The problem with Nigeria is that the FG refuse to see all region of Nigeria as one entity and thrive in tribalism and nepotism.
If FG is serious,Lagos shouldn't be the only state that has viable ports,International airports and embassies.
For people that live in the SE/SS they should have viable international airports,sea ports and consulates,the same with people in the North.
Nothing special about Lagos, lagos was just lucky be the former colonial headquarter and former capital of Nigeria developed by colonial masters and FG

aribisala0:


"Everyone knows deep down"? In other words you have no argument so resort to sentiment and emotionality.

You people keep talking nonsense about business HQs .

Please explain what is the relevance of HQ to jobs.
States do not collect company tax,the FG does

Was Ibori a military man ? who made away wth hundreds of millions of dollars . Yes the centralized structure affects SOME states but Rivers,Delta and Akwa Ibom should be doing a lot better now if the had goo governors

I think you're a kid. If you've ever looked for a job you'd notice nearly all firms have do their recruitments from their cooperate HQs in Lagos. States do not collect tax? Then what do the stats revenue boards do? Sit in their offices and play ludo all day? Ibori stole money but there was no way he could steal hundreds of millions of dollars. That's a stupid exerggeration. How much was the federal allocation to Delta that he could steal hundreds of millions of dollars.

States can only provide basic infrastructure for investments but cannot bend Federal govt policies that hinder them.

Lagos State is the most indebted state. A significant amount of development in Lagos today is down to debt.We may argue that the debtt was well used but it is still debt not the fG

Another error many people make is to say Lagos State was the former FCT ,,IT WAS NOT

A small part of the state was the FCT not the entire state. do not get it twisted

aribisala0:
Lagos State is the most indebted state. A significant amount of development in Lagos today is down to debt.We may argue that the debtt was well used but it is still debt not the fG

Another error many people make is to say Lagos State was the former FCT ,,IT WAS NOT

A small part of the state was the FCT not the entire state. do not get it twisted

There nothing special about lagos, there is no healthy competition among states in Nigeria,Lagos is lucky to have been developed by colonial masters and FG, other states did not have that opportunity.
Look at how FG is pumping money in developing Abuja, that how the colonial masters and FG pump money into lagos till 1991 to make it befitting capital of Nigeria then.Successive lagos state government have done anything special,they just living on already built state with FG protection.
If you want imoport something it must pass through lagos port where we have other ports in PH and Calabar.
If you want travel to many world destinations you must pass through lagos where we can have more standard airports in other regions.
Oil headqueters all in lagos, embassies and visa issues all in lagos.
Bank hq all in lagos.

Hmm small time now Abuja would say they are develope[url][/url]d because they have good leadership Govt FG presence contributed nothing.

Odingo1:

There nothing special about lagos, there is no healthy competition among states in Nigeria,Lagos is lucky to have been developed by colonial masters and FG, other states did not have that opportunity.
Look at how FG is pumping money in developing Abuja, that how the colonial masters and FG pump money into lagos till 1991 to make it befitting capital of Nigeria then.

There is nothing special about the mouth says the anus it just gets to eat all the good food while I go about stinking.

Everything is speciall about Lagos whether you repeat that rubbish tll doomsday. Why is Aba not so lucky?

What was the state of Lagos in 1999?

Abuja has been developed by the FG 100X more than Lagos WHY IS ABUJA NOT A BOOMING ECONOMY

aribisala0:
There is nothing special about the outh says the anus it just gets to eat all the good food.

Everything is speciall about Lagos whether you repeat that rubbish tll doomsday. Why is Aba not so lucky?

What was the state of Lagos in 1999?

Abuja has been developed by the FG 100X more than Lagos WHY IS ABUJA NOT A BOOMING ECONOMY

dont mind am...

Odingo1:
The problem with Nigeria is that the FG refuse to see all region of Nigeria as one entity and thrive in tribalism and nepotism.
If FG is serious,Lagos shouldn't be the only state that has viable ports,International airports and embassies.
For people that live in the SE/SS they should have viable international airports,sea ports and consulates,the same with people in the North.
Nothing special about Lagos, lagos was just lucky be the former colonial headquarter and former capital of Nigeria developed by colonial masters and FG

aribisala0:
There is nothing special about the mouth says the anus it just gets to eat all the good food while I go about stinking.

