Lagos is the commercial/ industry capital of
Nigeria, indeed the major port of entry and exit, and the most significant city
in the country. It is an undisputable fact that in Nigeria today, Lagos remains
the most complex metropolitan centre of regional population and organization; a
major focus of political, financial and cultural power for its own residents
and for people in neighboring states after Abuja the federal capital.
On the one hand, the role, which Lagos plays, both
locally and nationally complex , comes from the complex set of fuctions carried
out within the metropolis. These functions range from essentially economic
activities such as manufacturing to more socially oriented ones like government
housing projects. Major decision affecting social and economic changes in
Nigeria are made in lagos, as in Abuja, while lagos remains a major point of
origin for the development and diffusion elaewhere, of significant innovations
of all kinds.
The human density of the metropolis, its pace of
daily life, the complexity of its transactions, and the cosmopolitan reach of
its flow of products and people have all combined to project lagos as a member
of the world metropolitan club. These attributes of the metropolis are usually
regarded as the stimulants to cultural creativity and change that maintain the
metropolis as a dynamic node within the national settlement system.
On the other hand, however, the housing situation in
many parts of lagos leaves much to be desired. Many residents are homeless or
live without in housing units described by the united nation s as a maenace to
health and human dignity. Overcrowded slums in the metropolis have been found
to contribute to a high rate juvenile delinquency; high rates of family
dependence on members of the public for assistance ; high level of illetracy;
high proportions of unemployment, poverty, and divorce; more non support cases
, acholism, drug abuse; a higher rate of psychological disorders and mental
defiency; low marriage rates ; a low average educational level; low residential
mobility (due to acute shortage of residential building and land) and a
generally higher degree of social abnormality, lawlessness, crime and fear.
Here then lies a public policy paradox and the issue
or representation in a democratic space; many Nigerians dread the increasing
rate of urban violence.
In thye city, while some would not even wish to live
there; yet, according statistical records, lagos has more police stations than
any other btown or city in Nigeria. How then could this rate of urban violence
be stemmed, and how culd the solution found be replicated in other towns and
cities in Nigeria? These are some of the issues concerning the adequacy,
afficiency and quality or otherwise of our representatives at the various tiers
of our democratic.
A HISTORY OF
THE GROWTH OF LAGOS
Lagos is located in a lagoon along the southweatern
coast between latitude 6 degree and 7 degree north of the equator and between
longitude 3 degree and 4 degree east of greenwhich. This lagoon extends from cotonou
(republic of benin) in the west, to the niger delta in the southwest.
As the only
natural break along some 2,500 kilometer of the west African coastline, lagos
became a very important seaport during the trading activities of the eighteenth
and nineteenth centuries. The expansion of lagos was due to the growth of the
colonial economy of Nigeria. Having served as the seat of government between
1914 and 1992, after which the fedral capital was relocated to Abuja, lagos
remains the largest seaport and the most important railway terminus, and enjoys
prominence in the exported- oriented economy of Nigeria. The city acquired the
status of a municipality in 1950, and its area was subsequently extended to
incorporate parts of the main land
Today, metropolitan lagos is made up of 5 local
government areas and 8 local council development areas , covering about 32
percent of the total area of lagos state, that is about 1088 square kilometers.
About 209 square kilometers of the area is covered by water and unreclaimed
mangrove swamps.
Three crucial factors have been identified as being
responsiblke for the subsequent growth of the city of lagos and surrounding
settlements, namel:
1. the
construction, in 1895, of a railway line as a means of linking the city and port with the hinterland
2. the
development of the lagos harbor into the best on the west African coast between
1906 and 19
3. the
construction, in 1900, of carter bridge which was reconstructed in 1933 and
again in 1979, to link the island with the mainland and the hinterland.
As the population of
lagos increased, expansion became inevitable. In 1871, lagos island was 4 km2
and had an estimated population of 28,518. By 1931 the population of the city
had increased to 126,108 and the area had expanded to 62.8 km2, ecompassing
areas immediately outside the lagos island- a phenomenal increase of 342.2
population and 1,470 percent expansion in areas over the 1871 figures.
CONSTITUTIONAL
DEVELOPMENT
As early as 1886, when
lagos colony was separated from the gold coast, an executive council for the
lagos colony was established. But federick lugard had reduced the powers of
this executive council to the staus of legislative. In 1906, when lagos colony
was merged with the protectorate of southern Nigeria, the competence of this
legislative council was extended to cover lagos and the southern protectorate.
In order to compensate
the inhabitant of the lagos colony who de jure british subjects and enjoyed the
rights of british citizens, a small legislative council for lagos colony was
introduced for the purpose of enacting laws and scrutinizing estimates and
expenditure.the legislative council consisted of ten official and six
unofficial members.
