HISTORY OF LAGOS STATE

First story building in Nigeria. Badagry, Lagos

Lagos State was created on May 27, 1967 by virtue of State (Creation and Transitional Provisions) Decree No. 14 of 1967, which restructured Nigeria’s Federation into 12 States.

Prior to this, Lagos Municipality had been administered by the Federal Government through the Federal Ministry of Lagos Affairs as the regional authority, while the Lagos City Council (LCC) governed the City of Lagos. Equally, the metropolitan areas (Colony Province) of Ikeja, Agege, Mushin, Ikorodu, Epe and Badagry 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, with the creation of the Federal Capital Territory of Abuja in 1976, Lagos Island ceased to be the capital of the State which was moved to Ikeja. Equally, with the formal relocation of the seat of the Federal Government to Abuja on 12th December, 1991, Lagos ceased to be Nigeria’s political capital.
Nevertheless, Lagos remains the nation’s economic and commercial capital. According to extant political records, “Lagos is to the people of Nigeria, what the head is to the body of an individual.”