Category: Opinion

Emmanuel Oladesu

 

POLITICS is a lucrative venture in Nigeria.

Although it should be a vocation, many now errorneously embrace it as a career; a big occupation of economic and social value.

Government, therefore, is attractive because of the pecks of office, which may come with or without much sweat. The corridor of power is perceived as an avenue for primitive accumulation by effected and appointed officials, instead of an avenue for service delivery. This is counter-productive.

Not all politicians or public servants follow the path of aggrandisment. But, the tribe of those bubbling with the real sense vision and service appears to be on decline. The attraction, to the majority, is money and what it can do.

At issue today is the cost of ruling; the cost of administration, the cost of governance, which has ultimately become an institutionalised drain,   a collective burden and liability.

Why, for example, should a former governor, who is now a minister, senator or ambassador, collect pensions while still collecting salary due to his current position? What is the wisdom in paying millions as annual pension to a former governor and his deputy by states that cannot afford to pay N30,000 minimum wage?

It is the tragedy of a country that like to indulge in waste, an economically fragile nation overburdened with the payment of double emoluments to certain privileged persons.

Few days ago, Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu attempted to blaze the trail in critically reducing the cost of governance by halting the implementation of the pension law granting retirement benefits to his predecessors and their deputies. The semblance of value engineering; a creativity method geared towards cost reduction; elicited some applause by stakeholders.

But, pension laws are not the only problems. By nature, the executive presidency is not cost-effective. The political bureaucracy is akin to an employment opportunity and the key to state resources.

Under the presidential system, the cost of governance is high. The President is expected to preside over the Federal Executive Council, which is made up of, at least, 36 ministers and special advisers, Senior Special Assistants, Special Assistants, and Personal Assistants. The ministries and departments are usually duplicated.

In the Second Republic, while President Shehu Shagari had minister of education and minister of state for education, he also appointed a minister of student affairs. He had a Special Adviser on Political Matters. But, he also appointed another person as ‘Political Adviser.’ It was a case of jobs for party men and women, and surrogates.

The National Assembly is bi-cameral. In the Senate, there are 109 members. The House of Representatives has 360 legislators. All of them have special assistants and other legislative aides. The size of the government is huge, making the recurrent expenditure to account for over 55 per cent of the budget, leaving 45 per cent for capital projects.

Governors at the state level also have over-sized ‘cabinets,’ made up of, in some cases, 40 members-commissioners, senior special advisers, and special advisers. Not all the states are buoyant. It is one of the wonders of the Nigerian brand of federalism that governors are placed on the same salary structure, despite the fact that their states are different in terms of resources, opportunities, endowment and potentials. Nigerian federalism is about uniformity, not peculiarity.

The council chairmen pose as ‘local governors’ with a measure of semi-autonomous executive powers and functions. Presidentialism is also practiced at the local government level, with appointed supervisory councillors and elected councillors and their countless aides competing for the meagre council revenue.

When new governors and Houses of Assembly are inaugurated, the governors, commissioners, special advisers, Speakers and lawmakers are not to inherit the official vehicles of their predecessors.  New vehicles have to be purchased. The offices have to be refurbished. Old cars paled into a subset of severance allowance. It is a recurring decimal.

The legitimate pecks of office are in order. But, the penchant for wealth accumulation by public officers is condemnable. Indeed, many  government officials at often capitalise on loopholes to perpetrate graft. There is no fiscal discipline. Therefore, national development is sacrificed on the altar of corruption. It would appear that governance is just for the benefit of those in power, their lackeys and confederates.

In 2015, President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo (SAN) slashed their salaries by 50 per cent. They also reiterated their commitment to the anti-graft war to stem the misappropriation of public funds. The National Assembly members, governors and elected officials have refused to emulate them.

Some elder statesmen have attributed the high political expenditure to the neglect of parliamentary system. It is debatable. The only exceptionality was that non-ministerial parliamentarians were not full time legislators.  Therefore, they kept their jobs as teachers, lawyers, businessmen and professionals in their fields. They only took time off from work to attend parliamentary sessions.

However, to reduce rivalry between the crop of parliamentarians who were ministers and those who were not, the later were also appointed as parliamentary secretaries. The Senate was ceremonial like the Regional House of Chiefs.

