Prominent Towns in Lagos

IKEJA
Ikeja is the capital of Lagos state and is 10.5 miles (17 km) northwest of Lagos, southwestern Nigeria.
Latitude: 6.5965           Lat (DMS)                                6° 35' 47N
Longitude: 3.3421      Long (DMS)               3° 20' 32E
Elevation (Feet): 134
Population Est.:  313,196
Zip Code:  100282

History
Originally it was only Yoruba people that settled down there, it was founded by an Awori hunter named Akeja Onigorun, after whom the area is named. To this day, the majority of residents in Ikeja are Awori’s who migrated from Ota-an Awori town in Ogun State about 24 km North of Ikeja township. It was in the wake of migration of yorubas from Ile-Ife to Ota in the 15th Century.  The locality was raided for slaves until the mid-19th century.
Note:
Today some people said that IKEJA is an abbreviation meaning Ikorodu and Epe Joint Administration. It was coined by colonial administrators for ease of administration. But history proof that this name is from their deity Akeja
According to this account, Ikeja was founded by the Awori ancestors of Osoja, Amore, Maku, Afariogun and Kusheri Moses families under the leadership of the Olo with each family group settling in different but close quarters. The new settlement called Ikeja was named after Akeja-Onigorun one of the deities worshiped at their ancestral home in Ota.
Some of the traditional settlements include Ipodo, Alausa, Olusosun, Oregun, Ojodu, Onigbongbo, Aguda-Titun, Agidingbi, Coker, Wasimi, Abule-Egun, Oke-Ira, and Keke etc. However, the population of the Aworis is now a minority, given the enormity of migration and urbanization in the area.

Early in the 20th century it became an agricultural hinterland for Lagos; kola nuts were first grown in Nigeria in this area. The opening of the Lagos-Ibadan railway in 1901 and the growth of Lagos as a port transformed Ikeja into a residential and industrial suburb of that city. In the mid-1960s an industrial estate was established, and in 1976 Ikeja became the capital of the Lagos state.
The early settlers generally engaged themselves in farming, buying and selling of goods like clothes, agricultural produce, craftwork and others. These activities got more sophisticated with time, thereby leading to extensive business activities which have now made up the bulk of the economic life of the people.
Before the emergence of military rule in the early 1980s, Ikeja was a well planned, clean and quiet residential environment with shopping malls, pharmacies and government reservation areas.
Ikeja have some communities around it and they are:
Agidingbi, Akiode, Alausa, Government Residence Area, GRA Ikeja, Maryland, Ojodu, Opebi, Oregun and part of Ogba.

Some of the Pronounced companies in Ikeja including:
The Murtala Mohammed International Airport is located in Ikeja
The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria has its headquarters on the grounds of Murtala Muhammad Airport.
The Accident Investigation Bureau of the Nigerian government is headquartered in Ikeja. The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has its Lagos office in Aviation House on the grounds of the airport
Arik Air's head office is in the Arik Air Aviation Center on the grounds of
Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Ikeja
Air Nigeria's (formerly Nigerian Eagle and Virgin Nigeria Airways) head office is located on the 9th Floor of Etiebets Place in Ikeja
Bellview Airlines has its headquarters in the Bellview Plaza in Ikeja
Virgin Atlantic has its Nigeria office in "The Place" in Ikeja, It has its head office at Murtala Muhammed International Airport.
Ikeja is home to a large computer market called computer village.
In 1991, Alimosho Local Government was carved out from Ikeja Local Government. Consequently, the present Ikeja Local Government is now bounded on the North by Agege Local Government, south by Oshodi/Isolo/Mushin Local Government, East by Shomolu Local Government and on the West by Alimosho Local Government.
Ikeja can be classified as a high-class area. The heavy industrial establishment at the LGA makes it one of the most important areas for manufacturing activities in the entire federation. It also forms the hub for emergence of the proposed Megacity in Lagos.
Today, Ikeja is being classified as one of the major cities of the world especially in the Nigerian print media. With the classification of the city as model city and the development of Model City Plan for Ikeja, it will soon find its place among major economic cities of the world.
Ikeja is the official seat of the Governor of Lagos with Alausa, Ikeja as the location of the state secretariat.