The city of Ibadan in southwestern Nigeria is
the site of Cocoa House, the first skyscraper in
tropical Africa. The building is a modest 24
storey high-rise structure, property of Odu'a
Investment Company Ltd. Cocoa House is a
major landmark in Ibadan.

Ibadan - Though Lagos Metropolis, as the
industrial and commercial hub of southwest
Nigeria, claims pre-eminence over Ibadan, from
a historical perspective Ibadan is Lagos's big
sister. Beginning from the middle of the
eighteenth century, Ibadan rose to prominence
as the dominant military power among Yoruba
towns of the forest belt of southwest Nigeria.
Its military power was unchallenged until the
imposition of British Protectorate in 1893.
The city was the seat of the government of the
defunct Western Region in the 1960s, and
under the premiership of late Chief Obafemi
Awolowo, Ibadan established itself as the most
progressive city in Nigeria with a formidable list
of "firsts" which made her the envy of other
cities and role model for progressive political
and social culture. Ibadan was the site of one
of the first universities in sub-Saharan Africa.
The city, under Chief Obafemi Awolowo, opened
the WNTV, first television station in Africa.
Ibadan also was the site of the first skyscraper
in tropical Africa, Cocoa House.
The building formerly called "Ile Awon
Agbe" (i.e. "House of Farmers" is now
popularly known as Cocoa House. It was the
tallest building in Africa in the 1960s. The
regional administration of Awolowo was proud
to tell the world, in the era before the Oil Boom,
that Cocoa House was built entirely from
proceeds of international trade in agricultural
commodities such as cocoa, rubber and
timber.

The whole of Ibadan stood still on January 9,
1985, when news spread that Cocoa House
was on fire. The city's fire fighters watched
helplessly as fire, which began in the top
storeys, gutted the entire building. Ibadan's fire
fighters had neither the equipment nor training
for fighting fire in a skyscraper. It was lucky
that the fire began after offices had closed for
the day, possibly from an electrical spark in a
malfunctioning electrical equipment.

The house was finally renovated for use in
August 1992, and one of Ibadan's best known
night clubs now shares premises with Cocoa
House.

Freemanan:
Pix nau

amadice:
why do we like celebrating mediocrity in dis country.....presenting an old fashioned building and electrifying... mtcheeew

WIZGUY69:


why the thing De pain you
I guess you dnt read the topic.

do you know the year it was built??

rosy4u:
.