Lamentable, the treasury has become the inheritance of the political class. There is the pervading feeling that the quest for political power is tantamount to a political investment and investors must always garner returns. As those in power get rich, the poor is abandoned in penury.

How would citizens not perceive government as a burden when its recurrent expenditure is repeatedly higher than its capital expenditure, which should impact positively on the economy, especially in the areas of employment generation, investment and other activities that induce growth?

This is the challenge that stares Nigeria in the face because less than five percent of the projected 200 million population consumes the huge sum. The effects of over-bloated political bureaucracies involving the big Federal Government, 36 state governments and 774 local governments are alarming. There is disquiet among experts who believe that, when recurrent expenditure is high, it may impact negatively on implementation of capital projects and delay the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Under former President Olusegun Obasanjo, delegates to the 2004 collapsed National Political Conference in Abuja were alarmed by the retinue of presidential aides and appointees at the state levels. They recommended that the structure should be trimmed. During the Jonathan administration, some technocrats also suggested that certain ministries and departments should be merged or fused.

Also, some experts  have argued that the rising cost of governance has not been accompanied by corresponding service delivery and efficiency of structures for function performance. For example, they pointed out that the defunct Western Region, has been split to eight states. However, the output of the states have not matched the achievements of the golden era of Obafemi Awolowo’s premiership.

Up to now, the bogus salaries paid to senators continue to generate controversy, particularly after the disclosure by Senator Shehu Sani from Kaduna State. It was being suggested that Nigerian senators and Representatives earn more than their counterparts in Europe and America.

Governors and council chairmen have convenient access to resources through the inexplicable security votes. In fact, the Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Commission had been overwhelmed by the mounting allowances of public officers across the three arms of government at the state, federal and local levels. Apart from basic salaries, allowances cover details such as accommodation, furniture, overseas trips, motor vehicle loan, car fuelling, medicals, special assistance, domestic staff, entertainment, leave, and severance gratuity.

At a time poor Nigerians lack water, electricity, and quality schools, budgetary proposals and political emoluments should reflect national soberness.

The political class should also learn lessons from the selfless service of the men of the old order-Ahmadu Bello, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Aminu Kano, Adekunle Ajasin, Lateef Jakande and Awolowo.

Instructively, Awo, who never lived in Government Quarters, had admonished his associates in government not to embrace the lifestyle they could not sustain outside office.

 

By Abiodun Komolafe

The second wave of coronavirus, aka, COVID-19, is already hitting the world. It’s therefore time Nigeria reviewed the success rate or otherwise of a disease pandemic with a death toll as high as 1.2 million and  infection cases exceeding 52.4 million globally. The alarming issue is that dear country suffers from the debilitating syndrome of selective amnesia, especially, on matters that have to do with the collective.  If it affects everybody, it’s everybody’s problem. Therefore, it is nobody’s problem. Even, if it’s a tragedy, Nigerians are always prepared to move on. We are like a society that relishes laissez-faire approach, tilting towards less-stringent rules, which smacks of indiscipline. It’s almost like saying we are not disciplined.

A dreaded disease came and we were supposed to wear nose masks for personal safety. Yet, it became an uphill task, even, for government to enforce it. The health managers  and  infectious  disease  experts came up with the  social  distancing and limited gatherings, among other safety protocols. But then, here’s a man who has to beg for menial jobs, on a daily basis, for him to take care of his family amidst a conservative leadership at the centre that is so detached from these simple but verifiable facts.

Well, the problem is that people are distracted. When a man is hungry, he doesn’t have time for little pieces of unenforceable rules or the ability to process unintelligible civic responsibilities. What probably occupies his mind at that material time is what and how to secure something to eat! Asking such a soul to social-distance in the face of hunger is like pleading with him to commit suicide quietly. This, unfortunately,  is  the  sordid  narrative  of many in the society; and could have foreboding consequences. So, when the government lays down rules for COVID-19, many people understand that those rules are meant to keep them alive. However, hunger  kills faster than COVID-19 pandemic.

