Paper short abstract:

Redressing the one-dimensional generalization of the ‘apocalyptic megacity’, this paper discusses how religious entrepreneurs have become actively involved in urban restructuring plans to convert Nigeria’s former capital Lagos from a ‘Sin City’ into a ‘Prayer City’.

Paper long abstract:

The New Republic (1993) magazine described Lagos – Nigeria’s economic hub and the third largest city in the world – as ‘impoverished, filthy, steamy, overcrowded and corrupt’, and ‘the ultimate incarnation of the modern megalopolis gone to hell’ (July 12: 11; cited in Hackett 2011: 129n.14). That Lagos is widely associated with immorality is also apparent in the stories about child kidnappings, abductions from taxis and buses, ritual killings, and trade in body parts that are widespread. Redressing the one-dimensional generalization of the ‘apocalyptic megacity’ (Koolhaas 2001), this paper discusses how religious organizations have become actively involved in urban restructuring plans to convert Lagos from a ‘Sin City’ into a ‘Prayer City’ (Ukah 2013; 2016).

Contributing to Lagos’s urban renewal, many religious entrepreneurs have invested in prayer camps – spectacular sites where hundreds of thousands of worshippers flock to attend prayer services – that have cropped up along the Lagos–Ibadan Expressway, which connects Nigeria’s first and third largest cities. Having morphed into permanent prayer, living, working, and production sites, these prayer camps are being projected as model cities for Christians and Muslims. My paper illustrates that the prayer camps along the Expressway act as road builders in rendering meaningful the unstable flux of life in Lagos. An increasing number of the urban upper middle classes have moved permanently in these prayer camps, which replaced the municipal services of the state and provide their residents with a sense of hope to overcome the contingencies of everyday living in the megacity.