Ask a Nigerian student what Badagry is known for, and you will usually hear about the past.
They are not wrong. In 1842, under the Agia tree, Badagry heard the first Christian sermon preached in Nigeria, and the country’s first Christmas was celebrated there. In 1843, St Thomas’ opened as Nigeria’s first primary school. In 1845, missionaries finished the first storey building in the country, and it is still standing.
Read those dates again, and a pattern appears. Badagry was not the place where things ended up. It was the place where things began.
A town of starters
A sermon, a school, a building: each one was new to the country when it happened here, and each one changed what came after it. The school taught children who went on to teach others. The building outlived the people who built it.
That is what a first does. It does not stay in one place.
The next one
For a long time, Badagry’s firsts have lived in history books and on school excursions. We think they are also a clue to what the town can do now.
On Friday 27 November 2026, Badagry hosts its first technology summit. Students and young builders from across the town will pitch what they have built on a main stage, in front of people who can help them take it further.
It is a new kind of first for an old town of firsts. And if the pattern holds, it will not stay in one place either.