In one of his immortal works, Mahatma Ghandi famously argued that ”there are people in the world so hungry that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread.” This may also explain the phenomenon of looting that has now gained currency among the ‘significant majority’ of the mass population of Nigerians. If we may ask, when did it become a fashion for Nigerians to go out en masse to loot a warehouse? All in the name of a protest gone awry, how come a sizable proportion of Nigerians decided to throw caution to the wind at the same time? In my neck of the woods, it’s often said that being a slave is better than being a thief. So, when did stealing become fashionable in our culture? Even, when our cousins  up-North  did not know what to do, they stole a tractor, balkanized it, and each looter went away with his or her portion, according to his or her ability and/or fancy. Aren’t these warnings too grave for governments across board to ignore and what’s stopping them from healing this culture collapse before it’s too late?

The point here is for the society to look beyond the imposed regulations, which are meant to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19. After all, laws are made for man, not man for laws. Coronavirus regulations or rules – be they stringent or soft – are put there to ensure that the people live. But you don’t obey certain rules which are personal to you or your health only to, at the end of the day, be starved to death. People will go out and look for food, if they can find, and wherever they can find it. Peradventure they die on the road, so be it! And that’s exactly what’s happening! So, where lies the pride and purpose of the state as the sovereign power that protects the citizenry?

Yes, Nigeria’s response to Ebola disease was commendable; and God assisted us. But, if anybody wants to doubt the havoc coronavirus can wreak, such a person should go and check the tally of the numbers of death in the USA, a country that’s has been setting records no country wants to set. Only last Monday, President-elect Joe Biden inaugurated a committee of experts to look into it and address the pandemic. The United Kingdom and France are also not finding it easy. Already, there are restrictions in parts of those countries even as very different Yuletide celebrations are in the offing. And, as if the gods are angry,  Germany is now streamlining the number of people coming into the country.

The second wave of COVID-19 infection is most likely to come; and may have already been with us. For instance, in Oyo State, a tertiary institution was shut down, recently, over the ”resurgence of cases of coronavirus in the state.” It’s therefore a disease for which we cannot afford to lose our guard. But, what are our preparations? Thanks be to God for the way He dealt with the disease pandemic in Africa! Had it spread like it did in Europe and America, only God knows how Nigeria would have survived it, because we do not have the capacity to deal with such a huge health challenge. If a man has a disease and he has to spend N1,000.00 daily to buy drugs so as to stay alive, then, one can be sure that, at least, a third of Nigeria’s population will be gone in a month or two.

Looking at issues from different angles, there’s no doubt that Nigeria is in troubled times, which by normal societal standard, will soon be forgotten. Take it or leave it, Nigerians will soon forget the ‘unfreedom’ and the repression that protesters encountered at Lekki Toll Gate. Whether 2, 10 or 100 people were allegedly murdered, they will soon be forgotten. This  collective, or, partial amnesia is Nigeria’s major challenge because people move on as if nothing has happened. Within the government, those who are responsible for the safety of lives and property are allegedly busy chasing money and allied largesse they can get from COVID-19 palliatives, interventionist  measures  and gifts. If our leaders are fighting over the distribution of resources, instead of finding means of effective disease control, what other motivation is needed for government to have legitimacy crisis? Is that not enough to destroy the people’s confidence in governance? Since this is not a time to become less vigilant, what stops our government from passing legislations that will not only change the trajectory of the disease that has put our world in worst shape but also help put money in Nigerians’ pockets?

May the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, grant us peace in Nigeria.

 

Nnedinso Ogaziechi

 

Names are fundamental to the identities of human beings. In a way, very few people grow up to change their names and even then, history still traces their original roots through their former names. In all cultures, parents name their children and that goes from generation to generation. The preservation of family names and legacies is one of the valuable aspirations of parents.

For families with leadership history either as aristocrats or elected politicians,  generations strive not just to preserve such names but to honour those names through good works in ways that the larger society benefits. The idea of Kings and queens in Africa and their princes and princesses are often meant to preserve the leadership skills of the families. In the United Kingdom for instance, the royal family is an institution that means so much to the country. The Kennedy and Bush families in the United states are renowned for their political history.

In leadership stories across the globe, political batons have been passed on from generation to generation irrespective of gender. Leaderships tend to be learnt at the foot of elders in the family tree. That is why in a country like Nigeria, there are regents who often step into the traditional leadership roles of their royal fathers.

However, modern political structure seems to have made leadership open to all and sundry in ways that some people without an identifiable family legacy in terms of leadership often access leadership and not build any legacy. Make no mistakes about it, leadership qualities are not strictly hereditary but historians seem to have often found a nexus between family leadership legacies and the tendency for generations to walk in the footprints of their forebears through political activities.

