during the military era notably

during Babangida and Abacha regimes (1984-1998)

(Amuwo, Bach and Lebeau , 2001, introduction).

Source: The case of 

Ibadan, Nigeria

by Laurent Fourchard

Contact:

Laurent Fourchard

Institut Francais de Recherche en Afrique

(IFRA), University of Ibadan

Po Box 21540, Oyo State, Nigeria