Twenty five years after the federal capital was relocated from Lagos State to Abuja, the state has been left without federal support, with a bill seeking to accord it special status rejected three times in the Senate. But the bill has been presented again in the upper chamber, raising fresh hope. Gboyega Akinsanmi reports
As the Senate resumed last week after a three-week vacation, two critical bills waited for attention. They are the 2017 appropriation bill and the bill seeking a special status for Lagos State. For many Nigerians – and foreigners – who have for decades found Lagos to be a crucial melting pot, the bill for an Act “to make provision for federal grants to Lagos State in recognition of its strategic socio-economic significance and other connected purposes,” takes pride of place.
In the last decade, the Senate has rejected the bill three times without clear reasons. When the bill was rejected for the third time on October 5 last year, it drew angry reactions from many Nigerians. The decision of the Senate incurred public disapproval for two main reasons. First, the lawmakers did not really debate the proposal on its merit, but threw it out on the altar of sectional politics. This was evident in the explanation of Senator Binta Garba, when she recently said some senators “are agitating that other regional headquarters should be looked into.”
Second, the bill had been proposed twice in the seventh National Assembly and was rejected. The lawmaker representing Lagos Central Senatorial District, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, initiated the last version, which only sought one per cent special economic assistance for the state. Like the two others, the proposal was suspended at the second reading.
But the chairman, Senate Committee on Marine Transport, Senator Yerima Sani, assured that the bill would be revisited, when he visited the state governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, in November last year. True to Sani’s assurance, the bill was presented less than one month after he visited Ambode with other members of the committee. Undoubtedly, the representation of the bill offers the Senate another opportunity to ensure justice in the matter.
VAT Contribution
Like other versions, the proposal stoked a wild plenary at the Senate. At the plenary, the Senate Chief Whip, Senator Olusola Adeyeye, provided a strategic background, which he argued, made the bill compelling and imperative. He cited its economic significance to Nigeria. He also cited the case of 13 per cent derivation, which oil-producing states are getting.
The chief whip also cited Lagos State’s huge contribution to the value-added tax. In 2014, the Federal Inland Revenue Service generated a total of N4.6 trillion, out of which VAT contributed over N690 billion. FIRS said Lagos alone contributed about 50 per cent of the N690 billion.
Expatiating on the VAT contribution, Adeyeye gave the example of a state governor who “banned alcohol in his state. If my own people consume alcohol, that governor should not enjoy a kobo of VAT from my area. If it is 13 per cent for Bayelsa, Delta and other oil-producing states, it should be so for Lagos State from VAT.”
However, a lawmaker from the Federal Capital Territory, Senator Philip Aduda, did not see the need to grant Lagos State special status. The senator argued that if special consideration “will be given to Lagos State, the same thing should be extended to Abuja.” But Adeyeye responded that unlike Lagos, Abuja does not pay tax to the federal government.
The reason for the rejection of the special status proposal for Lagos State seemed evident in the words of Senator Binta Garba during the committee’s visit to the state last October. Garba, who is senator for Adamawa North, said some senators opposed the bill because there “are other regional headquarters that the federal government needs to look into and possibly accord special economic status.” She said such regional headquarters included Lagos in the South-west, Kaduna in the North-west, Borno in North-east, Enugu in South-east, and Port-Harcourt in South-south.
But many believe that position does not hold water because, historically, Lagos was never a regional headquarter. Before the relocation of the federal capital to Abuja, Lagos was the capital of Nigeria.
Observation
The visit of the committee was revealing, according to Sani. Before members of the committee eventually had a private meeting with the state governor, they had visited Lekki Deep Sea Port and Lekki Free Trade Zone. Also, they had visited Apapa Central Business District, which hosts Nigeria’s three most strategic seaports.
So, crisscrossing the state from its eastern part to the central zone revealed a lot of things to the visiting senators. The outing, according to Garba, opened the eyes of the senators to massive the transformation taking place in Lagos. She said the senators “have a cleaner Lagos. We have also seen safer Lagos. We have equally seen beautification in Lagos.
