Ibadan, a sea of corrugated iron

going to Ibadan

Going to Ibadan from Lagos can be a long journey if on a bad day. The road traverses Ogun state before entering Oyo state, where Ibadan is located.
As for most big cities, the approach is progressive, crossing suburbs and industrial area. In the case of Ibadan, though, it feels more like densification of houses, corrugated iron roofs and people at the roadside markets.

colourful on a grey day

Despite its alleged 4 million inhabitants, there is no real downtown and very few skyscrapers (though Cocoa House built in the sixties, 105m tall, was once the highest building in that part of Africa). It is merely a sprawl of buildings with a few floors if at all.

busy landscape

By one estimate in 2000, the city was covering 400km2 - four times central Paris. The city has developed as a trading hub: the railway Lagos- Kano goes through it and it has an airport. The surrounding area is full of arable land.
One only gets a sense of the city's size when the road reaches a vantage point from which one sees a sea of rusted roofs left and right.

the roofs of Ibadan

Traffic of a big city can be overwhelming especially when drivers excel at being creative and inventing new invisible lanes.

any way is a way

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