When Oba Akinsemọyin first consulted the immortals of the Lagosian beginning in 1725 in the quest to widen the pace of the Lagosian commerce and enhance the spirit of entrepreneurial largeness, he was told to embrace all alien adventurers upon the soil of Lagos with accommodating promptness and the warmth of native friendship. He was told by the unfailing oracle to welcome all foreigners with the purity of purpose and the sincerity of the spiritual candor.
And thus the Portuguese came with their damask and gin, with their gunpowder and artillery shells exchanging for the native riches that spurred the hurry of new merchants and the clamor and flourish of industrial openness which still define the Lagosian identity .
