• Thursday, March 28, 2024
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BusinessDay

What Lagos can learn from New York

New York

As Lagos adds a new port to its coastline, in Lekki, it can draw lessons from New York. Like New York, the population size and location of Lagos matters. Imagine if Lagos was an Olympic boxer – it would be a light flyweight with the punch of a professional heavyweight boxer. In terms of size, Eko, as it’s also known, is the most densely populated state in Nigeria. Economically, Lagos is punching above its weight.

Nigeria’s cargo traffic, saddled on long vehicles that ply Apapa-Oshodi expressway, passes through Lagos’ terrifying go-slow.

The depth of Lagos’ ports, its proximity to other parts of West Africa makes it a regional hub. And with over 21 million people the megacity is at the heart of the retail hotspot that is attracting local and foreign retailers, “an attractive market that can stand alone and also serve as a gateway to Western Africa” according to PwC.

In the 18th century, New York’s dominance, in the US and in the world, was the result of a superior port. Its port served as the catalyst of sugar refining, garment manufacturing, printing and publishing. It was also the first port of call for millions of immigrants. In other words, the port, while welcoming throngs of migrants, served New York to transit from a manufacturing city in the 18th century to the information global city it is today for finance, publishing and other creative industries.

New York’s population size and location allowed manufacturers to ship raw and finished goods cheaply. Overtime, New York rose to become a dominant hub-and-spoke network for manufacturing and transportation thanks to the depth of its port and its access to canals, lakes and rivers. People, products and ideas, whether from abroad or locally made, passed through New York

New York grew a ready-to-wear industry from its import of textiles from England. By the mid-18th century, New York had become the centre of mass-produced ready-to-wear clothes. This importing-turned-manufacturing city relied on the factory system and mechanisation.

Because garment factories, compared to textile mills, don’t occupy a lot of space they were better suited for a city where land was expensive. Besides, improved infrastructure, better skills, proximity of suppliers in the Garment District, the garment cluster in New York, helped it maintain 100-year dominance. Nigerian retail fashion businesses can also learn from New York’s garment industry: forget about textile manufacturing, make ready-to-wear clothing catered to local demand and tastes.

But New York lost its hub-and-spoke/manufacturing advantage, eventually, when containers transported by trucks replaced ships. But it reinvented itself. Today, New York is a global finance capital thanks to the financial and businesses services e.g. bankers, lawyers, accountants, insurers that served the shipping industry.

The New York advantage: a hub that served markets, home and away, continues till today.

To really benefit from its density, Lagos needs to reduce the cost of moving people or goods within and through the city. Expensive land and high rents in Lagos are not an advantage for manufacturers. Transport, therefore, is critical.  For instance, an inter-modal transport system eliminates distance to and from factories in Agbara Estate or Ibadan.

So, even if manufacturing companies leave Lagos (rents and land prices drive manufacturers to neighbouring Ogun State), its social-tie density, that is, opportunities for people to meet and mingle and make things happen will be an asset.

Reducing physical distance allows a city packed with people to exchange ideas and information. The fast flow of knowledge, whether in Victoria Island (the finance hub) or Shomolu (the printing hub), will make Lagos an information hub.

Information is the creative capital of cities like Lagos and New York – think social networks.