Abstract
This paper points to the inadequacies in the provision of social infrastructure (including schools, health care facilities and water and sanitation) in urban areas of Nigeria but also to how little attention has been paid to long-established traditions of self help and community organization that formerly provided such infrastructure and that continue to do so in some instances. It presents a historical and regional perspective to infrastructure and service provision in urban areas, covering the pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial periods. Case studies are also given for infrastructure and service provision in an urban centre from each of Nigeria's main regions: Lagos (from the south west), Kaduna (from the north) and Umuahia (from the south east). The paper then considers different possibilities for improving infrastructure and service provision and the institutional changes they imply and discusses possible areas for further research.