If You Want to Make It-Move to Lagos

If you are a Nigerian and you want to compete globally, you have to start by living in Lagos.

There are a number of factors that make Lagos a prime location for people who want to compete globally.

The first factor looks Lagos and its density of 17,000 people per square meter. This, no doubt, makes it the capital of Nigeria’s knowledge economy, guaranteeing interaction of various skilled workers.

Secondly, the knowledge economy factor is critical, as it ensures the increased incidence of ideas through public events as well as availability of talent for organizations. Ultimately, the availability of young knowledge workers inspires a startup culture, further compounding the fortunes of Lagos.

The third factor that makes living in Lagos inevitable for competitive people is that it is host to foreign missions and embassies, though Abuja also has this feature. However, Abuja misses the concentration of knowledge workers and the velocity at which ideas can be shared across the knowledge economy value chain in Lagos State.

Lagos lagoon and beach fronts provide a tourism value and branded effect that has the tendency to retain high net worth individuals and the aspirational. It also provides avenue for development of entertainment, hospitality and other cultural activities. This is the fourth factor.

The fifth is the legacy infrastructure bequeathed by the colonial authorities, civilian and military governments, where Lagos was a colony and once capital of the country. The Carter, Eko and Third Mainland bridges for instance will count as primary platforms for connectivity that facilitate movement of labour, material and commerce.

The Lagos Port Complex, which is the largest port in Nigeria was developed by the colonial government of Nigeria in 1913. It currently processes 94 percent of Nigeria’s export and 76 percent of total imports. This means Lagos is not just an entrepot for goods, it is also entry point for ideas and innovation, just like all coastal cities have been in global history.

Many cities that have been adjudged to be most innovative in the richest countries have ports. For instance, Tokyo, the most innovative Japanese city has a port. Shenzhen, the tech capital of China has a port. Both Berlin, Munich and Hamburg are regarded as the most innovative cities in Germany. While Berlin does not have a port, it has a nearby port in Rostock. Meanwhile, Munich and Hamburg have ports, and both rank as the 1st and 2nd smartest cities in Germany. Milan, Bologna and Florence are regarded as innovation cities in Italy, and all except Florence have ports, where Livorno port is just 1 hr away from Florence. London was established as a port town by the Romans, and it is no doubt the heart of innovation in the United Kingdom. Finally, San Francisco the capital of all innovation capitals also has a port.

The sixth factor relates to Nigeria’s cultural industries. Lagos remains the cultural melting pot of Nigeria, with the movie, music and other cultural industries established and concentrated there.

Finally, the seventh factor relates to the role of capital, where corporate headquarters, private equity firms, venture capitalists and other sources of financing domiciled disproportionately in Lagos State. Investment houses and stock trading complexes are also concentrated in Lagos State.

This phenomenon is not necessarily a good thing for Nigeria. Why? It betrays the lack of even development, as well as the inability of other subnationals not pulling their weight. One will think that the Ogun State and Ibadan will be affected by the development in Lagos, but that has not happened. This means other states like Osun, Ondo, Ekiti and cities like Benin have no chance if we assume that the diffusion will be linear.

While the legacy advantages of Lagos, including its ports and cultural advantage cannot be easily transplanted, other states that are closer to Lagos can make the effort to woo new businesses to their capitals at least. But this is not happening.

Quick examples of Abeokuta in Ogun State and Ibadan in Oyo State will show some wastage of infrastructural and geographical advantage.

Abeokuta has the advantage of rail moving from Lagos and Ibadan, thereby making Abeokuta a middle point in that journey. The state government or municipal authorities ought to seek tourism opportunities by constructing infrastructure and marketing the city. Instead, the road that connect the train station to the city, which has never been developed, and has been neglected to the extent that parts of it are currently subject to erosion. This discourages travelers and local tourists.

Ibadan on the other hand is home to top tertiary institutions. This should be harnessed by encouraging the students to stay back to work in Ibadan. Similar programs have been executed by the City of Manchester, where students of tertiary institutions in the are encouraged to stay back through funding of startups, as well as encouragement of knowledge-based businesses. This should change the character of the city, improving the culture and making it cool for remote workers and other knowledge related value chain nodes to move from places like Lagos State.

In the absence of natural resources and other legacy infrastructure, other states should consider competing based on talent, tourism and knowledge work. There is also an opportunity for regional cooperation to develop megaprojects that will have multiplier effects for the culture, investment and revenue of these states.

In the absence of considerable effort to develop these states and other states in the country, Lagos State remains the only place where the dreams of most Nigerians can be validated.