Still on Lagos special status

Lagosis presently experiencing such phenomenal population explosion that it is beingprojected to be the 3rd largest megacity in the world by 2015.  Many are of the viewthat despite the 10 million figure declared by theNational Population Commission in the last census exercise, the city’sbest possible population is 40 million. Whereas theannual population growth in the developing world is 3% and Nigeria’s is 2.7% thatof Lagos stands at a stunning 8% and is likely to accelerate. The State’slandmass is rather small by Nigerian standard (Kano State which officially hasabout the same population is about four times in landmass).  As if to aggravate the situation, a considerablepart of the metropolis is covered by water, a situation that complicates itsinfrastructural needs.

TheLagos transformation project requires an enormous financial force tobuild and upgrade infrastructural facilities in the State in the next 15 years far beyond the capacity of the state government. This,then, is the significance of the call for the State to be accorded a specialstatus by the federal government. Lagos, with over 138,000 workers(representing various ethnic groups) in its employment, apart from the FederalGovernment, remains the greatest employer of labour in the country. Ironically,many of the States in the country with lesser population and infrastructuralneeds receive same monthly federal allocation as Lagos.

The special positionof Lagos as the commercial nerve centre of Nigeria, and indeed West Africa, hasits peculiar infrastructural challenges. Its sheer human density driven by anincreasing population due to endless survival and economic driven immigration,its ports and waterways, its border with Benin Republic, its  highconcentration of banks, industries, companies, and other commercial enterprisesmakes it a very complex state to govern. Being the pane through which the wholeworld views the country, granting a special status to Lagos remains the bestpossible way to drive Nigeria’s development as Lagos is the country’s mostindustrialized city with needs that align with its growth.Nonation grows by treating the needs of its golden geese with discomfiture sincethe future growth of the country’s economy is tied to the development of Lagoswhich hosts over 85 per cent of Nigeria’s industrial hub, over 65 per cent of itsfinancial nucleus and over 75 per cent of its active workforce. With each day,the population and needs of Lagos continue to increase to reflect thisimportant role. As the economic capital of Nigeria, Lagos has been the firstport of call for eager millions of youths from all parts of the country wholong for means of survival from the uncertainties of a struggling economy likeours.

Presently,it is obvious that the monthly allocation it receives from the FederationAccount as well as its internally generated revenue is not enough to meet thedevelopmental needs of the state. Regrettably, the Federal government’sinability to discharge its infrastructural responsibilities to Lagos, over theyears, has further worsened the situation.The National Assembly Complex at Tafawa Balewa Square, the National Stadium,Surulere, the Federal Secretariat, Ikoyi and the Apapa- Oshodi Expressway, tomention just a few, laid credence to this.

When the FCT was moved from Lagos to Abuja, there was asubsisting agreement that the city would not be abandoned. Indeed, the Late General MurtalaMohammed acknowledged the onerous nature of the responsibility of leaving Lagosalone to deal with the burden of infrastructure the FG were leaving behindthen,  bearing in mind that if Lagoshadn’t been the federal capital, it probably would not have been having theseproblems.

In fact, five cities; Enugu, Port-Harcourt, Ibadan, Kaduna andLagos were later designated as ‘Centres of Excellence’ by the MurtalaAdministration as part of a plan to make them cities of pride by the federalgovernment.  However, successive federal governmentshave refused to take a cue from countries which relocated their nationalcapitals without abandoning infrastructural development of the former capitals.It is now time for Nigeria to imitate Germany, Brazil, Malaysia, Australia andTanzania, which, after relocating their capitals, did not hold backdevelopmental programmes targeted at the former capitals. From 1954 to 1994,the capital of Germany was Bonn. It was moved to Berlin, following t

 

 

Tayo Ogunbiyi