Chapter II
Ibadan, on Seven Hills
The capital of Oyo State and the third most populous city in Nigeria — and, for most of a century, the place where the country did a thing first.
The City
A City That Went First
Ibadan is built on seven hills, and it has never been a quiet town. It has been the seat of a war camp, a regional capital, and for a long stretch of the twentieth century the intellectual centre of the country.
It rewards a guest who leaves the hotel. Most of what follows is within half an hour of the front door.
Four Dates
What Happened Here First
1929
Mapo Hall
The colonial city hall, commissioned on Mapo Hill. It still looks down on the old town.
1948
The University of Ibadan
Nigeria's first university, and still the keeper of the country's largest library.
1959
The First Broadcast
Nigeria's first television service went on air from Agodi on 31 October — the first in tropical Africa.
1965
Cocoa House
Twenty-six storeys, paid for by cocoa, and the first skyscraper in West Africa.
Getting Here
Seventy Minutes from Lagos
The hotel sits at 1 Nihinlola Street, off Joyce 'B' Road, off M.K.O. Abiola Way — the Ring Road. It is a residential quarter rather than a commercial one, which is the whole point of it: the city is ten minutes away and the street is not.
Arrival is from 2:00 PM and departure is by noon. Tell us your flight or your road time and we will have the gate expecting you.
The Chambers