The Ransome-Kuti family of Ogun state has produced both male and female leaders of repute. The Rev. Ransome-Kuti was both a religious leader and a community leader. His, wife, the legendary Funmilayo Rasome-Kuti was a political activist whose leadership roles in a pre-and post-colonial Nigeria are documented. She was one of the women who fought for independence and truly contributed in keeping the colonial government in check. She was one of those that organized the famous 1929 Aba Women Riots. She was equally involved in the negotiations for independence from Britain. Both husband and wife sired children whose leadership activism spanned different sectors, medicine, civil society and political/ musical satirical activism as seen in the iconic Fela Anikulapo-Kuti.

Fela was a great Pan-Africanist who used his life and music to preach the great African ideology. Fela never held a political office but was, during his lifetime and now, more popular at home and abroad with his music, a medium he powerfully used to further the political activism of his mother. He was a master satirist whose lyrics and melody carried with them the poignant message for socio-political emancipation of the people. His brothers, Koye and Beko were doctors who were as active as they were passionate about civil and human rights.

The Roundtable this week sat with Yeni Kuti, Fela’s daughter, a dancer and co-manager of The New African Shrine with her brother Femi. The now popular Felabration, a music festival initiated to celebrate the life and contributions of her legendary father, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti has grown into a global music event. They have, through the management of the Africa Shrine continued the family legacy of stirring the political consciousness and socio-political activism of their parents and grandparents. Yeni, at this level is credited with the managerial acumen that has made the Africa Shrine a global entertainment brand.

While her father Fela pioneered the Afrocentric flamboyance and allure of female dancers, Yeni as the first daughter brought finesse and pizzazz to a field that had hitherto been looked at as a lowly form of entertainment for social misfits. A very judgmental society  had hitherto tried to socially denigrate dancers especially of the Fela team even if there was a tinge of hypocritical cynicism in the whole thing. The critics loved to watch the dancers, they knew there was beauty and a profound artistry to their performances yet, they were mainly described  cynically as prostitutes. Yeni, a graduate of Nigerian institute of Journalism, has maintained an admirable leadership from her times as a dancer in her brother’s band. She now teaches younger ladies choreography and dance.  She, as a leader in the entertainment sector has shown that excellent leadership is not gender-sensitive. She has held the Fela/Kuti torch aloft and managed men and material in preaching the gospel of Pan-Africanism and local good governance which are basically driven by ideological sophistry.

Yeni feels empowered by the political ideology of her grandmother and father but feels that other women must not be judged by the successes of her grandmother, the legendary Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti because she lived in a different era that presented  different challenges than what the modern women are facing in the present. While her grandmother fought for emancipation, the modern woman is saddled with a lot more than that but must strive to let her voice be heard politically by aspiring for and competing for all elective posts.

She feels that women must begin to aspire to higher offices like governors and even President because women are often better leaders being natural nurturers and home builders. She believes that the African woman has all it takes to be pioneers in any field and excel in it with dedication and focus. An ideological roadmap to her must be charted in ways that Africans would be proud of their heritage and jettison the slave-mentality of copying others and be ready to fight for total freedom of the continent with good introspection on our values.

Asked about how her involvement in entertainment through dance contributes to her heritage, she recalls that the dance was initially looked down on locally but ironically better accepted abroad for its Africanness and aocio-political vibrancy but today the people have come round to embrace the dance industry thereby empowering many youths who would have otherwise been jobless.

As the first child of Fela who just happens to be a girl, Yeni said she grew up listening to and being shaped  by her father’s political ideology which was very Afro-centric and spiritual. She  is very African to the core and would never give her child any Engish names because African names have their cultural value and meanings. To her, leadership is not gender sensitive. Our Africa is beautiful and must should be free. To her,  Fela’s political  ideology was to fight for Africa in ways that can usher in progress and development.

She believes that the political space must include women because women have the leadership capabilities as can be seen in some of the women at different leadership levels. An Ibukun Awosika calls the shot at Nigeria’s oldest and biggest bank, First Bank, An Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is a global icon that is well sought after for leadership. To Yeni,  she is a very admirably African woman leader and role model  in her dressing and actions.