Everything is speciall about Lagos whether you repeat that rubbish tll doomsday. Why is Aba not so lucky?

What was the state of Lagos in 1999?

Abuja has been developed by the FG 100X more than Lagos WHY IS ABUJA NOT A BOOMING ECONOMY

Lol. Keep blaming the federal government. My question is, what are the governors doing? It is the responsibility of each state to develop itself. Not the federal government. Nigeria is a nation of civil servant with is insane to say the least. You guys had better wake up.

Odingo1:
The problem with Nigeria is that the FG refuse to see all region of Nigeria as one entity and thrive in tribalism and nepotism.
If FG is serious,Lagos shouldn't be the only state that has viable ports,International airports and embassies.
For people that live in the SE/SS they should have viable international airports,sea ports and consulates,the same with people in the North.
Nothing special about Lagos, lagos was just lucky be the former colonial headquarter and former capital of Nigeria developed by colonial masters and FG

you cant have viable ports,International airports and embassies in every state...its too expensive to mantain..

if you want all those things then build it yourself....asking the fg to do it for you is crazy.....

you think the fg has a magic tree that grows money...?

aribisala0:
There is nothing special about the mouth says the anus it just gets to eat all the good food while I go about stinking.

Everything is speciall about Lagos whether you repeat that rubbish tll doomsday. Why is Aba not so lucky?

What was the state of Lagos in 1999?

Abuja has been developed by the FG 100X more than Lagos WHY IS ABUJA NOT A BOOMING ECONOMY

Abuja have not receive much than lagos, FG made lagos the economic nerve centre of Nigeria after the capital was moved to Abuja.Abuja was not programmed to be an economic hub,but an administrative capital.
Stop been too emotional about issues,nobi your papa own lagos

Hahahaha This piece is nice but those two tribalist Guestlander and GrandGarcon arguing spoilt everything.

GrandGarcon you're arrogant. That's the truth. Take it or leave it.

bantudark1:


you cant have viable ports,International airports and embassies in every state...its too expensive to mantain..

if you want all those things then build it yourself....asking the fg to do it for you is crazy.....

you think the fg has a magic tree that grows money...?

At least each region should have one state that have a viable international airport,sea ports and consulate for visa issues.
It will reduce accident and traffic congestion in lagos and create more jobs in other regions, somebody that live in Kano or Onitsha don't need to travel all the way to lagos to travel out of the country. In South Africa you dont need to move from Cape town or Durban to Johannesburg to leave the country.If you Nigerians want to compete with other countries in development, all this tribal sentiment should be thrown away, it doesn't make sense for people from the SW to keep on bragging that Lagos is the only place that things happen in Nigeria and continue to do everything possible to make sure that the only viable airports,sea ports etc in Nigeria is only found in lagos

Odingo1:
it doesn't make sense for people from the SW to keep on bragging that Lagos is the only place that things happen in Nigeria and continue to do everything possible to make sure that the only viable airports,sea ports etc in Nigeria is only found in lagos

Funny people. For how many years were the Aviation Ministers Igbo? Yet, Yorubas are the ones doing everything possible to ensure Lagos has the only viable airport. This is beyond wailing.

Guestlander:


Calm yourself down kid. There's no evidence of deliberate or systemic scheme to hold anyone down.

Even the Lagos you are all screaming about was on a downward trend after the Federal government moved to Abuja until the civilian government came in and luckily the governors of Lagos have done remarkably well to rescue the trend.

Tell your own governors to put your states and your people first.

You are wrong.
Buba marwa did wonderful job as lagos administrator.

GrandGarcon:
Another nonsense! We are not taking about all parts developing at the same rate, it is to punnish Biafrans that the country was set up like this, all the sea ports in Nigeria except the lagos one are not functional, where in the east or in the niger delta will you find a true international airport? In those countries, airports are built when you have the means, but in Nigeria it is based on politics. Abegi forget that thing.

oga you need to stop this blame game. Jonathan was there for more than half a decade, when oil was booming. the minister of finance was from your region same as aviation and power. why didn't they turn the table. you don't blame others for your lost opportunities.

juman:


You are wrong.
Buba marwa did wonderful job as lagos governor.

