‘We Move’

Danfos, and particularly their subculture of slogans, offer an acute window into the political economy of everyday life in Lagos, especially the order and chaos that mark this megalopolis as simultaneously familiar and strange.

Written by Daniel Agbiboa

Apr 12, 2022

Photography by dami akinbode / UNSPLASH.

Urban megaprojects and megacity planning across Africa today threatens to injuriously exclude or predatorily include hundreds of thousands of informal workers, provoking shock, anger, and resistance from below. Such large-scale projects—generally couched in the Manichean dualism of Euro-American modernity—reproduce the DuBoisean double consciousness of colonized subjects: always looking at African cities through the eyes of the West. But what if we looked at African cities through their own eyes? Through the eyes of the danfo?

Since the 1970s, Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial hub and one of Africa’s largest cities, has run on informal modes of mass transportation, mostly privately owned and operated. Typically, minibus taxis—danfos, which in Yorùbá means ‘hurry’—provide the core (about 70 per cent of motorized trips), although motorbikes, tricycles, and shared taxis all contribute to the public transportation ecosystem. Far from being mere containers that constitute the mise en scène in Lagos, danfos mirror for Lagosians the duplicity of Nigeria: both as a place filled with hope and joie de vivre and as a redoubt of stuckedness and immiseration. The failure of state-owned mass transportation services occasioned the emergence and popularity of these ‘transportation torture on four wheels.’

You’ve Reached Your Limit of Free Reading.

The Republic is a Nigerian media-tech company dedicated to explaining our time—through deeply reported journalism on power, culture and society.

Ad-Free Reading Experience

Focused consumption without interruptions.

Unlimited Access to Exclusive Archives

Years of reporting at your fingertips.

In-Depth Deep-dive Reporting

Long-form journalism that matters.

Create a free account to continue reading this month and access more of our work.

About the Author

Daniel Agbiboa

is an assistant professor of African and African American Studies at Harvard University and a member of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton.

Comments

SHOP THE REPUBLIC

The Sinister Side of Oluremi Tinubu’s ‘Entrepreneurial Citizenship’

The recent rhetoric of micro-entrepreneurship advanced by Nigeria’s first lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, harks back to longstanding assumptions about poverty in Africa while echoing a newer, more insidious discourse of entrepreneurial citizenship. Taken together, these narratives serve the interests of African governments and powerful external actors.

—March 22, 2026

The Night Women of Benin City

As daylight fades in Benin City, women step into the night to sustain families, communities and an informal economy that keeps the city alive. The women-led night markets of Benin transform into spaces of survival, solidarity and quiet resistance.

—March 22, 2026

The Speculative Worlds of ‘Yan Crypto

You thought the Nigerian cryptocurrency ecosystem was confined to Lagos? Think again. Meet northern Nigeria’s ‘yan crypto and the digital worlds of volatile money they deftly navigate.

—December 21, 2025

Inside Nigerian Freelancers’ Currency Trap

Nigeria’s freelance economy is growing, but for millions of digital workers, receiving international payments remains an extreme sport. If the country wants to export digital labour and capture its value at home, it must first fix how that labour gets paid.

—November 9, 2025

What Naira Decoupling Means for Nigeria’s Economy

For decades, oil has dictated the fate of the naira. When crude prices soared, the currency strengthened; when they collapsed, the naira buckled. This cycle, so familiar to Nigerians, once seemed unbreakable.

Subscribe to our free newsletter

You're in — welcome to The Republic

Complete your onboarding

Read

Connect

Apps

More

Read

Connect

Apps

More

‘We Move’