Yeni believes a female president would make a big difference in the country because women understand leadership better. She uses herself as an example of a leader that has been able to carry on the Fela legacy by managing the human capital and other resources as the eldest child since Fela passed in 1997. She believes more women should bring their leadership skills to the political space so that the country can move forward.

She admires the young ladies that were at the forefront of the #End SARS movement who did not wait to be handed leadership but made sure their voices were heard and they are still talking and giving leadership and being accountable. Leadership has nothing to do with gender. To her, male politicians in Nigeria would never give up power so women must  strive to take up the mantle of leadership at all levels.

She feels that Nigerian women should question political parties about the reason no woman has ever won the party primary and gone ahead to win election as state governor. Why are women only good for deputy governors and other lower positions even when there are qualified and ready women for all positions of power?

She believes that political parties must run on sound ideologies which would eventually guarantee good governance because to her, politicians are not just there to politick. Politics must be an avenue to expand the legacies left by forebears. A person like her can only join a party that would see her maintaining and furthering the legacies of her grandparents and father.

If most politicians are focused on solid and functional ideologies, Nigeria would be a better place. However, the idea that Nigerian politicians can easily oscillate from one party to the other depending on political expediencies is part of the reason development is far from the country. Democracy ought to run on identifiable ideological leanings. Devoid of such political and social leanings, democracy becomes a farce, dysfunctional and expensive in human and financial terms.

If politicians want lasting legacies, it must be worked on from generation to generation in a relay-like manner that batons of advocacy or leadership are handed from generation to generation. Families must, if they operate in any leadership position do well to make the people the focal point of their politics as that is the only means of impacting on the people who are the main mandate givers in a democracy.

One of the tragedies of Nigerian politics seems to be the sad fact that most of the politicians do not try to build any lasting legacies and as such, the people lack  good leadership while the politicians fizzle away without having their names in the political hall of fame. With the Ransome-Kutis, their legacies has been centered around people and that means their socio-political relevance in the Nigerian, nay African continent is eternally guaranteed.

For them, the leadership legacy handed from generation to generation is not gender sensitive and it endures.  Yesterday, it was Funmilayo Ransome Kuti in the political space, then Fela took over in through music, today, Yeni Kuti is leading in her own sphere of influence – entertainment. Here’s hoping others take a cue for a more lasting legacy built on service to the people in different forms.

 

• The dialogue continues…

Igboeli Arinze

 

Owing to the numerous crisis which in the time past have threatened to engulf our great country and the consistent demands for restructuring, it is expedient upon its citizens as well as leaders of this country be they political, traditional or socio-cultural to proffer solutions on how best to tackle these calls and help get our focus back on how to transform Nigeria from the sleepy giant that she is to one awake to her responsibilities to the her citizens, Africa and the world.

These clarion calls for True Federalism is an apt response to these grave problems begging for our attention before the onset of the civil war, it is my hope that these deliberations here and everywhere  within the federation will be matched or surpassed by the will power of our leadership. We have an opportunity to leave a legacy to generations of Nigerians, now is the time to do so.

I will therefore start with the knotty issue of State Creation: On the creation of states, I believe that one of the reasons fuelling the recent agitations by my people in the SouthEast region of the country is due to the lopsidedness in the creation of states, it is indeed unfair for a region that is said to house the single largest ethnic group in Nigeria is left with five states while other regions have an average of six states, while the Northwest has seven States. This implies that while each region sends an average of 18 senators to the Senate, the Southeast sends only 15 Senator’s, this is unfair and unacceptable.

It is to this end that I suggest that while each present geographical region is gifted with a state, the Southeast region be given two states.

Derivation Principle: On the derivation principle, I will proffer that we increase it from the 13 percent figure to 30 percent in order to create better options for Nigeria’s economic success, this would definitely make States more viable and ensure that the goose that lays the golden eggs gets a better share of her resources.

To make this indeed workable, I am proposing that local governments be granted autonomy  and also handed a derivation principle ratio of 30 percent leaving the Federal Government with 40 percent of the revenues from such areas, while the states take 30 percent on such resources.

This way we will be able to ensure that the original owners of resources at the local governments enjoy such provisions as well as accelerate development in these local governments.

Regionalism,  Zones,  Or States: On the question of regionalism, zones or the maintainance of the present structure of 36 +states, I want to suggest that we are better off maintaining the present state structure. Yes, there are arguments that regionalism will help us shrink the size and numbers of government as well as benefit from the number of scale, sadly, the bitter taste that was left in the mouths of a number of peoples who were so wrongly marginalized and neglected  during such an era.