Can you mention some of his "wonderful" job?

It beats my imagination when egg heads compare Lagos and states like Akwa Ibom. People involve in such needs rethink. Had Lagos developed at the pace Akwa Ibom and other younger states are Lagos would have been our California. No state government has abused power more than those of Lagos but the FG presence had been a big cover up.

Why won't Lagos judiciary system be better when the seat of Justice had been in Lagos for a long time until literally moved to ABJ. Why can't Ambode repair bridges already built by FG.

BF had been tagged to be extraordinary gov while in Lagos and even castigating FG in power then but today he's lost as a minister only to be baptized "minister of darkness" - why can't he do the magic.

If a state like akwa ibom gets 1/10 of FG presence Lagos has, it would be on record that Lagos has no brains. For those who may not bother to research, most companies had sited their HQ in Lagos just for sake of nearness to where policies were formulated (IT was not available as it is today ) and availability of resources like airports, seaports, embassies, infarct commercial hub for cheaper and easier business purposes as these transactions were basically manual in nature. Issues of insecurity is secondary as things like militancy just cropped in due to inability of FG to harness the situation.

Believe it or yes, FG presence in Lagos for decades is a spring board for development in Lagos. Abuja is already outsmarting Lagos in terms of town planning, road networks, etc because ABJ is built in an era of modern industrialization. In no time, we wud be hearing that Govs in ABJ have never stolen. Lagos has no excuse not to develop infarct the space of development in Lagos is sluggish because the never had/have smart government to consummate opportunities available to them during the 100% presence of the FG

fidukpong:
Don't know y Nigerians shy away from truth especially when one is involved. unarguably, Lagos is what it is today >90% because it has been the political, economical & administrative hub of Nigeria.

These caused embassies, international airport, national theater, to name a few to be sited in Lagos and no one can overemphasize the positive impact of these to Lagos economy in all ramifications

Now can anyone reminiscene this region when calabar was the Centre of govt? Someone mentioned here that Lagos went on a down curve when the capital was moved to Abuja - WHY? An answer was given that it was the civilian govt that revived it - blatant lie. Were the structures and people moved or what percentage of people moved. All states have liason office in Lagos tell us in which states has Lagos built a liaison office.
To end this matter for now, let the FG aactivate just sea ports in other states along the coast and see economic response in those states.

Nigeria economy is monopolized by Lagos - even access to some oil/gas platforms are closer from other states but we continue to use Lagos to access these platforms. Indeed, I agree that Nigeria backwardness is caused by Lagos. Let FG begin to look at developing other states in line with their endowment then Lagos would have been depopulated. Mass exodus of youth to Lagos for white collar jobs or township euphoria would have been seriously reduced.

If there is better electricity availability millions would move back to their villages from lagos.

Second thing is the various state governors are bad. Very bad.
If they wake up agriculture in their various states many of their people would stay back in their states.

Also if there is a major seaport in niger delta, many people would be living around the port to earn their living.

Unfortunately the senseless apc government is also performing badly, there is no hope that things would improve.

logica:
Funny people. For how many years were the Aviation Ministers Igbo? Yet, Yorubas are the ones doing everything possible to ensure Lagos has the only viable airport. This is beyond wailing.

It doesn't have to do with Aviation minister, Nigeria should have a master plan on development, FG should diversify Nigeria and stop concentrating everything in Lagos, is not that we are envious of lagos, but a sane country should spread its infrastructure, like in South Africa they have the following sea ports in which you can bring in or export your goods and clear it,covering all parts of SA;
port of Cape Town
Port of Durban
Port of East London
Port of Port Elizabeth
Port of Richards Bay
port of Saldanha

While Nigeria have one viable airports in lagos and maybe Abuja, South Africa have the following viable standard international airports

Cape Town International Airport (CPT, FACT)

Durban International Airport (DUR, FADN)

Johannesburg,Lanseria Airport (HLA, FALA)

Johannesburg,O.R. Tambo International Airport (JNB, FA

Mmabatho International Airport (MBD, FAMM)

Nelspruit,Kruger Mpumalanga International Airport (MQP, FAKN)

Polokwane,Polokwane International Airport (PTG, FAPP)

Sun City,Pilanesberg International Airport (NTY, FAGN)

May be olagunsoye oyinlola was the worse governor ever in lagos state.

