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Mapo Hall is the colonial-style Ibadan City Hall on top of Mapo Hill in
Ibadan Ibadan (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Oyo State, in Nigeria. It is the third-largest city by population in Nigeria after Lagos and Kano, with a total population of 3,649,000 as of 2021, and over 6 million people within its ...
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Oyo State Oyo State is an inland state in southwestern Nigeria. Its capital is Ibadan, the third most populous city in the country and formerly the second most populous city in Africa. Oyo State is bordered to the north by Kwara State, to the east by Osun ...
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Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of G ...
. Mapo Hall was commissioned during the colonial era by Captain Ross in 1929. It was designed and constructed by engineer Robert Jones. Officially Robert A. Jones (1882–1949), "Taffy" was a Welsh man who worked in southern Nigeria between 1910 and 1944 and was seconded to Ibadan Native Authority in 1923 as a road engineer, where he remained until his retirement to Wales. He is also ascribed as being the engineer who built Manor House in Iseyin. The cost of construction was £24,000 and construction took four years between 1925 and 1929. The foundation stone was laid in June 1925 by Capt. W. A. Ross (The Resident, Oyo Province) and it was completed and declared open by His Excellency, Sir Graeme Thomson during the traditional leadership of Oba Shiyanbola Ladugbolu, the Alaafin of Oyo and Oyewole, the Baale of Ibadan. The Neoclassical architecture of the hall, is a constant reminder of early British influence in the administration of Ibadan as part of the Oyo Province. The hall serves as an important landmark that could be seen from most part of the city, especially from the other six hills between which the city spreads out. Labour was provided by the natives, probably by the prisoners held here as tax defaulters and other slaves. It was renovated in 2006 amid some controversy. and the renovated hall was commissioned by former President
Olusegun Obasanjo Chief Olusegun Matthew Okikiola Ogunboye Aremu Obasanjo, , ( ; yo, Olúṣẹ́gun Ọbásanjọ́ ; born 5 March 1937) is a Nigerian political and military leader who served as Nigeria's head of state from 1976 to 1979 and later as its pre ...
on 6 September 2007. Over the years, the hall had played host to major political and social events in the city, shaping the socio-political direction of Nigeria in general. The Sixth Annual Convention of the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons was held here on 5 May 1955 an it was here that
Nnamdi Azikiwe Nnamdi Benjamin Azikiwe, (16 November 1904 – 11 May 1996), usually referred to as "Zik", was a Nigerian statesman and political leader who served as the first President of Nigeria from 1963 to 1966. Consid