Thus, let us ask isn’t it better that we have a structure where each state handles more responsibilities  and is  allowed to handle matters such as mines and minerals which sits on the exclusive list as well as move more of the items on the concurrent lists such as health, education, internal security (within these states), agriculture, infrastructure and housing to the residual list? If we take these and domicile them in the residual lists as well as increase the percentage of revenue to the States and the local governments, then states will be allowed to pursue independently and aggressively their own manifest destinies. The spirit of competition would spur them to tinker with new ideas and the birth of a modern and progressive Nigeria will not be beyond our reach.

State Police: On state police, I believe that the time is ripe, however, I must add this caveat that there must be means of ensuring that it is not abused into becoming the personal armies of state politicians.

Presidential or Parliamentary System?

On the Presidential or Parliamentary question, I will always say that Nigeria needs a national figure, who will stand as a symbol of unity, a father figure, Cicero talked of of the Saviour Dictator, I prefer Saviour Democrat. Thus when we reduce the election of a national leader to the choice of party delegates alone as is the case with Westminster like democracy then we open ourselves again to the problems of 1960-1966. The presidential system may be expensive but for a nation like Nigeria it is the best system ever.

Independent Candidature: I do not support the quest for independent candidacy, no, I think it will be prone to abuse, Nigeria presently has 18 political parties or so, if any aspirant doesn’t like Party A, he can move to party B.

Rotation of Offices: I am for the rotation of political offices between the six geopolitical zones as well as between the Senatorial Districts, but gentlemen let us give such arrangement a 48 year timeline, hopefully at that point in time we will be able to arrive at a phase in our political life where it will matter no longer where one comes from but what he has to offer and how he hopes to offer it.

Type of Legislature: On the type of legislature, whether we like it or not, Nigeria needs a bi-cameral system of legislature, however owing to the amount of days these legislators spend doing the business of legislation,  a part time legislature may be viable.

Let me round of by stating that the desires for the establishment of True Federalism that reflects and encourages fiscal autonomy as well as the independence of all tiers of government will spur progressive competition amongst these tiers and open the doors for rapid growth and development so that in the next couple of decades Nigeria will not only be a truly great country but will also stand within the Pantheon of top five nations, One People! One Nation!! One Magnificent Destiny

 

Tayo Ogunbiyi 

 

Though the #EndSARS protest has come and gone, its calamitous effects on the country have continued to reverberate. The protest, which started as a peaceful demonstration, degenerated into chaos after it was hijacked by hoodlums. The distasteful actions of the mobsters led to the vandalization of properties worth billions of naira.

In Lagos State, especially, the ruinous outcome of the protest cannot be forgotten in a hurry, and reasonably so. No thanks to its destructive aftermath, many public assets in the State were left in utter ruin. These include the Lekki Toll Gate Plaza, BRT Terminal, Oyingbo (where scores of new busses were razed) and BRT Bus Terminal, Ojodu-Berger (where over 100 busses were razed), traffic lights, and the VIO/FRSC Office, Ojodu (where FRSC branded cars, generators set etc were set ablaze).

Others include Lagos High Court, Igbosere, Lagos, Lagos Television, Agidingbi, Ikeja, Lagos Theater, Oregun, Lagos Forensic Centre, Oba’s of Lagos Palace, Kings College, Lagos, Ajeromi-Ifelodun Local Government Secretariat, Lagos Island Local Government Secretariat, Lagos Island East LCDA Secretariat, Lagos Mainland Local Government Secretariat, Ibeju Lekki LCDA Secretariat and scores of Police Stations. This is aside numerous other private assets that were destroyed by the rampaging protesters.

It is in the light of the sheer magnitude of the wanton destruction that Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, recently disclosed that the State will need about N1 trillion for the reconstruction and repair of the properties and infrastructure that was vandalized and destroyed by hoodlums.

In its characteristic forward looking style, the Lagos State Government has put the ugly episode behind it, as it now focuses on rebuilding the State with a view to making it stronger and greater, in-spite of the debilitating effects of the protest.

