Leavened wheat bread had no place in pre-colonial Nigerian cuisine — wheat is not native to the West African forest belt. The loaf arrived through three converging channels in the late 19th and early 20th centuries: British colonial bakeries supplying the European community, returnee Saro (Sierra Leonean) and Aguda (Brazilian) freed-slave communities who brought European baking traditions to Lagos, and the Agege district itself, where local bakers from the 1900s onward developed the dense, sweet, slightly elastic hand-pulled loaf that bears the name. Sold by hawkers from enamel basins on the head, eaten with akara, ewa-agonyin or simply Lipton tea, Agege bread became the everyday bread of working Lagos — and a template later mass-produced by industrial bakeries such as UTC and, later, Butterfield, Honeywell and Sumal.
Food · Adoptedfoodc.1900s — present· Chapter 28
Agege Bread & the Industrial Loaf
British colonial bakeries, returnee Sierra Leoneans and Brazilians, and the dense, sweet, hand-pulled Agege loaf that became Lagos's everyday bread.
Era context
The political and economic reality
The government(s), economy and national reality across the period 1900–1980.
British colonial administration
Sir Frederick Lugard → Sir James Robertson
1900–1960
National reality
Amalgamation of the Northern and Southern Protectorates (1914) under indirect rule. Marketing boards extracted cocoa, palm oil and groundnut surpluses; political agitation built through the press and the trade union movement.
Crises of the period
- Aba Women's War (1929)
- Iva Valley shooting of striking miners (1949)
- Kano riots (1953)
GDP (World Bank)
Pre-independence; no national accounts series
Cabinet (selected portfolios)
Full ministerial roster being compiled.
Government administered by Governors-General and Residents. The first indigenous federal ministers were appointed under the 1954 Lyttelton Constitution.
Source · Toyin Falola, A History of Nigeria (CUP, 2008)
Prime Minister · First Republic
Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa
1960–1966· NPC
National reality
Independence on 1 October 1960. Regional rivalries (NPC, NCNC, AG) dominated politics. Awolowo treason trial (1962–63). Western Region crisis (1962–65) and the disputed 1964 federal election destabilised the Republic.
Crises of the period
- Action Group crisis (1962)
- Western Region election violence (1965)
- January 15, 1966 coup — Balewa, Ahmadu Bello and Akintola killed
GDP (World Bank)
≈ $4.2 bn (1960, World Bank)
Cabinet (selected portfolios)
- Finance
Festus Okotie-Eboh
- Justice (AGF)
Dr. Taslim Olawale Elias
- Defence
Sir Muhammadu Ribadu
- Foreign Affairs
Jaja Wachuku
- Education
Aja Nwachukwu
Sources · Federal Gazette 1960–66 · Falola & Heaton (2008)
Head of State · Military
Gen. Yakubu Gowon
1966–1975
National reality
Counter-coup of July 1966, Biafran War (1967–70), then the oil-boom expansion. Twelve-state structure (1967) replaced the four regions. Three Rs (Reconciliation, Reconstruction, Rehabilitation) and indigenisation began.
Crises of the period
- Biafran Civil War 1967–70 (1–3 million dead)
- 1973 OPEC oil shock + boom
- FESTAC '77 preparations
GDP (World Bank)
$12.5 bn (1970) → $27.7 bn (1975, oil boom)
Cabinet (selected portfolios)
- Finance (Commissioner)
Chief Obafemi Awolowo (1967–71)
- Education (Commissioner)
A.Y. Eke (c.1967)
Federal Executive Council of commissioners; full roster being compiled.
Sources · Federal Military Government records · World Bank WDI
Head of State · Military
Gen. Murtala Muhammed → Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo
1975–1979
National reality
Murtala assassinated 13 February 1976; Obasanjo completed the transition. Universal Primary Education launched 1976. Land Use Act 1978. 1979 Constitution and handover to the Second Republic.
Crises of the period
- Dimka coup attempt + Murtala assassination (1976)
- 'Ali Must Go' student protests (1978) — students killed over a 50-kobo fee increase
GDP (World Bank)
$28 bn (1975) → $47 bn (1979)
Cabinet (selected portfolios)
- Education
Col. Ahmadu Ali (1975–78)
- Education
J.O.J. Okezie (1978)
Sources · Federal Gazette · Constitution Drafting Committee records (1976–78)
President · Second Republic
Alhaji Shehu Shagari
1979–1983· NPN
National reality
First executive presidency. Oil-price crash from 1981 destroyed the boom. Ghana Must Go expulsion of West African migrants (1983). Disputed re-election in 1983, then the Buhari/Idiagbon coup on 31 December 1983.
Crises of the period
- Oil price collapse 1981–83
- Maitatsine riots Kano (1980)
- Ghana Must Go (1983)
- 31 December 1983 coup
GDP (World Bank)
$64 bn (1980, oil peak) → $30 bn (1983, bust)
Cabinet (selected portfolios)
- Finance
Sunday Essang → Onaolapo Soleye
- Education
Sylvester Ugoh; later others (being compiled)
Sources · Federal Gazette 1979–83 · CBN Annual Reports
Tier 1 · primary
Courts. Gazettes. National archives.
Tier 2 · corroborating
OCCRP. HRW. BudgIT. TheCable.
Tier 4 · tertiary, flagged
Wikipedia only where primary is pending. Always labelled.