The South West (often hyphenated to the South-West) is one of the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria representing both a geographic and political region of the country's southwest.

The Harmattan is a dry and dusty northeasterly trade wind (of the same name), which blows from the Sahara over West Africa into the Gulf of Guinea.

Linguistically, the South West is very homogenous when compared to other regions in Nigeria, with Yoruba being the dominant language.

[3] Economically, the South West's urban areas–mainly the cities of Lagos and Ibadan–contributes greatly to the Nigerian economy while rural areas lag.

The metropolis and its inner suburbs, together called the Lagos Metropolis Area, form the eighth largest metropolitan area in the world with about 21 million people; other large southwestern cities include (in order by population) Ibadan, Ogbomosho, Ikorodu, Akure, Abeokuta, Oyo, Ifẹ, Ondo City, Ado Ekiti, Iseyin, Sagamu, Badagry, Ilesa, Obafemi Owode, Osogbo, Eruwa, Ikare and Owo.