Which Nigerian city, with a population over 4 million, is the second most populous? Kano is Nigeria's second most populous city after Lagos.
Kano is the historic commercial center of northern Nigeria and the capital of Kano State. Its origins reach back more than a thousand years, and it became one of the Hausa city-states and a key stop on trans-Saharan trade routes. Merchants connected Kano with North Africa, the western Sahel, and other parts of West Africa, trading goods such as textiles, leather, salt, and kola nuts.
The city was incorporated into the Sokoto Caliphate in the nineteenth century and came under British control in 1903. Its population later grew through regional commerce, manufacturing, education, and migration from surrounding rural areas. Modern estimates put Kano's urban population above four million, although totals vary depending on whether researchers count the city proper, built-up urban area, or wider metropolitan region.
That measurement issue explains why rankings can differ between sources. Nigeria's 2006 census counted fewer residents within Kano's formal boundaries, while newer urban-area estimates place it clearly behind Lagos and ahead of other major Nigerian cities. Abuja, Ibadan, and Port Harcourt are all populous, but they do not displace Kano in this ranking.