“With what is happening in Lagos, it shows there is hope for Nigeria being the first federal capital. The government of Lagos State is doing well. We believe Lagos will be another hope, not just for African countries, but also in the entire global community. In the last 17 years, the handling of baton from government to government has paid off. It shows that there is continuity in the vision that has been set aside for Lagos State.”
The visit also revealed huge challenges, which Sani acknowledged, qualified the state for special status. To him, Lagos is a mini-Nigeria. He said people from all states of the federation “are earning and living here. Anything we do for Lagos, we are not doing it for Lagos indigenes alone. I will call Lagos a mini-Nigeria.”
The committee observed the near total collapse of strategic infrastructure in Apapa and its environs. It noticed the deplorable state of federal roads in the state. In the last 16 years, the state has provided strategic interventions to maintain and rehabilitate federal roads at the cost of over N55 billion.
Expectedly, the committee took cognisance of derelict assets of the federal government, which dotted several parts of Ikoyi, Lagos Island, Obalende and Victoria Island, among others. Under different administrations, the state had sought to take over some of this federal property with the intention of turning them around for the public interest.
Justification
The Oba of Lagos, Oba Rilwan Akiolu, has added his voice to the demand for a special economic status for the state. The royal father believes there is a compelling justification for the state’s demand for special status. He argued that the Senate should have looked at these compelling reasons.
Globally, the monarch said, Lagos “is one of the previous capitals,” which has not been accorded special status. He cited New Delhi in India, Rio in Brazil and New York in the United States, all of which have been granted special status given their economic significance. With about 22 million residents, Akiolu said there is no reason to deny Lagos this request.
Beyond what the monarch said, a 2014 survey by City Mayors Foundation classified Lagos as the seventh fastest growing city in the world, with the average annual growth rate of 4.44 per cent. Lagos comes only after Beithai, China; Ghaziabad, India; Sana’a, Yemen; Surat, India; Kabul, Afghanistan; and Bamako, Mali.
Of these cities, according to the survey, Lagos is the only city-state without a constitutionally recognised special status in terms of development attention. Among others, the survey showed Beithai “is designated as a Special Economic Zone and marine protected area by the Chinese government. Ghaziabad is a National Capital Region.
“Sana’a is the capital of Yemen, seat of governance and the largest city in the country. Although the seat of the internationally-recognised government moved to Aden, as a provisional capital after coup in 2014.” But Lagos has not been accorded special status despite being a former capital of Nigeria and still her economic centre.” Ambode classified Lagos as a city-state with vast potentials. For him, Lagos does not just mirror Nigeria. It is Africa’s model megacity. Aside, it is Africa’s fifth largest economy, which according to him, has positioned it to take Nigeria out of economic recession.
Fresh Assurance
On December 12, 2015, it was exactly 25 years since the federal capital was relocated from Lagos to Abuja. On February 3, it will be 41 years since the Mohammed Murtala regime announced the decision to move the capital from Lagos. Under the regime, the Supreme Military Council did not relocate the national capital without making a provision for Lagos State.
Murtala had then admitted that Lagos “will, in the foreseeable future, remain the national commercial capital and one of its nerve centres. But in terms of servicing the present infrastructure alone, the committed amount of money and effort required will be such that Lagos State will not be ready to cope. It will even be unfair to expect the state to bear this heavy burden on its own.
“It is, therefore, necessary for the federal government to continue to sustain the substantial investment in the area. The port facilities and other economic activities in the Lagos area have to be expanded. There is need in the circumstances for the federal government to maintain a special defence and security arrangement in Lagos which will henceforth be designated a special area.”
Already, four decades have gone by. And this pledge has not been transformed to reality. Rather it has been entangled in the web of sectional politics. However, Sani said it was time “to reconsider the proposal to accord special status to Lagos State.” He admitted that many factors determined things that happened at the National Assembly. Now that the Lagos State government has appealed, he assured, things will be different.
With what the committee observed in Lagos, Garba observed the Senate would look at the proposal “to grant the state the statutory allocation of one per cent t. We believe Lagos is a mini-Nigeria, where everyone has a dream. We cannot reject the request of the Lagos State towards one per cent special economic assistance.
“Once Lagos is given that one per cent, we hope that it will enhance the status and pride of Nigeria. The government of Lagos State is doing well.”
