Project Abstract

The focus of this study is on how the manufacturing industries in Kaduna metropolis have impacted on the development of the area during the period 1957-2007. And, the main areas it has impacted the city include migration, urban economy, urban development, spatial patterns, class-formation, effects of Kaduna’s growth on its immediate hinterland. Thus, we attempt to answer the question In what ways did the manufacturing industry contribute to the development of the Kaduna metropolis?

This is significant because of the shift in economic importance from agriculture to manufacturing that has led to the transformation of Kaduna metropolis especially in spatial terms; values, attitudes and population increase of the residents. For example, within a decade Kaduna almost had a fourfold growth from 39,000 in 1952 to 149,000 in 1963. The demand for a workforce in the industries and the consequent boom in the commercial and service sectors account for this rapid growth in the area. Equally important, is the emergence and rapid growth of satellite villages around the urban core of Kaduna. Of these villages, Makera and Kakuri, were transformed from rural communities into cosmopolitan sub-urban areas due to the concentration of the textile factories in the area. Therefore, Kaduna during this period grew from a military garrison and administrative town into an industrial city, which was commonly known as the ‘Manchester of Nigeria’.

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