Lagos

Lagos (LAY-goss; Yoruba: Èkó) is a sprawling port city in southwestern Nigeria. As of late 2025, its population is estimated at 17 to 21 million, making it Nigeria’s largest city, Africa’s most populous urban area, and one of the world’s fastest-growing megacities.

The city sits on lands split by creeks at the southwest edge of Lagos Lagoon, shielded from the Atlantic by barrier islands and long sand spits like Bar Beach, which extend up to 100 kilometres east and west of the lagoon’s mouth. Lagos is well connected by transport: it has an international airport, three ports (Apapa, Tin Can Island, and Lekki deep-sea port), four expressways (to Badagry, Abeokuta, Ibadan, and a partially operational route to Calabar under construction since 2023), and a standard-gauge rail link to Abeokuta and Ibadan. The city handles 88% of Nigeria’s exports, and its urban rail transit system is considered one of Africa’s most modern.

Lagos is the leading financial hub of West and Central Africa. Major banks such as Access Bank, First Bank of Nigeria, and Zenith Bank have their headquarters here, along with the Nigerian Exchange Group. Other large employers include two breweries, three major shipyards, and the headquarters of several African airlines. The city is also a centre for pharmaceuticals, exhibitions (Art X Lagos is West Africa’s largest art fair; Lagos Fashion Week is Africa’s largest fashion fair), and technology—it hosts over 20 data centres, branches of Microsoft, Equinix, and Google, and five of Africa’s seven high-tech startups valued above US$1 billion. The Dangote Refinery, once expanded set to be the world’s largest oil refinery, is the city’s biggest employer.

Lagos has four public universities (LASU, UNILAG, LASUSTECH, LASUED) and six private universities, plus research institutes like the Institute for Oceanography and the Institute of Medical Research. Culturally, the National Arts Theatre in Surulere (which also houses the National Gallery of Modern Art), the Centre for Black and African Arts on Broad Street, the National Museum, the John Randle Centre for Yoruba Culture in Onikan, and private galleries such as Nike Art Gallery (West Africa’s biggest art collection) showcase Nigerian culture. The MUSON Centre, local orchestras and choirs (including the Lagos City Chorale and Cathedral Church of Christ Choir), writers like Sefi Atta, Oyinkan Braithwaite, and Ayòbámi Adébáyò, and artists like Dotun Popoola, Peju Alatise, Idowu Sonaya, and Collins Abinoro Akporode represent the creative scene. Lagos is the centre of Nigerian media and cinema (“Nollywood”), and a hotspot for West African Afrobeats—recording studios here launched stars like Wizkid, Tems, Davido, and Asake, and international acts like Paul McCartney, James Brown, Ed Sheeran, and Beyoncé have recorded albums in the city.

**Etymology** The name Lagos comes from the Portuguese word for “lakes.” The pronunciation LAY-goss is standard in British and Nigerian English; American English speakers often use LAH-gohss, closer to the original Portuguese, due to the influence of Spanish (a related language) on U.S. place names. The native Yoruba name Èkó is also used. Lagos was likely named after Lagos, Portugal, a centre for Portuguese maritime expeditions down the African coast in the 15th century.

**History** The Awori people, a Yoruba subgroup, settled the area in the 15th century, living in what are now the Local Government Areas (LGAs) of Lagos Island, Eti-Osa, Amuwo-Odofin, and Apapa. Before the 15th century, they lived on a farmstead along the coast; “farmstead” or “hamlet” translates to *Ereko* in Yoruba, from which the indigenous name Eko derives. Rapid urbanisation later pushed the city west of the lagoon into areas now in Lagos Mainland, Ajeromi-Ifelodun, and Surulere, leading to a division between the Island (the original city) and the Mainland (its expansion). The Federal Government governed this area directly through the Lagos City Council until Lagos State was created in 1967, splitting the city into seven LGAs and adding other towns (now 13 LGAs) from the Western Region. Present-day Lagos has 16 LGAs, including Ikeja, the state capital. This conurbation covers 37% of Lagos State’s land but holds about 85% of its population. Lagos was Nigeria’s national capital until the government moved the capital to Abuja in December 1991.

**Administration** Lagos was Nigeria’s capital until replaced by Abuja, which officially became the capital on 12 December 1991 (the decision was made in Act No. 6 of 1976). The High Court of the Lagos State Judiciary is housed in an old colonial building on Lagos Island. Administratively, Lagos is not a single municipality and therefore has no single city government.