African Art

Lagos

Lagos (; LAY-goss; Yoruba: Èkó [èkó]), or Lagos City, is a large metropolitan port city in southwestern Nigeria. As of November 2025, the size of the city's population has been estimated to be between 17 and 21 million residents, making Lagos the largest city in Nigeria, the most populous urban area on the African continent, and one of the fastest-growing megacities in the world. The lands are separated by creeks, fringing the southwest mouth of Lagos Lagoon, while being protected from the Atlantic Ocean by barrier islands and long sand spits such as Bar Beach, which stretch up to 100 kilometres (62 mi) east and west of the mouth. With its international airport, three ports (Apapa, Tin Can Island and Lekki deep-sea port), four expressways (to Badagry, Abeokuta, Ibadan and Calabar, the latter under construction since 2023 and partially operational in 2026), and the standard-gauge rail link to Abeokuta and Ibadan, the city is well connected in terms of transport and handles 88% of Nigeria’s exports. The urban rail transit system in Lagos is regarded as one of the most modern of its kind in Africa. Lagos is best known as the leading financial centre of West and Central Africa, with headquarters of financial institutions like Access Bank, the First Bank of Nigeria or Zenith Bank. The Nigerian Exchange Group, the main stock exchange group in Nigeria, is also located here. Other major employers include two breweries, three major shipyards and the headquarters of several African airlines. Lagos is also home to numerous pharmaceutical companies; the city is also an exhibition city: Art X Lagos is West Africa’s largest art fair, whilst Lagos Fashion Week is Africa’s largest fashion fair. It has more than 20 data centres in operation and branches of Microsoft, Equinix and Google. Five out of seven African high tech start-ups with a value above US$ 1 billion ("unicorns") are located in Lagos. The employer with the most staff is the Dangote Refinery, which, once expanded, will be the world’s largest oil refinery. Lagos houses four public universities (LASU, UNILAG, LASUSTECH, and LASUED) and six private universities as well as scientific facilities like the Institute for Oceanography and the Institute of Medical Research. Lagos is also a cultural hub.

Also on this shelf

See also

• ▸Printex
• ▸Flash (photography)
• ▸Dada

Uncatalogued shelf

Text from Wikipedia; plate via Wikimedia Commons. Text CC BY-SA 4.0; plate freely licensed (see Commons). Source record. Images and catalogue data are reproduced from open-access collections.