Is Ibadan still the centre for book publishing in Nigeria?
Yes; it is. Look at the publishing houses, they are still here. So, it’s actually difficult for book publishing centre to move to Lagos because Lagos is more expensive than Ibadan. That’s the trend. You can publish outside a major commercial centre like Broad Street but actually have bookshops to sell there. There’s CMS and Challenge Bookshops before Challenge was sold. Some of the publishing houses in Ibadan moved from Lagos about 40 years ago. In the 19 century, Lagos was the cultural centre. It combined the capital with the cultural. The arts and culture was in Glover Memorial Hall; football was in Onikan. The elite were in Lagos. In 1948, something happened in Ibadan – the establishment of the University College, Ibadan (UCI); it was the only degree granting institution in Nigeria. The University College was established because of land constraints in Lagos to accommodate a Campus University, both students and staff in one place. Oxford University Press opened in 1949. The dream of