The almagamation of
Nigeria in 1914 coincided with the establishment of a Nigerian council. The
council compromised 24 official and 12 unofficial members. Six of the
unofficial members were Europeans representing commerce, industry and banking.
The six African unofficial members were chiefs namely; the sultan of sokoto,
the alafin of oyo, chief douglas numa and one each educated Nigerian
repreenting each of lagos and calarbar.
The Nigerian council
was essentially an advisory body because It had no legisl;ative powers. The
most traditional rulers could not participate effectively because of their
inability to communicate in English. Some other means means of satisfying the
demand of the Nigerian peple for some form of vrepresentative government had to
be explored as the resistance of the indigenous population against the
imposition of a centralized hierachial system of administration over
traditionally acephalous societies, especially in eastern Nigeria, was very
stiff.
Most notable was the
excusion of the educated elite from participation in the governance of Nigeria,
and the very limited opportunities in the administrative machinery for such
elite.
The legal status of
lagos as a colony whose inhabitants were british subjects also facilitated the
demands for greater freedom of participation in political activities. Moreover,
the comtemtuos attitude of the british colonial administration to Nigerian
traditional rulkers. Eg. The eleko of eko,m chief jaja of opobo, chief nana of
olurnu, further infuriated the indigenous population and elites; it thus
inflamed the nationalist fervor led prince abibu ajao oki, founder and
president of ilu committee while Herbert nmaculay was the secretary and
recorder.
The Nigerian council
and the small legislative council for lagos were abolished by order in council
in 1922 (ezera, 1964). “prince abibu oki and other coastal elite had indeed,
been agitating against the government in lagos for the imposition of water
rates and the appropation of land for land for government projects even before
Lugard became Governor General in 1914” (Nnoli, 1978).
After the amalgamation
of 1914, “the nationalist fought against the exclusiveness and racial bias of
the Crown Colony system of Government. Nationalist demand at this phase of the
struggle was not the attainment of self-government but a measure of
participation in the existing government” (Coren, 1981).
The
Legislative Council
This was a product of
the Clifford Constitution of 1922. This Council comprised 30 official members,
15 unofficial ones nominated by government, and three unofficial members
representing the municipal areas of Lagos and Calabar.
The Council had a
limited number of elected members and African members selected to represent the
interest of those parts of the Colony and Southern Protectorate not represented
by elected members.
But the franchise was
restrictive and limited to males who were British subjects or natives of the
Protectorate with 12months residential qualification and an income of not less
than £100 a year. The first elections in Nigerian history were held in
September 1923 and the Council was inaugurated in October, of the same year.
The Clifford Constitution
was significant in the following respects: it introduced the elective principle
and stimulated the formation of political organizations notably, Herbert
Macaulay’s Nigerian National Democratic Party (ND) in 1923 and the Lagos Youth
Movement (LYME) in 1934, founded by H.O. Davies, Dr. J.C. Vaughan, Dr. Kofo
Abayomi, Ernest Ikoli, Nnamdi Azikiwe and Obafemi Awolowo which later
transformed into the Nigerian Youth Movement (NYM) in 1936.
The colonial
administration was not responsive to Nigerian public opinion as a means of
vetting arbitrary actions. The NNDP – which was formed to contest the 1923
elections – dominated Lagos politics and Herbert Macaulay’s approach was rather
too conservative for comfort, as he attacked only specific isolated policies of
the colonial administration and not the colonial system itself.
His political goal of a self-governing Nigeria within the
British Commonwealth was unattractive to the new breed of more radical
Nigerians in the 1930s.
Consequently, there
emerged the need for a more territorially widespread organization other than
the NNDP. This, along with the need for organized resistance to colonial rule
in its entirety, rather than to isolated policies, culminated in the decline of
the NNDP and the emergence of the Nigerian Youth Movement (NYM).
The NYM contested the
1938 elections with the NNDP and won the three Lagos seats. The British
colonial administration branded the Movement a southern-based party and the
Northern Emirs supported the British despite the mixed composition of the Jos
Branch comprising members from both the North and South. The NYM had been
critical of colonial methods of governing Northern Nigeria by proclamations
emanating from the Governor rather than through direct elections. In the North,
organized opposition came from the JOs Tribal League.
The NYM disintegrated
over issues of leadership and representation. Nnamdi Azikiwe resigned from the
Movement and all the Ibo members followed suit thus inaugurating the process of
the formation of political parties.
The resultant political
parties were the National Council for Nigeria and the Camerouns (NCNC) in 1944,
the Action Group (AG) in 1950 and the Northern People’s Congress (NPC) in 1951.
The 2015 General
Election will mark a deep watershed in Nigeria’s History just like the 2011
election, which held immediately after Nigeria bids farewell to the First 50
years of Political Independence (and 96 years of existence as a Country).
