– by Opeyemi Eniola
Lagos is not only Nigeria’s business hub. It is the nation’s financial oxygen. It drives a disproportionate share of nationwide output by commerce, manufacturing, ports, monetary companies, and logistics. In plain phrases, Lagos doesn’t merely contribute to the Nigerian financial system—it units its tempo. What occurs right here doesn’t keep right here. Policy choices, infrastructure gaps, rising prices, and governance reliability in Lagos form funding decisions, jobs, provide chains, and fiscal behaviour far past the state.
That is why the rising speak of a Lagos State Economic Council, and the case for electing Dr. Kadri Obafemi Hamzat as governor in 2027, shouldn’t be dismissed as marketing campaign speak. It is a query of nationwide financial technique. Who is finest positioned to maintain Lagos aggressive, lower pointless friction for companies, and construct on the beneficial properties made since 1999 with out dropping momentum?
Why a Lagos State Economic Council Matters Now
Economic planning in Lagos can not be occasional or reactive. It needs to be steady, coordinated, and grounded in actual information. Hamzat, the APC gubernatorial candidate, has pushed this concept with some readability. The proposed council takes a cue from the National Economic Council however retains the main target native: bringing state executives, native authorities leaders, and key stakeholders collectively repeatedly to overview efficiency, monitor insurance policies, and repair issues sector by sector.
The strongest a part of the proposal will not be the creation of one other physique. It is the sensible hyperlink to on a regular basis enterprise realities—coordinating authorities expenses so they’re much less complicated, tackling a number of and unauthorised levies that also weigh on enterprises, and giving companies a clearer image of what they may truly pay. That type of predictability issues. Lagos is competing for capital, expertise, and long-term contracts. When prices are opaque or preserve shifting, ambition turns into costly. Weak coordination manufactures uncertainty even when the intentions are good.
A correctly empowered Economic Council might scale back friction, enhance transparency, and give non-public capital the steadiness it wants.
Building on What Already Exists—More Systematically
Lagos has tried variations of this earlier than. Earlier administrations arrange financial advisory teams that introduced private-sector voices into authorities considering. The present Sanwo-Olu administration has pushed additional with platforms just like the Lagos International Financial Centre Council, aiming to place the state as a severe world monetary hub.
Hamzat’s model takes that custom additional. It strikes past occasional session or branding workouts and tries to embed financial oversight into the common work of presidency. It additionally recognises one thing operators on the bottom already know: Lagos will not be one uniform financial system. The divisions have totally different strengths. A council that features native authorities management and works throughout the state will help unfold decision-making, ease the over-concentration round Alausa, and make growth priorities extra aware of native realities.
Why Hamzat Is Positioned for This
This proposal lands higher as a result of it doesn’t sound theoretical. Hamzat’s background suggests he sees Lagos as each a political enviornment and an operational system that has to ship.
An engineer with a doctorate in course of programs engineering, he got here into public service after private-sector expertise that included roles at main monetary establishments and as Chief Information Officer at Oando. That combine is beneficial. Lagos wants greater than political administration. It wants individuals who perceive programs—budgets, processes, information, company coordination, and the self-discipline of precise implementation.
As Commissioner for Science and Technology he drove digital reforms, together with enterprise planning programs that tightened controls and diminished leakages. As Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure he was carefully concerned with main tasks, together with the Lekki-Ikoyi Link Bridge. As Deputy Governor since 2019 he has been a part of the THEMES+ effort that has pushed progress on rail, water, transport, and industrial coverage.
He will not be providing a totally new Lagos. He is providing continuity with sharper focus—an method a high-stakes financial centre wants. His current speak of Digital Lagos 2.0, data-driven job matching, mini-secretariats exterior Alausa, tailor-made methods for the totally different divisions, and an extended growth horizon all level in the identical course: construction and supply over short-term noise.
Continuity as Economic Advantage
One of Lagos’s actual strengths since 1999 has been relative governance continuity. Sudden breaks usually are not simply political occasions; they disrupt coverage and execution. That threat is actual proper now. The state nonetheless has main work forward—ending transport hyperlinks, increasing water and sanitation, bettering energy reliability, coping with housing stress, and constructing resilience towards flooding.
Lagos additionally carries the burden of fast inhabitants progress and a big casual sector. Multiple taxation stays a real grievance with actual prices. These issues don’t vanish with slogans. They require coordination, clear authority, and regular administrative work.
Hamzat’s emergence because the APC candidate after the occasion major displays a recognition that institutional reminiscence and technical competence are belongings in a state that has to remain credible to traders at house and overseas.
The National Stakes
What Lagos will get proper turns into a sign for the remainder of the nation. Investors typically deal with the state as a proxy for Nigerian threat. Clearer levies, higher information for planning, extra dependable public-private partnerships, and infrastructure that really reduces friction create demonstration results. Other states discover. Models for internally generated income and multi-tier financial coordination can journey.
For the APC, placing a continuity-minded, systems-oriented governor in control of Nigeria’s financial capital suits a broader declare about supply and reform. It additionally underscores a primary fact: sub-national engines of progress matter as a lot as federal initiatives. Lagos is positioned to steer that work if the precise arms are on the wheel.
What Still Has to Be Got Right
None of this pretends Lagos is problem-free. Congestion, housing shortages, flooding, and the sheer scale of the town stay laborious information. Multiple taxation remains to be a criticism with penalties. An financial council will solely work if it has actual authority, clear information, and the political will to confront pursuits that profit from the present confusion.
Systems considering improves the percentages, nevertheless it doesn’t assure outcomes. Success will nonetheless depend upon execution, constructing the required coalitions, and turning plans into outcomes folks can really feel—shorter journeys, clearer prices for companies, and extra dependable primary companies.
The Choice in 2027
The determination going through Lagosians is subsequently bigger than occasion labels. It is about whether or not the financial capital will likely be led by somebody who already understands how the system works, learn how to coordinate throughout companies and tiers of presidency, and what institutional adjustments could make governance extra predictable for enterprise.
Dr. Kadri Obafemi Hamzat’s candidacy, along with the thought of a Lagos State Economic Council, affords a coherent case: Lagos ought to deal with its financial weight as a nationwide accountability, not only a native benefit. If the state will get the coordination of prices, information, and infrastructure proper, its success can strengthen the financial trajectory of the remainder of Nigeria.
That is why this second counts. Lagosians usually are not solely selecting a governor. They are selecting the structure that may form how the state manages progress, competitiveness, and continuity in order that Nigeria’s financial capital stays the engine of alternative it must be.
Eniola, PhD in View, is the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor of Lagos State on Basic and Secondary
