Lagos is ahead of Nigeria was how a friend described the unprecedented and breathtaking infrastructural strides in the country’s center of excellence. That statement captured both the resilience of a city built atop the water and the administrative foresight of its leaders.
But how on earth is Lagos ahead of Nigeria? For 77 years, Lagos was Nigeria’s de facto political, economic, and administrative capital territory. That was between 1914 when the Northern and Southern protectorates were amalgamated by the British and 1991 when the seat of power was moved to Abuja. In effect, Lagos served both the whims and caprices of the British and later became the home of the country’s foremost leaders until General Ibrahim Babangida military junta perfected what was initiated by Murtala Muhammad regime. While Lagos no longer served the country’s administrative needs, it has remained and maintained its undisputable economic hub.
Today, the city has the fifth largest economy in Africa with a staggering $102 billion GDP, bigger than many African countries. However, I am not interested in writing about Lagos or its comparison with Nigeria. Lagos is probably the only state in Nigeria where infrastructural development seems like an everyday thing. Despite its many deficiencies, it is still the only state and city in the country where the business of governance and administrative effectiveness is considered a very serious undertaking. Without mincing words, the remaining 35 states of the federation including Oyo State have been playing a disappointing catch-up – to no avail.
Of course, I am not also going to be naïve to assume that Lagos’s rise to economic and infrastructural stardom was all about the resilience and foresight of its leaders — alone. Far from it. Lagos has benefitted immensely and enormously from its strategic positioning as the country’s capital for almost eight decades – among other factors. That kind of concentrated development is unequaled anywhere. In addition, I am also not going to be oblivious to the fact that development in any form or shape is never even. The sociology of development reveals that some areas due to some special reasons and factors will always witness development more than others. Think of Lagos, Kano, Port Harcourt, and Aba. Lagos’s proximity to waters and its eight decades of development gave it an unmatched edge. In addition to Kano being the country’s center of commerce. Plus, Port Harcourt as the oil capital of the country and the industrialization prowess of Aba city. In other words, development is not like rain that falls on all roofs or sun that shines on all hoofs.
Not surprisingly a state like Ogun has equally and greatly benefitted from the trickle down effects of Lagos economic prosperity. What about Ibadan? Unfortunately, without a business-minded, visionary, and ambitious Governor who will take advantage of its proximity with Lagos to engineer development, this kind of IGR lamentation will continue to persist. Particularly, the type of Governor badly needed by Oyo state is never going to lament about the growth of its neighboring state when all that is needed will be to roll up his sleeves and get serious about revamping the state’s internally generated revenue — astronomically.
Earlier this week, Oyo state Governor, Engr. Seyi Makinde lamented that the IGR of the government is infinitesimal compared to Lagos. “It is not acceptable to me or any of us here that a state, which is 120km away from here is generating over N65 billion every month in IGR and we are struggling to generate N4 billion monthly” he remarked at the International Trade Fair ExpOyo 2024, which just returned after 15 years in hibernation.
To be honest, Governor Makinde’s lamentation is both unacceptable and untenable. For God’s sake, he is the Governor of a state with huge potential in Agriculture, mines, education, tourism, health care, and so on. Take agriculture. Governor Makinde’s resuscitation of the Fasola Farms in Oyo has indeed been commended as a return to the pace-setting glory of Oyo state. But the Fasola farm settlement is just one out of many ways to turn the state into an agricultural hub of the region.
Last year October, I was part of research assistants to a Doctoral student of a UK University. To say I was blown away by the experience would be an understatement. First hand, I could see where shoes pinch us as a people and how the government could play a crucial and pivotal role in developing the rural economy while empowering rural dwellers. In any case, such important research being conducted by a foreign university on agriculture in Nigeria says a lot about our country, its education, and institutions. And before you say it’s perfectly fine, think of the last time Nigerians from Nigeria traveled all a way to any Western country for research work. Ultimately, those countries pay attention to research that it’s almost impossible to want to research them from the outside. The thesis of the research was on the viability of the Shea butter business in the country and the global market.
Reflecting on the experience of that exercise, I felt the Oyo state government could do better in expanding the scope of Shea butter business. And by focusing on where we have the comparative advantage, no Governor will have to cry over the split milk of IGR. Additionally, my experience as a research assistant in that project convinced me that any serious Governor who takes the rural economy with levity will always lament. In a similar vein, my interactions with producers of shea butter opened my eyes to the shenanigans, incompetence, and ineptitude of the state government under Governor Makinde.
In 2022, Shea Butter had a market size of USD 2.8 Billion and is projected to hit USD 5.2 Billion by 2030. How much is the share of our state in this global shea butter boom? Of course, Nigeria is a big player in the global shea butter business and Oyo state plays an integral part as well. No proactive Governor would worry that a neighboring state is growing at a rate others may not catch. In development, the corrosive nature of unbridled lamentation can erode the foundation of optimism, leaving behind the ruins of what could have been a hopeful future. I hope Mr. Governor takes note.
OYO101 is Muftau Gbadegesin’s opinion about issues affecting Oyo state and is published every Saturday. He can be reached via @muftaugbade on X, muftaugbadegesin@gmail.com and 09065176850.
