The paper concludes by emphasising the need for a spatial reorganisation on a national or regional basis of the current pattern of polarised urban growth in order to achieve a spatially balanced and hierarchically organised urban system in Nigeria. (DSE)

The relative paucity of medium-sized towns in Nigeria is largely related to the colonial socio-spatial polarization, that was further accelerated by post-independence models of development. However, recent government policies on regional development have resulted in the growth of a few...