Lagos Is Far From Excellence, Not Yet Working!

 By Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour

Lagos is not working. Once promising, the state now wallows in a sickening state of mediocrity, captured by a fraudulent and mercantilist political class that has held sway for 21 years. Indeed, Roosevelt helps us understand the danger of the mercantile class when he opined thus:

“The liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic state itself. That, in its essence, is fascism ownership of government by an individual, or a group.” Roosevelt’s wisdom sums up most appropriately the present tragedy that is the lot of Lagosians.

To start with, the wealth of Lagos is directly tied to the productivity and sweat equity of its citizens. More than 80% of Lagos’s revenue comes from income tax, consumption tax and several other forms of taxation. Hence, while successive administrations brag about increasing internally generated revenue, they have spectacularly failed to hold up their part of the social contract. Close to N10 trillion has been spent during the period but Lagos still ranks as one of the most unliveable cities in the world. Of what use are the trillions generated in tax revenue if it doesn’t improve the life or livelihood of the average citizen?

Lagos has one of the lowest scores of 11 major African cities on the city prosperity index. Lagos also has one of the least scores on productivity (<17%) and infrastructure. The harsh reality is that the current political elite and their cronies have not only mismanaged the commonwealth of Lagos, but they are also now dehumanizing Lagosians in several ways unimaginable. People now spend an average of six hours commuting to and from work in rickety vehicles, driving on roads in terrible conditions. Traffic robberies are now on the rise because cars must slow down on bad roads in dark spots without streetlights. It is worth mentioning at this point that more emphasis is placed on acquiring more tolling vans (which has its usefulness) than managing potholes and providing streetlights which directly benefit the people.

Why should low-income earners spend over 40% of their monthly income on transportation? Why do close to 40% of Lagosians live in slums or neighbourhoods with almost no social amenities? Why should local governments be income-generating centres for party faithful instead of a tier of government that works to improve the lives of the people? Why are there very little investments in social housing for low-income earners? The reasons aren’t far-fetched: the current administration is set up to serve the interest of a small but greedy elite against the interest of the general public.

Recall that under the Fashola administration, $200m was earmarked by the World Bank to revitalise slums in Lagos State. Instead, the state chose to apply brute force to evict residents of places like Badia that fell under the slum renovation plan. Till date, no substantial urban development has taken place and the practice of evicting slum dwellers without providing a sustainable housing system for the poor continues to persist with respect to the forceful eviction of OtodoGbame and Tarkwa Bay. What is even more worrisome is that when these helpless settlers are forcefully evicted, they are replaced with luxury apartments sold at a premium to the rich and affluent.

Of course, I believe in the free market enterprise, but if luxury apartments are built on the blood of the poor, the least that the government can do is enact a policy where luxury property developers contribute to the social housing scheme. Or what part of the social contract says it is okay to take huge loans from the world bank to supply water, Yet the moribund Lagos Water Corporation covers less than 30% of the population within the metropolis?

Rather than investing in the development of Lagos, the Lagos State government would expend public resources on Public Relations firms to ‘package ‘ Lagos such that the world is made to believe that Lagos starts in Ikeja and end in Lekki. Sadly, from Badagry to Amuwo-Odofin all the way to Ajeromi-Ifelodun, to Mushin, Apapa, Surulere all the way to Lagos East, Shomolu, and Ikorodu, the state is in disrepair, and one can’t help but ponder on how Alhaji Jakande built so much in four years.

In four years, Jakande built over 14,000 units of low-income housing, far more that the APC administration has built from 1999 till date. Interestingly, he also started the Metroline rail project that was subsequently cancelled by General Buhari in 1983. 37 years on, a government and party that has been in power for over 20 of those 37 years have been trying to build one metro line for the last 14 years.

The contract for the Blue Line (the 27-kilometre Badagry line running from Okokomaiko to Marina via Iddo) was awarded at the colossal cost of $1.2 billion compared to similar projects in other parts of Africa awarded for just a fraction of that amount. In Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, a similar contract was awarded for a 34-kilometre and 39 stations electrified light rail network in 2012 and by September 2015 it was completed. Guess what? It was constructed for $475 million.

Shamefully, the Lagos state government defends the astronomical cost by highlighting the marshland and swamp areas of the Lagos Lagoon, the need for relocation, reconstruction and resettlements, especially for 9km of the line. But still, the Ethiopian track is 7km longer than that of Lagos. The Ethiopian system has 32 stations, Lagos has constructed four stations. We could compare with other projects but it’s best to assume similar factors affect the administration of projects in Africa.

Furthermore, the China Railway Construction Company, contractors of the light rail project, in its 2010 report, put the cost of construction at $182 million. Are we saying preliminary works and relocation cost $ 1 billion which amounts to 83% of the project cost?

Sadly, because of the opaque fiscal and financial system run by Lagos, the state government has refused to release the contract papers for the project and have refused to answer any question or queries from any quarters on the project.

Yet they expect us like sheep to pay our taxes but fail to yield to demands for accountability and transparency. Their responses are defensive as though they were doing the citizenry a favour by answering their questions.

Think of the NGN2.5 billion 115-metre ramp that links Ozumba Mbadiwe road to Falomo bridge. This was built at N21.7million/meter. For reference, 3 flyovers were built in India of lengths 800m, 340m and 375m (i.e. over 1.5km in total length) were built at a cost of $7.5m (as of 2007). This equates to about $750,000 for 150 meters of flyover compared to over $15m for a 115meter section of a flyover in Lagos.

This is a simple ramp for goodness’ sake, a 500meter flyover in the Philippines cost $4m for 500 metres, but this still comes to less than $ 1 million per 100 metres. For how long we will play ostrich at the reckless waste of our state resources and clap at the political hegemony’s ability to tax and generate over 70 billion a month without holding them to account on how it is spent!!!

A state that should focus on mass public transportation is putting over 1,000 new cars on the roads because it wants to fleece people of high commissions and award ludicrous contracts to their cronies.

It is impossible for a political hegemony to self-reflect and self-correct. The gross inefficiencies, the wasteful spending, and huge debts racked up with nothing really to show for it when considering the antecedents of Alhaji Jakande.

Its profligacy can never be self-corrected, like what happened to the PDP between 1999 to 2015. The more politicians can get away with, the more citizens refuse to hold them accountable, the more they push the limits of what they can and cannot do.

Hence why ‘Politicians and diapers must be changed often, and for the same reason.’ – LAGOS IS FAR FROM EXCELLENT, LAGOS IS simply NOT WORKING, and we can change this ugly reality. It starts by citizens believing that they deserve better (which they do) and voting differently in the coming elections.

*Rhodes-Vivour is the Labour Party’s governorship candidate in Lagos