Lagos, the April polls and the imperative of big ideas

There are many things wrong with Nigeria as structured today, we have repeatedly held. But one of the most jarring is that the constituent units are not pulling their weight. If and when they do, Nigeria will rise up again.


One state that has a good chance of pushing further in this regard is Lagos. It is clearly the smallest in geographical terms but arguably the richest in terms of financial and commercial capabilities. And for it to even build stronger on this base, we need then to look at the vector factors that made the present degree of success possible.


History has a place in this. The colony of Lagos was set up as a separate British jurisdiction over a half century before my co-pen pusher, Flora Shaw, gave the overall entity her name.


With the amalgamation in 1914, it was the first, formal coordinate seat of governance. At Independence in 1960, this status was reconfirmed and remained so until about the end of the century.


But then the strength of Lagos is not just in its being a former capital city of Nigeria. There are indeed several other variables.


One critical element of the Lagos story is its commercialism. From the ports to the banks, Lagos sits atop a lot of the business and traffic in this yet import-dependent nation.


The development of this strong commercialism has also encouraged a greater ethnic accommodation. Though this suffers from time to time, it remains a major component element in its continuing success story. And it is one that several other states and territories who are looking to grow should not obscure: migrants build cities, states and nations, effortlessly.
Indeed, stretched further, there is a sense in which the coastal city was prepared to be a rainbow enclave. Lagos is beneficiary of a host of migrations from Edo to Brazil, Ile-Ife to Ijebu-Ode, Portugal to England and Sagamu to Niger; Lagos has taken many in and continues to take even more.


With this mass of people have come urban engineering pressures that successive administrations have tried to respond to. During the colonial era for example, ‘new towns’ like Surulere were encouraged to come into being. And they did. Post-independence, the struggle has continued. From the ‘tenure’ of Mobolaji Johnson through Raji Rasaki and on to Lateef Jakande, Bola Tinubu and the incumbent, Raji Fashola, the race has been two-fold: responding to the dynamics of the ever-burgeoning population and advancing the infrastructure to cater for even more migrants that would inevitably come.


In all of this, one critical concern has been the issue of getting resources that government can use to work on and expand the state’s infrastructure. For Mobolaji Johnson, his tenure coincided with the execution of city-redefining infrastructure projects like the Carter bridge and Ikorodu road. Lateef Jakande on his part expanded schools and hospitals infrastructure massively and during the Fashola administration, a lot of critical road infrastructure have been revamped and/or introduced.


Two factors that helped Johnson, resource-wise, were the outpouring of oil wealth, nationally, and the fact of Lagos being the extant federal capital during that era. For Jakande, it was the drive to be faithful to the manifesto of the Unity Party of Nigeria. And for the Fashola administration, it has been built on the current tax-and-spend paradigm that reigns in the state.
On account of many strides that it has taken, Lagos has over time then come to be established as Nigeria’s pacesetter state. And one challenge before it in the forthcoming electoral and post-electoral season is about its living up to this billing.
The next administration would have to do more than has been done this far. As things stand now, the tax-and-spend regime looks like it is here to stay but there must be a lot done to plug loopholes, including issues of probity, transparency and popular buy-in. But no matter what is done, it is most critical that for the Lagos of the future to emerge, bigger and more elaborate ideas need to come in stronger onto the governance template. And when they do, the taxed would have had greater value for their ‘sacrifices.’


For example, virtual ‘brand new cities’ have to be built to decongest the very many presently clogged parts of the state. Lekki for example has no doubt been helped by the expansion in road infrastructure there, but the continually expanding traffic situation on that artery comes with a very clear foreboding that that ‘city’ could soon begin to experience even more troubling incidents of epileptic but sustained shut-ins. God forbid. While the average feeling is that Lagos has no land left upon which to build, the truth is that with creative engineering, the stretches between Ajah and Epe and Ajah and Ikorodu can receive new and better planned cities. Equally capable of taking new developments is the stretch between Ojo and Seme. And should more space be needed, the state can negotiate with neighbouring Ogun for example, to ‘take over’ swathes of the Lagos-Shagamu expressway and expand the remit of its present ‘limited acquisition’ of farmlands on the Ikorodu-Ijebu-Ode axial. And if outright take over fails, an alternative ‘Greater Towns’ framework can be contemplated and worked on. The truth of the Lagos situation clearly is that since more and more people are surely going to continue migrating into this ‘fairly solvent Nigerian oasis of economic opportunity,’ forward looking administrators must continually engage and re-engage in scenario planning with a view to ensuring that the city does not someday crash on account of this deluge. Now is the time to act.


A second core decision that the next administration should bring to bear is greater creativity in the arena of fiscal management. For one, the State has in the Fashola years being borrowing massively for projects execution even as it has also built stronger savings buffers. As at September 2014 for example, the state’s debt portfolio was a princely N160bn. Even with this, there is still an assurance that the state can really do without spending any bit of its income allocation from the federation account today. This is particularly so when it is observed that the state currently runs annual budgets in the half a trillion naira mark! And that is why it should go ahead now to build on its present strengths through the House of Assembly passing a law to compel that at least 50 percent of the current ‘paltry’ revenue from the Federation account should be automatically saved and invested and not spent. Like Norway does with 85 percent of its oil receipts, this would be a further endowment for future generations.


We also need a greater practical synergy with the people. To whom much is given, much indeed is expected. While the rest of Nigeria whines over the curse of government, Lagos should be basking in its positives. The state must take very strong and assuring steps to improve its education and healthcare facilities to world-grade and residents should benefit maximally in this. Public schools and health institutions remain largely unattractive and this must not be allowed to continue. It is not enough to give people free education or free healthcare. If there is no quality integral in the offering, the people have really only been shortchanged. In this wise, it is quite timely that one of the candidate’s asking to be elected governor is already talking of a statewide Health Insurance scheme. While some may balk at a project of this magnitude, given its anticipated costs, the other side of the equation is that a well-executed health insurance scheme would translate into greater prosperity for Lagos and Lagosians. So let us not give up so readily.


Still talking of big ideas, another candidate is proposing a N25billion Employment Fund. This also is a winning proposition if it is properly executed. And the logic here is simple. With thousands of Nigerians pouring into the state daily in search of jobs and economic opportunities, a fund of this nature would avail employers with the necessary financial resources with which to create the jobs and opportunities that government does not have. The barber with two apprentices can move on to four. The bakery down the road can acquire a delivery van and thereby be in position to expand its market reach. Lagos must embrace its destiny. It simply cannot say no now to committing to continuing growth. And progress. E ko o ni baje o!