Hopefully, the election will usher in the Set of Leaders that will lay the
Foundation for the Journey to the 2nd millennium of the existence of
Nigeria as a nation.
Like every other
election all over the world, the 2015 elections in Nigeria should be mainly
about the economy. Our first 50 years had a chequered history as we struggled
to forge a nation out of the disparate nationalities. The first few years of
independence, with the regional economies as the driving force, saw spectacular
growth of the economy. With oil came a neal economy based essentially on
consumption- distributional politics rather than production.
We seem to be saddled
with an oil resoursce curse and a political economy that emasculate the future.
We have gone thrugh a series of development plans, programmes, visions, etc. on
paper, some were far reaching. We have also had the courage to implement some
radical reforms. But, without a holistic systemic change and commitment to
sustain reforms, we often take three steps forward and four bacjwards.
It appears that the
future is foggy and serious discussion about the new Nigeria in the next 50
years have begun. The debate so far is about who would be president and so on,
and not about what trhey wil offer. I am afraid that we again conduct elections
without any serious issues beign canvassed.
I recall the robust
debates relating to the alternative ideologies and manifesto of the five
political parties during the 1978/79 elections, I remember specifically
listening to chief obafemi awolowo in 1979 explaning how much it would cost to
implement free education at all levels and free medical care, and how he would
reconstruct public finance to squeeze out the money to implement them.
Not anymore! There are
no alternative vision no ideologies and no programmes that offer the voters
clear choices about their future.
Most political parties
have no clear road map for the country. Rather, they are concererned about how
to grab power, and I am not sure how many party members can coherently explains
what their party stands for. Some of us joined political parties in the hope of
changing it from within, and we have not given up.
I am a strong believer
in our future and in its destiny to lead the black race. If an emerging Lagos
megacity fails and Nigeria does not make it, sub-Saharan Africa cannot make it.
That is why some of us have elected to devote the rest of our lifetimes to work
for a Nigeria’s future encapsulated in a sound democratic representation.
The challenges are
herculean, and the next two years are critical. The tragedy is that our
representative have no clue or implementable plan to ster a different outcome.
Under the current political economy, the Vision 2020 will remain what it is – a
beautiful dream! Neither the investment levels nor the productivity (given the
decaying educational system and poor skills) required to realize Vision 2020
will happen.
For Nigeria to take a
shot at 2020, the socio-economy needs to be growing at about 14-15% a year
(more than twice the current rates of 6-7%).
I am deeply worried. As
a consequence f deliberate choices made by present ublic sector managers and
the constitutional/structural bottlenecks, the present leadership at all tiers
cannot generate ideas and will power that can stimulate the required impetus to
secure prosperity for all.
With massive government
borrowing during a boom and paradoxically very low levels of public investment,
the private sector is stymied into a trap. Who has the strategy to unbind this
trap?
Effectively, we are repeating
the worst forms of the mistakes of the late 1970s to early 1980s – accumulated
huge debts and raised government consumption to unsustainable levels during the
slump. As it is, the economy and the future of hundreds of millions of
Nigerians are hinged on a life support of a temporary oil boom. Our economy is
still driven by the volatile primary co at 20%, we are commodity sector - oil, gas and agriculture. With poverty
incidence at about 50% and the urban youth unemployment at over 20%, we vare
sitting on a ntime bomb.
The good news is that
Nigeria has all the potentials to be great. There are huge idle resources that
can be put to productive use but this can only happen when round pegs are put
inside round holes.
This is where the
debate needs to begin. Candidates and political parties needs to outline their
visions of Nigeria in the next 50 years and how they intend to rapidly create a
broadly shared and sustainable prosperity. The debate must begin.
Can fundamental results
be achieved by tinkering with programmes or will major changes in the political
structure and constitution be required? It is time the prospective candidate
roll out their agenda, and how they intend to finance them! Nigerians will no
longer be content with a plethora of platitudes and wish list.
Each candidate must
tell us how he/she intends to finance each programme, the deliverables and time
lines. More specifically, we need to know where they stand on critical national
issues, even if they have no concrete plans on them. This is a necessary
element of a democratic process.
The first issues we
need answeres to is how the candidate hope to reconstruct our public finaces
and put it back on the path of sustainability. How can they rein in the obtuse
and rapacious state bureaucracies, balance our budget during this period of the
oil boom, and yet spend at least 40% of the budget on capital expenditure as
required by the fiscal responsibility acts?
Personally, I am not
convinced that we need more than ministries and 10 ministries and 10 ministries
at the federal level. They should explain to us their contingency plans in case
the oil prices crashes tomorrow.