Guestlander:


You need to save your energy for the herculean task ahead of you. You won't overtake Lagos by chatting garbage on the internet. You will not do it by crying and sulking like a child who got his toy taken away. Get off nairaland and start working, put your yam legs to work.

Bwahahaha historical yam legs that is. Lwkmd

logica:
Can you mention some of his "wonderful" job?

He was the governor that started the huge tax collection for lagos.
He built Marwa Gardens.


Also you can read from this:

As Governor of Lagos State, General Buba Marwa will be remembered for his “Operation 250 Roads” which he used to improve Lagos roads. Also, mosquito nets were shared to pregnant women during his era as Lagos Governor and public health care centers were built in virtually all LGAs of Lagos State. He stopped the “Jankara” methods of evicting tenant and made an edict to regulate rents, ensuring that due process is followed.

Many Lagosians will remember Marwa’s “Operation sweep” (a joint police and military venture) that protected our lives and properties. The military outfit “Operation sweep” was a memorable one. As a young boy then, I remember how “Operation Sweep” will be engaging thieves at night. Gun shots were heard on almost every night and I remember my uncle saying they loved engaging criminals.

The “Operation sweep” was never defeated in gun duels. And they were all over Lagos state. From Surulere to Ikotun, Abule-Egba to Badagry. They arrested Agberos (members of NURTW) and cleared them off our streets. Area Boys behaved themselves as they were roundly beaten when caught in illegal and immoral acts. They loved kids as on several occasions they bought us (children) sweet and “OK Biscuit” whenever we scored above 5/10 in the spelling competition they organized while drinking at a nearby beer parlour on our street in Surulere area of Lagos.
Also Marwa imposed fuel rationing in Lagos to tackle petrol shortages and reduce chronic queuing at petrol station. Before the rationing many Lagosians out of ignorance were storing petrol in their rooms and offices which resulted many times in explosions and the consequent loss of lives and properties.

Buba Marwa who succeeded Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola as Governor of Lagos state was on several occasions a victim of bomb-blast. Activist were of the opinion that it was Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola who was planning to kill him so as to cover up what he (Oyinlola) did while in office, as during Oyinlola’s tenure as Governor of Lagos State, bomb blasts was a norm in Lagos and letter bombs came into Nigeria’s polity.

Marwa was accused in October 1986 by the lawyer of the founder and editor of “Newswatch newspaper” Dele Giwa of delivering the letter-bomb that killed his client. Though, the Personal Assistant to Colonel Buba Marwa then claimed that Marwa was involved in the annual battalion test exercise in Bauchi when Dele Giwa was killed.

http://dailypost.ng/2013/04/28/ismael-olanrewaju-oguntoyibo-buba-marwa-the-man-his-past-and-his-options/

me69:
Lagos is saturated the city cannot support the capacity. FG should build other places

Correct.

It is in the interest of Lagos for other areas to grow faster now.

I expected a much faster growth in Ogun axis to reduce pressure on Lagos.

Lagos will simply get choked if inward migration continues at this rate.

Guestlander:


You need to save your energy for the herculean task ahead of you. You won't overtake Lagos by chatting garbage on the internet. You will not do it by crying and sulking like a child who got his toy taken away. Get off nairaland and start working, put your yam legs to work.

You sound like an intelligent fool

AreaFada2:

Correct.

It is in the interest of Lagos for other areas to grow faster now.

I expected a much faster growth in Ogun axis to reduce pressure on Lagos.

Lagos will simply get choked if inward migration continues at this rate.

They will never listen..The D-day will come soon..

