CHAPTER ONE

GENERAL BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

The aim of this chapter is to introduce the study, Urbanization and Industrialization

in Nigeria: A Case Study of Kaduna Metropolis, 1957-2007. To achieve this objective the

chapter will be organized as follows: Introduction; the aims and objectives of the study; the

statement of the Research problem; Scope of the study; Justification of the study; Literature

Review; Theoretical Framework; Methodology of the Study; Limitation of the study; and

Notes on Source.

1.0       INTRODUCTION

Industrialization can be defined as the extensive introduction of the latest scientific and

technological achievements in production in the comprehensive technical re-equipment of the

natural economy5. Specifically, in Kaduna this process of introducing scientific and

technological achievements in production led to the establishment of a factory equipped with

14,000 spindles and 300 automatic looms, costing the Northern Regional Government

£1,250,000 in 1957. Thus, the Kaduna Textiles Limited (KTL) was established6. This was the

first large scale manufacturing industry in Kaduna. Subsequently, other large scale

establishment that employed many people in the mass production of industrial or consumer

goods were also established. These factories include Paper products, printing and publishing,

brewery, car assembly plant, Asbestos-Cements Products, Fertilizers and Petroleum Refinery

Plant.

It is in this light that the study will focus on the interrelationship between urban

growth and industrial development in Kaduna metropolis. This is because the challenge of

5 Tyaguneko V.L.(ed) Industrialization of Developing Countries, p.18

6See: Paden J, Ahmadu Bello: Sardauna of Sokoto, p.252; and E. Oyedele, “Colonial Urbanization in Northern Nigeria: Kaduna, 1913-1966” Ph.D Thesis, 1987.

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cities in the developing world can be seen in the unprecented rates of urban growth and

industrialization in combination with poverty7. Hence, the essence of this research will be to

examine the impact of the manufacturing industries to the development of Kaduna metropolis,

from a historical perspective.

Significantly, a lot of factors explain the failure of the industrial sector. First is the

capital intensive nature of technology being adopted in the industries. These industries are to a

great extent skilled oriented. Consequently, inability to absorb labor influx from the rural

areas that are mostly unskilled. Second, is the high dependence of the industries on export.

This dependence is particularly in the area of capital, technical know-how and machinery.

Also, this dependence factor makes the industrial sector seriously vulnerable to international

crisis, such as economic depression. Thirdly, is the diverse internal contradictions, that