Candidates should also
let us know their views on, and framework for, borrowing (when to borrow, for
what, and how it will be paid back) without clarity on these issues, much of
the talk about government providing electricity and infrastructure on a
sustainable basis will remain a joke, as funding will always remain a binding
constraint. In other words, candidates should tell us their plans to shrink the
domain of the public sector to free resources to enlarge the domain of the
private sector in order to enlarge the domain of the private sector in order to
truly have a private sector led, led market economy.
Nigerians would like to
know the plans of the candidates for reconstructing our political structures to
create the new Nigeria with a new sustainable prosperity. Currently, we are
running unitary – federalism, with a plethora of fiscally unviable states as
the ‘federating units’, with the attendant wasteful duplication of
bureaucracies all over the country. So far, as everyone is spoilt with monthly
allocations from oil rents, there is no incentive to recreate the prosperity
engendered by the palm or cocoa plantations and groundnut pyramids of the old
regions.
Every village wants to
become a state in so far as ‘allocations continue to come from Abuja to pay
salaries’. Nigeria’s fiscal federalism seems to have its incentive system
upside down, supporting a political economy based upon consumption-
distribution rather than production. Should this continue?
Where do we stand on
state creation? Should we create eight states per zone as being proposed, or
consolidate the existing ones into six regions with Abuja, Kano, Lagos and Port
Harcourt as special territories, as is being proposed by others? What do we do
with revenues from exhaustible natural resources such as oil, gas and solid
minerals?
Some people propose
that we can create as many states as we want (perhaps until every village
becomes a state) but that revenues from the Federation Account should never be
used for recurrent expenditure but only used as matching grants to create
wealth and productive capacity for present and future generations, such as only
for infrastructure, security and education. Where do candidates stand on this
issue?
What kind of
constitutional chances are required to create a functional fiscal federalism,
and appropriate devolution of powers from the centre to the states and regions
to ensure effective economic management? What is our plan for effective
policing of the country to ensure security of life and property? Where do we
stand on the proposal for a state or regional police force?
On specific sectoral issues,
the questions are endless. Who has the strategy to achieve uninterrupted power
supply over the 2015-2019 period? Where is the strategy to ensure an accurate
population census with the biometric data of every citizen? If the last census
figure is correct, then Nigeria’s population is exploding without any plans for
the children of today and tomorrow. Are we happy with the rate of growth of our
population or will someone have the courage to propose a r oust population
policy?
Since our current
university system is a road to nowhere producing largely unemployable
graduates, candidates need to flesh out their plans to revolutionize the sector
for Nigeria to join the 21st century. The Financial System Strategy 2020 (FSS
2020) was designed to make Nigeria Africa’s financial hub and an international
financial centre by 2020. What is the commitment of the candidates to making
this happen?
How will the candidates
address the various cries of marginalization by sections of the country,
especially the southeast? What are the plans for women and youth, as well as
the physically challenged? How do we deal with huge but unrecognized national
emergencies such as erosion and desertification?
Furthermore, the future
depends on how we deal with the tripartite problems of poverty, urbanization
and unemployment. Candidates need to spell out how they intend to solve the
pervasive poverty in the north (averaging over 70% compared to an average of
less than 35% in the south).
To create
high-value-added jobs and reduce poverty in the medium term requires more than
quadrupling productivity in agriculture as well as mainstreaming large scale
commercial agriculture. We need to hear the plans of candidates in this regard
given the current irrigation level of less than 6%.
More specifically, we
need to hear from the aspirants how many jobs they can create over the
four-year period and the strategies for doing so. There is also the challenge
of urbanization and urban renewal strategies. At about 5.3%, Nigeria’s
urbanization rate is one of the fastest in the world, with the attendant urban
decay, slums and urban unemployment, poverty and crime.
What is the plan to
stem rural-urban migration? In the medium term, what special strategies are
there for the renewal of mega cities like Lagos, Port Harcourt, Aba/Onitsha,
Abuja and Kano, which continue to receive the largest influx of young people in
search of nonexistent opportunities? What are the strategies for providing safe
drinking water for our population?
There is a housing
deficit in Nigeria of some 20m units, Lagos account for 25% of this deficit.
What strategies do prospective representatives have to unleash a housing boom?
The questions and
issues are legion. The essence of this piece is to provoke debate. The next 50
years will make or break Nigeria. Next year marks the beginning of the journey.
The current players have a duty to lay a solid foundation for the future. As
things are, that future cannot be guaranteed without a big struggle. Those we
know, and who have the capacity to contribute to the struggle for a new,
prosperous Nigeria, nay Lagos megacity region must stand up now to be counted!
Elite indifference to the political process is not an option. Since we have
adopted US-style state primaries for the elective offices, can we also adopt
US-style debates in various states among aspirants of the same party? When will
the debate begin? The world is watching, and Nigerians are awaiting for
answers.