Consequently, Mr. Governor signed an Executive Order for the formation of an eight-man Lagos Rebuild Trust Fund Committee to coordinate the rebuilding efforts. The Trust Fund would be responsible for getting detailed cost of restructuring and rebuilding of destroyed assets. The Funds will also advise the government on the most critical assets to prioritise and identify emergency response service critically needed.

As part of the government’s objectives to fully heal the wounds of the crisis, the Governor also announced the formation of six other Committees. They are: Business Continuity Committee; Assessment Committee; Execution, Measurement and Evaluation Committee; Communication and Engagement Committee; Trust Fund Implementation Committee; and Security and Enforcement Committee.

With the move, Governor Sanwo-Olu expressed optimism that the State would attain new heights of development for a more resilient system and become more united in achieving its development goals.

However, as the government begins the challenging move to rebuild the State, it has become pertinent to, once again, bring to the front burner the contentious Lagos’ Special status question.

Within one year, Lagos has been the epic centre of two defining happenings: the COVID-19 pandemic and the #EndSARS protest. In view of its status as the country’s economic, commercial and industrial nerve centre, Lagos would always experience strain on its infrastructure.

It is on this premise that the the need to accord a special status to Lagos has become essential. There is hardly any Nigerian that doesn’t have a stake in Lagos. A special federal grant for Lagos is, therefore, a necessary blueprint for the development of the country. Being the pane through which the whole world views the country, granting a special status to Lagos remains the best possible way to drive Nigeria’s development as Lagos is the country’s most industrialized city with needs that align with national growth and development.

In-spite of its small landmass, Lagos is presently experiencing such a phenomenal population explosion that it is being projected to be the largest megacity in the world by 2022.  Many are of the view that the city’s best possible population is 40 million. Whereas the annual population growth in the developing world is 3% and Nigeria’s is 2.7%, that of Lagos stands at a stunning 8% and it is likely to accelerate.

The State’s landmass is rather small by Nigerian standards (Kano State which officially has about the same population with Lagos is about four times in landmass).  As if to aggravate the situation, a considerable part of the metropolis is covered by water, a situation that complicates infrastructure development.

The Lagos transformation project requires an enormous financial requirement, far beyond the capacity of the State government. Former Governor of the State Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN) once revealed that a sum of N6.14 Trillion is needed to build and upgrade infrastructural facilities in the state in the next 15 years. And that was about eight years ago!

In the last twenty years, the State government has invested huge resources on infrastructure development. However, these efforts are not enough for obvious reasons.  Today, Lagos does about 15,000 metric tons of refuse daily, more than what the whole of Ghana generates. The branch networks that some banks have in Lagos outstrip what they have in the whole country.

The number of heavy duty trucks and other vehicles that daily ply Lagos roads is quite alarming. Same goes for the number of pupils in its public schools as well as those that daily visit its public hospitals. Consequently, the State spends more on infrastructure upgrade and provision of other basic life necessities than any state in the country. Lagos, with about 150,000 workforce, apart from the Federal Government, remains the greatest employer of labour in the country.

Aside from the pressure on its infrastructure, there is a crucial moral angle to the quest to accord Lagos a special status. When the FCT was moved from Lagos to Abuja, there was a subsisting agreement that the city would not be abandoned. Indeed, the Late General Murtala Mohammed acknowledged the onerous nature of the responsibility of leaving Lagos alone to deal with the burden of infrastructure the FG were leaving behind then,  bearing in mind that if Lagos hadn’t been the federal capital, it probably would not have been having these problems.

However, successive Federal Governments have refused to take a cue from countries such as Germany, Brazil, Malaysia, Australia and Tanzania, which, after relocating their capitals, did not hold back development in the former capitals.

No nation grows by treating the needs of its golden geese with discomfiture. The future growth of Nigeria is partly tied to the development of Lagos which generates the bulk of the VAT accruable to the country, hosts over 85 per cent of Nigeria’s industrial hub and over 65 per cent of its financial nucleus as well as over 75 per cent of its active workforce.

One hopes that the current Senate, under the leadership of Senator Ahmad Lawan will dispassionately look into the subject and do the right thing. Given the centrality of Lagos to the overall social-economic aspiration of Nigeria, the upper chamber and other critical stakeholders should rise above primordial considerations and treat the Lagos special question issue more impassively.

 

• Ogunbiyi is Deputy Director, Public Affairs, Ministry of Information and Strategy, Alausa, Ikeja