PunditAfrica:
As much as ds writer tried not to be seen as jealous of lagos, he failed to have a basic grasp of economic development.
Lagos is not holding any city's development, any secondary city that fail to explore her peculiar growth potential wl remain secondary forever. I mean lagos has been blessed wt foresighted leaders since its existence and its astronomical growth is solely a credit to her political leaders.

As regard ur comparision wt UK and America, please beware that New York and London r still miles ahead of every of other cities In UK and US bt due to ingenuity of political leadership of other cities, places lyk California & Texas r all catching up on NYC. Same as Manchester, Essex catching up on London.

If not for leadership, lagos greatness would ve bn history now after loosing capital to abuja. At that tym, 8 of 10 buildings in marina were deserted and lagos was shaken to its root. It took ingenuity of her govt to rise again.

To buttress how germane leadership is to development I wl give instance of Ibadan. Ibadan used to b a city to beat at a time, as quality of her leadershhip depreciates, so did her growth until years of akala when everything was lost. D average governor at d helm now is responsible for d new standard development in d city.

Biko, leave Lagos alone, charge political leadership of other cities

Lagos is blessed wt exceptional leaders!

I agreed with most of your comments. However, I don't agree about your California statement. I have lived in California for over 5 years and have lived in both LA and SF. California is a million miles ahead of New York. It's more richer, diverse and bigger than New York. California economy is bigger than France and Italy. If California was a country. It will be the 5th largest in the world. It also accounts for about 30 percent of USA total economy.

Jealousy.... Lagos is developed by right set of Governors,good and workable policies and the people. I wonder y the writer is calling on Federal Government to make law,policies to develop other regions /state as if there was a special law/policies dat developed Lagos. Lagos development is historical and based on right machineries that drive Lagos. Thanks Chief Obafemi Awolowo that produced Alhaji Lateef Jakande,thanks Pa Adesanya and others that produced Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu,thanks to Tinubu that produced Fashola,thanks to Tinubu again that produce Ambode. Lagos development has a strategic plan that are being followed /carried out by successive leaders.

alexiej:


I get your point. But my own point is, there's enough... Enough potentials in other states too, that those state governments are not taking advantage of. The potentials may vary, and Lagos may have the upper hand of its antecedents and stuff, but other states also have a lot to exploit, if there weren't such mediocres in government. I'll give an example.

About 4 years ago, I went for the law week program (a week program for lawyers) in Ibadan, and I heard the speakers (many of whom were from Lagos) speak. It got to a point that they kept saying stuff like "In Lagos, we now have this", "In Lagos, we do that"... And even the moderator or so had to comment about it. It was as if (and it was quite obvious actually) that Lagos was quite far ahead in their legal system. They could settle a case during Case Management Conference within 3 months, and not have to spend years in court... Etc. Now, did that come from population size? No. Did that come from antecedent? No. It only took a thinking leadership to exploit the smart brains in the system. Every state has those smart brains, unfortunately, not every state has the thinking leadership. So all that the other states could do was to copy the Lagos model.

With such a small land mass (compared to other states) and such large population, Lagos is able to "manage" their traffic. I put manage in quote because traffic in Lagos is still very terrible, but when you consider that Oyo state, with such a larrrge land mass, and just about 5 million people, (maaanyy of whom do not have cars) also has terrible traffic many times, then you'll commend Lagos.

I agree with you, really. "Lagos was a goldmine", but I'm saying other states are also massive goldmines. It only takes intelligent governments to dig it out. And even without talking about revenue generation issues, we can see that many other governments lack the capacity to think, such that even if they had the same antecedents, population, opportunities that Lagos had/has, they still wouldn't have been able to take advantage of it.

Guy stop spewing tosh. Lagos had only cumulative advantage nothing more.
BTW why is everything law this law that. Seems you still a sophomore cos you exude it.

Guestlander:
I think what we are seeing regarding Lagos is true for many other countries, for Germany it is Bavaria, for USA it is California, China the Guangdong region, Canada it is Ontario. Lagos is not underdeveloping the rest of Nigeria it is actually doing the opposite.

