Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, weekend, on the King’s School in London, mentioned the federal government’s incapacity to correctly talk their insurance policies was why folks misunderstood and misinterpret them.
Talking through the “In Dialog Session” on the African Week 2026, Sanwo-Olu mentioned considered one of his instructive take-off factors because the governor of Lagos State was as a result of he knew that the state have to be ruled, not as an issue to be managed, however as a platform to be unlocked.
Sanwo-Olu, who seized the platform to market the state and his administration of practically eight years, mentioned aside from Lagos being essentially the most cosmopolitan city metropolis within the nation, Nigeria additionally derived its energy from the state.
Additionally, a former governor of Ekiti State, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, who delivered a keynote tackle a day earlier, mentioned, though Nigeria was wealthy in minerals, it was nonetheless poor in pure useful resource governance and improvement.
Addressing the subject, “Exercising Company Past the Nation-State” on the Bush Home, Central Block, King’s School, Sanwo-Olu, mentioned the theme was each well timed and necessary, including that, “For a very long time, a lot of the dialog about energy, improvement and affect has been framed nearly completely round nationwide governments.”
Answering questions on a number of the insurance policies of the federal government, particularly the Makoko demolition, Sanwo-Olu mentioned, “I have to admit that governments usually are poor communicators. Our incapacity to correctly talk our insurance policies is why folks misinterpret and misunderstand them.”
In line with him, selections and actions of the federal government have been normally for the general good of the folks, however as a result of the federal government barely communicated them nicely, folks misinterpret the nice intentions behind them and tagged them inimical to their curiosity.
Discussing why Lagos was related within the scheme of issues, he mentioned, “Lagos is just not merely one state in a federation. Lagos is a residing argument about African chance. It occupies a really small fraction of Nigeria’s landmass, but it has grown into one of the vital economically consequential city centres on the continent.
“By present estimates, Lagos is now Africa’s second-largest metropolis financial system, with GDP at roughly $259 billion on a buying energy parity foundation.
“It stays Nigeria’s principal industrial gateway, a serious vacation spot for capital, enterprise, expertise and concepts, and one of many clearest examples anyplace in Africa of how a sub-national authorities can form not solely native outcomes, however wider regional and international conversations.
“However Lagos is just not necessary solely due to its dimension. It can be crucial due to what it represents. It’s youthful. It’s stressed. It’s numerous. It’s globally related. It’s a metropolis that absorbs folks, ambition and strain at extraordinary velocity.
“We at present estimate a median age of simply 23.5, a really giant working-age youth inhabitants, robust feminine labour- pressure participation, and greater than 2,000 new migrants arriving each day. These numbers should not summary.
“They imply that day by day in Lagos, the calls for on transport, housing, well being methods, colleges, safety, the atmosphere and jobs are renewed in actual time. That’s the context through which we govern.
Sanwo-Olu defined that, “One more reason Lagos is related to this dialog is that it demonstrates how coverage and enterprise can reinforce one another. Lagos has emerged because the anchor of Nigeria’s startup panorama and one of the vital dynamic know-how ecosystems on this planet.
“Lagos was just lately ranked the world’s fastest-growing tech ecosystem, in that it hosts greater than 2,000 startups, and has produced 5 unicorns throughout fintech and digital commerce.
“What this tells us is one thing profound: Company within the twenty first century is just not exercised solely by ministries and memoranda. Additionally it is exercised by enabling platforms, regulation, expertise formation, connectivity, funds infrastructure and the boldness to let innovation scale.
“In Lagos, we’ve tried to create an atmosphere the place the federal government doesn’t suffocate enterprise, however fairly clears a path for it. That very same story is true within the inventive financial system. One of many nice errors usually made about African cities is to deal with tradition as an adjunct fairly than as {economic} infrastructure. Lagos teaches a special lesson.
“In Lagos, music is an business. Movie is an business. Style is an business. Design is an business. Digital content material is an business. Identification itself turns into productive capital.
“Nollywood’s scale, the density of production firms in Lagos, the worldwide attain of our musicians, the visibility of our trend ecosystem, and even new frontiers reminiscent of technology- themed filmmaking all level to a metropolis through which creativity is just not merely expressive, however developmental.
On his half, Fayemi, who spoke on the subject: “From Passenger to Pilot: Important Minerals, Power Transition, and the Way forward for Useful resource Governance in Africa,” mentioned although Nigeria was wealthy in minerals, however poor in pure useful resource governance and improvement, including that why it was indispensable to the worldwide financial system, it was disposable inside it.
In line with him, “Bush Home has at all times supplied an area for international conversations for the larger a part of the final century and concepts emanating from such conversations have assisted in shaping our world.
“Tonight, we add one other layer to that historical past. The necessary subject for my keynote tackle is “Important Minerals, Power Transition and the Way forward for Useful resource Governance in Africa.”
“This subject is just not merely a coverage query; fairly it’s a defining query of our technology, our present actuality and I need to congratulate the convener, Dr Sefa Nyarko for the ‘Justice in Important Minerals Governance and Power Transition’ challenge being formally launched at the moment as it’s exactly the type of initiative we want – one which asks not simply ‘what can we extract however who defines what’s important?’, however ‘who advantages, who loses and who decides?”.
“Certainly, solely two weeks in the past, thirty-eight artisanal miners died with a number of others injured at an underground mine that collapsed in Zurak, within the mineral-rich Plateau State of Nigeria. I nonetheless see communities the place the varsity is a crumbling shack, at the same time as vehicles laden with ore rumble previous them towards the coast. It’s the similar story throughout the continent.
Fayemi defined that, “The worldwide political financial system is at present present process a structural transformation comparable in scale and consequence to the economic revolution of the nineteenth century.
In his ultimate take, the previous Ekiti governor acknowledged: “As we collect right here at the moment, the message is obvious, Africa is now not a testing floor for exterior experiments. It’s a strategic actor, a companion, and a co-creator in shaping the way forward for international power and useful resource governance.
Olawale Olaleye
Times Nigeria