Lagos State in the next 50 years

While the celebration of Lagos’ golden jubilee draws attention to past achievements, this article by TELIAT SULE suggests the path the state should take to be among great cities in the next fifty years.

 

The last fifty years has seen Lagos State emerge as the commercial capital of West Africa, most populous city in Nigeria, and the fifth biggest economy in Africa. Apart from that, over 45 countries in Africa were dethroned before Lagos emerged as the fifth biggest economy by GDP.  While the state is 50 years old, referencing 1967 when it was created, most of the giant strides it recorded were achieved after the country returned to democratic governance in 1999.

Back in 1999, Lagos State’s internally generated revenue was about N600 million. However, by 2016, it recorded IGR in excess of N300 billion. However, at the exchange rate of N310/$, the IGR of the state will become $968 million.

In 2016, the Lagos State GDP was worth $91 billion, making it the fifth biggest economy in Africa. But its GDP will pale into insignificance when compared with countries such as Singapore, Sweden, and Netherlands whose populations are far less than Lagos State’s. The GDP of the Netherlands with 17 million inhabitants is $769.93 billion. Sweden’s GDP is $517.44 billion and the country is being inhabited by 9.92 million people just as Singapore with a quarter of Lagos State’s population has $296.64 billion GDP. Therefore, while we celebrate the achievements of Lagos State for the last fifty years, Lagosians look out for a promising future where governance will work seamlessly and individuals will attain their aspirations regardless of ethnic and religious affiliations.

In other words, the next fifty years should see reforms and improvements in areas such as governance, land accessibility, transportation, energy, security, education, tourism, among others.

Governance should have evolved to the point where communication between the leaders and the led will be unambiguous as information will be made available through different channels. This first port of call is the transformation of the already available channels in such a way that it is the information that Lagosians and to a large extent Nigerians want to know about that will be on these channels and not what the government and its agencies want the people to known.  For instance, how much does it cost to run an average ministry, or agency in Lagos or any other states in Nigeria? Another way to look at it is how much does each of the government agencies contribute to the general pool? Knowing the cost of governance will help the citizenry to carefully evaluate actions, policies and programs of the Lagos State Government for them to know how to benefit from them. It will further enhance their ability to advise the state government of any course of actions it wants to pursue.

The truth is the Lagos State Government has implemented a lot of reforms in the area land administration and accessibility.  The recent was the proscription of land grabbers popularly known as “Omo Onile”.  Earlier before this, the state has implemented digital mapping of all lands in the state for ease of ownership determination.  While this is commendable, the next fifty years should be such that anyone can know who owns a particular plot of land from his mobile phone. Once an interested party has the coordinates, street names and local government where such lands are located, the next thing will be to pay the access fee to access the land registry online for the information needed.

Transportation in the state should be at the level comparable to the leading economies by then.  Whether roads, rail and water transportation, what we have now is still far from the ideal. By then, the road networks should be constructed with more durable materials that will last longer than those presently used thereby saving the government of the day frequent maintenance costs. Vehicles plying the roads whether privately or publicly owned should not be older than ten years. This will eradicate the high frequency of vehicular breakdown; reduce the injection of carbon monoxide into the atmosphere just as our streets will be free of abandoned vehicles. It will also minimise accidents on the roads occasioned by rickety vehicles. Our roads should be dotted with flying cars while some vehicles will use other sources of energy apart from fossil fuel.

Water transportation has the capacity to move large volume of materials either nationally and internationally. Its usage in Lagos State has received more patronage in recent times. Nevertheless, majority of boats used are made by artisans whose skills must be upgraded if they are to produce boats that the state currently requires for its inland water transport. As the fifth biggest economy in Africa, the Lagos of the future should be a state whose artisans have the capacity to produce modern boats and it should be able to attract global brands in boat making. Water transportation should have attained a position where it will be the first choice of moving bulky items such as cement in areas well networked by rivers in the state.

Affordable rail system should be available that will reach many parts of the state such that an average Lagosian should be able to reside anywhere regardless where he or she works. This calls for the reforms of the laws that govern entrance into the rail sector for investment purposes. A good starting point should be the evolution of a system where an investor may decide to construct the rail lines and then leases it to other users. Apart from that, a rail system should be able to allow different companies to use its facilities based on the terms of contracts agreed upon. Usage of the rail system and it services should be more flexible with different payment options such as an online payment option, mobile payment options, cards, etc. For instance in New York City, you only need to buy metro card and this will enable you to go to any parts of the city for seven days. A system better than this should have evolved in Lagos of the future.

The state presently relies on thermal and hydro energy for meeting its energy needs. Considering that its minimum and maximum temperature hovers between 27 and 33o Celsius, it then means it has potential for other sources of energy such as wind and solar. The Lagos of the future should have had all other sources of energy well-functioning. Having other sources of energy then means the state believes in climate change, and is putting its machineries in place to protect the environment and reduce the impact of climate change.

Furthermore, having other steady sources of energy is a sure way to boost productivity. On the average in 2016, countries in Sub Saharan Africa lost 8.8 percent of their GDP to power outages, World Bank records show.  In particular, Benin Republic lost 9.4 percent of its GDP to power outages; Cameroon lost 9.9 percent of its GDP to power outages; Mali, 8.8 percent; Swaziland, 7.7 percent; Thailand, 4.1 percent and Togo, 3.7 percent.

Housing is a major headache to Lagosians. This is because individual ownerships dominate the housing sector of the country in particular Lagos State. The Lagos of the future should have big real estate investors dominating the scene, with condominium (condos) in every nook and cranny of the state. To achieve this calls for the removal of all the encumbrances preventing investors from going into this sector. More so, the Lagos of the future should be able to attract firms that will lead in developing technologies that will make decent and affordable housing units available in the state.

Security is very paramount. A better security network will include state police, privately owned security firms should be in the state coordinating and addressing different levels of security matters in the state.

The state university, the Lagos State University should by then have attained the status of institutions such as New York University, University of London, University of Tokyo and University of Paris, among others.

Lagos is the best tourism state when compared with other states in Nigeria. As the West Africa’s financial capital, tourism in the next fifty years should have become global brands. Events such as the Lagos Marathon should be able to rival Tokyo Marathon, Boston Marathon, New York Marathon, Berlin Marathon and Chicago Marathon.