You are soooo wrong! Especially about Germany! What about states like Berlin, Cologne, Bonn etc.

Dz is a bias opinion, the government of Nigeria did everything humanly possible to underdeveloped lagos, they moved all moveable ministries, agencies and parastatals to abuja at the speed of light,the hausa fulani developed abuja at the strike of an hurricane.
THE ONLY THING THEY COULD NOT MOVE IS THE SEA.
THE MAJOR THINGS DT DESTROY NIGERIA ECONOMY AND UNDERDEVELOPED THE REST OF NIGERIA ARE ,THE MILITARY, THE MORIBUND AJAOKUTA, ABUJA, THE MDA(MINISTRY, DEPT, AGENCY)
LAGOS HAS GIVEN BACK TO NIG GOVT IN TRIPLE FOLDS, EVERY MONEY SPENT OR INVESTED ON LAGOS.
ABUJA HAS RETURNED ZERO ON ALL THE INVESTMENT SPENT ON IT.
THE ABUJA PROJECT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE GRADUAL ,BUT WHAT WE SEE WAS AGGRESSIVE DEVELOPMENT.
FOR INSTANCE, MANY PEOPLE IN THE OIL RICH NIGER DELTAS ARE EITHER MAKING ENDS MEAT IN LAGOS OR HAVE A FAMILY MEMBER DOING SO, THE SAME CANNOT BE SAID OF ABUJA, THE FUTURE BATTLE GROUND OF THE REPUBLIC.
THE DEVELOPMENT OF LAGOS IS BEING ACCELERATED BY VISIONARY LEADERS SINCE THE OUTSET OF DEMOCRATIC RULE.
UNDER THE MILITARY, LAGOS WAS AN EYESORE, NEGLECTED AND ABANDONED BY THE GOVT.
IN MY OPINION, THE WRITER SHOULD RE-TITLED THE ARTICLE AND TENDER AN UNRESERVED APOLOGY FOR MISLEADING HIS READERS.
THE OCEAN IN LAGOS KEEPS ATTRACTING BOTH LOCAL AND FOREIGNERS, THE ACCOMMODATIVE NATURE OF THE YORUBAS IS ALSO CONTRIBUTING TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE.
THE HOSTILE IBOS CANNOT SAY THE SAME , THE RELIGIONCENTRIC AND FANATICAL HAUSA FULANI THAT UNDERDEVELOPED THE WHOLE OF NIGERIA AND MORTGAGED THE FUTURE OF UNBORN GENETATION ARE EQUALLY GUILTY.
THE NIGERDELTANS HAVE EVERY REASON TO PROTESY THE RAPE OF THEIR OIL BLOCKS. 90% OF WHICH BELONGS TO THE HAUSA FULANI.
AND AGAIN, THE ADVENTS OF KIDNAPPING AND ARMED YOUTHS ALSO SCARE AWAY POTENTIAL INVESTORS TO LAGOS AND THE SOUTH WEST AXIS OF THE NATION.

IdeyFindWife:


Lagos this, Lagos that!

When everybody will not think, chart a prodigous self-determination chart for the future of their state/people and actually follow up with the right policy, people and practices for that!

Which one of all our states is not endowed? Nasarrawa is sitting on a goldmine of mineral resources yet they're crawling. Benue's grasshopper-brained governor is busy buying wheelbarrows for his bastard children? What we're all doing to ourselves is more than what any Lagos is doing to anybody. The NigerDelta had their prestigious son as president, enjoyed a lot of payoffs from the Oil Companies over the decades, filled NDDC with their people on top of Amnesty Programme and juicy positioning in the NNPC yet at the end of the day, it's still blame-laying and finger-pointing, who's fooling who?

People will just fiind something to bitch about and cause trouble with, shm

Your lagos yorubas are preventing the movement of the headquarters, the major money spinners to the niger delta. Just allow that movement, the headquarters of the oil companies and see if that lagos will remain the same. You kill other states and enjoy their wealths.
You also arranged chibogu girls and further press the head of GEJ almost to the deepest level of ocean with all sorts of devilish maltreatments yet you are there saying rubbish.