7th May, 2013
By Babatunde Fashola
Lagos, of course, has chosen a different path. It lives largely on the revenue it raises by itself.
70% of its N499 billion ($3.2 billion) budget for year 2013 and the preceding years have been self-generated.
The Federal Government’s monthly allocations only account for 30% of Lagos’ annual resources-to-budget cost.
In order to maintain this financial hold, the Federal Government keeps 52% of the nation’s resources.
The states, all 36 of them, get a 26% share between them. The 774 local governments, including the 37 created by Lagos, share only 20.2% of the country’s revenue amongst them.
The debate therefore is not only about the cost of such a large government but also about its effectiveness.
The Primary Health Care Centres, where newborn babies get vaccinated and immunised against disease, are not in the capital but within the 774 (plus 37) local governments.
Can the money held in large supply at the centre reach them in time and in good quantity before they die?
The primary schools, which are the foundations of early learning, are also in these local governments. (In Lagos there are 1,001 of such primary schools).
How quickly and efficiently can we fund them from the centre before these children get tired of waiting, drop out and become child labourers?
The impact of a behemoth Federal Government is no less exacting on the transport system in a sub-optimal way.
In Lagos the Local Governments have 6,415 roads, the state government has 3,028 and the Federal Government has only 117.
Yet the Local Governments have only their share of 20.2% (shared with 717 others) and the states have only their share of 26% (shared with 35 other states) of national revenues to fix these roads. Remember the Federal Government owns the least number of roads. Yet she keeps 52% – the lion’s share of the Federal resources.
How efficiently therefore can the Nigerian Governmental system provide roads that are so critical to prosperity for her people?
These are the structural challenges of government that we must overcome.
They sum up the demand for a truer federal union that is being demanded by the 36 state governors in terms of fiscal and political federalism. I associate myself with this demand in its entirety.
The realization of these demands on their own, may not necessarily leapfrog us into El Dorado. But without them the journey will be tortuous. If they materialise they liberate the possibilities that lie inherent in the diverse capacities that the Nigerian states and local governments are blessed with.
In that event, the Federal Government will not be without authority or responsibility. But in my view it will be better able to co-ordinate the diversities for mutual prosperity.
While these challenges exist we are not folding our arms and twiddling our thumbs. On the contrary we have become more determined in Lagos and more resourceful.
Let me conclude now by saying that whilst we contend with these challenges and struggle to build infrastructure, our most enduring infrastructure will be the one we build in people’s minds, especially the next generation.
This is why we have committed time and resources to rebuild our education. We are seeing results in the right direction but the journey is still long.
However, even long journeys can be punctuated by delightful pit stops. One such encouraging pit-stop came via a text message from the Vice-Chancellor of the Lagos State University (LASU).
I must point out that LASU is the state owned university, different from the federal owned University of Lagos also in our state. They are our older, and if I must say for the time being, our more illustrious cousins.
The message from the Vice-Chancellor was that LASU has been ranked 11th amongst all the universities in Nigeria. We are the only state owned university in this ranking. This is significant because it shows rewards for our efforts. It validates the far-sighted but tough decisions we took to re-position the university.
It puts a fine egg on the faces of those who sought to make political capital of a decision so fundamentally critical to our human development index. But this is not our destination. Our destination in the short term is to be the best in Nigeria. In the medium term to be the best in Africa and in the long term to be the best in the world.
That process has already started. We are already building affiliations for LASU across the world. Nothing would please me more than to establish such an affiliation with this school and the Johns Hopkins University. It would have made this trip really worth making.
I will only now ask you to put everything I have said into perspective. If at any point I sounded like I spoke from a place of contentment then that was certainly not my intention.
The truth is that all we have done is to lay down a marker for the sort of state we are trying to build.
If I can claim any success, it is that the dream I have always had for Lagos is now no longer just a picture in my head – it has taken manifestation into something more tangible. And more importantly, it has become a shared dream. I would like to express, once more, my gratitude for being asked to speak in such esteemed company. I appreciate the time you have devoted to being here and hope to welcome you as visitors to Lagos in the near future.
•Concluded.
•Text of speech titled ‘The Challenges of Governance and Development in Lagos’ delivered by governor of Lagos State, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN) at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University, Washington d.c, United States on April 26th 2013