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Nigeria is
home to around 20 million people
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A professor at the
University of Oxford, Paul Collier, has said that a 21st century Lagos is one
which would accommodate the elites as well as the ordinary people.
PREMIUM
TIMES report continues: |
The urban
sprawl of Lagos
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Mr.
Collier, a professor of Economics and Public Policy, spoke Thursday at a
two-day international conference tagged ‘Towards a Smart City: Preparing for
the Next 50 Years of Prosperity’ in Lagos.
He
said to sustain the city’s continuous progression of the past 19 years as well
as achieve its target for the next five decades, citizens must have confidence
in the leadership of the state.
“One
respect in which a foreign professor have a little bit different eyes from you
is I only see Lagos from time to time, I’ve been coming here for about 40 years
and so I’ve seen quite a lot of the 50 years of change,” said Mr. Collier, who
delivered the keynote speech at the event.
“And
actually, I want to say the real change I’ve seen is not over 50 years, it’s
over 19 years, it’s the 19 years of democratic Lagos. To my mind that’s the
real celebration, it’s been 19 years of very visible, material progress, you
can’t miss it. I know that because I’ve worked in a lot of African cities, you
can’t, unfortunately, say that for many big African cities.”
Mr.
Collier said the governments in Lagos have been lucky to enjoy a level of
freedom rarely seen in most African cities.
“The
starting point is to say what is a smart 21st century city mean? Smart does not
mean elite. Smart means a city that works for everybody in it. A city that
works means that ordinary people can become productive and so earn a decent
living.
“Elite
means that where people live is a liveable decent environment and so the city
is productive and it’s liveable not just for an ordinary elite but for
everyone, for the ordinary person, the citizen of Lagos. That’s where we are
headed.
“It will be a beacon that gets imitated, not
just within Nigeria but across Africa. Other cities will look to Lagos, you are
already the lead city, you are Africa’s mega city. But to become Africa’s 21st
century mega city and a beacon, you need to do the next steps.
“In
doing those next steps, remember your big asset is the confidence your citizens
have in the leadership and for that to be sustained, the leadership must work
for everybody in the city.
“You
cannot build a functional city with a political horizon of two years. I deal
with a lot democratic African governments and typically, they’re so unsure of
their power they tell me only give us suggestions which we’ll deliver in two
years, because that’s the time on average to the next election, we can’t afford
to do anything that looks beyond that.”
Mr.
Collier noted that the key elements in a 21st century city are density and
transport.
“Between
them deliver good connectivity, without connectivity you got a lot of people
crowded together but they can’t benefit from being together,” he said.
“The
benefits of being together, called economics of agglomeration, depend on good
connectivity amongst people and that means livable density combined with good
transport infrastructure.”
Thursday’s
conference was one of the activities rounding up the “Our Success Story” themed
yearlong celebration of Lagos At 50.
The
conference focused on four major areas – Information and Communication
Technology, transportation, ease of doing business, and tourism.
Earlier,
during his remarks, Governor Akinwunmi Ambode said as the celebration draws to
an end, there would be a deep reflection of what the next 50 years would be.
“The
smart city initiative is Lagos urban development vision to integrate all
sectors of governance into one box of growth and development through efficient
service delivery to each citizen,” said Mr. Ambode.
“The
future prosperity of Lagos is dependent on how well we can equip our children
and youth with technological and educational skills they can use to develop the
solutions for the future.
“The
ease of doing business in Lagos is very critical to the continued prosperity of
our state. We know that in order to facilitate investment in infrastructure, it
is imperative that we get our acts together in our public service delivery,
especially the quality of our services by public servants in government in
order for the private sector to have greater confidence in government also.
“We
have put in place the policy framework for a technology driven land
administration and mapping, tax administration and justice administration. All
of these will come on stream in the coming months.
“I
will like to hear the bitter truth about what is next for Lagos to do.”
While
noting that Lagos is the fastest growing city in the world with a growth rate
of 85 people per hour, Akinyemi Asade, the Commissioner for Finance, said it
has thus become imperative for Lagos to continually look into the future.
“By
unpacking common challenges, we confront and leverage the latest technologies
in support of the development of our state. This conference aims to do just
that,” said Mr. Asade.
“To discuss and challenge
our thinking on moving Lagos towards the smart city status. Technology presents
a remarkable platform and opportunity for people, communities and cities to
improve the quality of life, service delivery and efficiency as well as
economic development.”
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