Defining Lagos: The King’s College Debate

Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, last Friday, spoke at the King’s College in London, during the Africa Week, organised by the African Leadership Centre – a moment that gave rise to a redefinition of governance in the state, reports Olawale Olaleye.

Two days earlier, at Harvard, the United States, the Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, had taken part in a panel discussion, dissecting trending economic and development issues as they pertained to Lagos State, and Nigeria as well as the connection with the world. This was Wednesday, March 3, 2026.

However, on Friday, March 6, Sanwo-Olu was again at the King’s College in London, to deliver a keynote address titled: “Exercising Agency Beyond the Nation-State” at the Bush House, Central Block.

Beyond the razor-sharp speech was the intentionality behind the marketing of Lagos as the strength of Nigeria as he proudly and aptly put it. His points were direct, pungent and penetrating.

Justifying the mindset that has been largely responsible for his success as governor, Sanwo-Olu said one of his instructive take-off points was because he knew ab initio that Lagos must be governed not as a problem to be managed, but as a platform to be unlocked.

This reality check, he explained, has helped to navigate through the difficult moments and assist to consolidate on some of the profound successes of the Lagos master plan in general.

Sanwo-Olu, who seized the Africa week platform to sell the state and his administration, explained further that, apart from Lagos being the most cosmopolitan urban city in the country, Nigeria equally derived its strength from the state.

According to him, the theme of the speech was both timely and important, because, “for a long time, much of the conversation about power, development and influence has been framed almost exclusively around national governments.”

Situating the topic in context, he said, “But the world we now inhabit is more layered than that. Increasingly, the places where the future is being negotiated in real time are not only capitals and parliaments, but cities. Cities are where demographic change becomes visible.

“They are where technology is tested. They are where climate pressures are felt first. They are where migration, creativity, commerce, inequality, innovation and identity all collide at once. And because of that, cities are no longer merely administrative units. They are strategic actors.”

Dwelling further on why Lagos mattered in the scheme of things, he said, “Lagos is not simply one state in a federation. Lagos is a living argument about African possibility. It occupies a very small fraction of Nigeria’s landmass, yet it has grown into one of the most economically consequential urban centres on the continent.

“By current estimates, Lagos is now Africa’s second-largest city economy, with GDP at roughly US$259 billion on a purchasing power parity basis.

“It remains Nigeria’s principal commercial gateway, a major destination for capital, enterprise, talent and ideas, and one of the clearest examples anywhere in Africa of how a sub-national government can shape not only local outcomes, but wider regional and global conversations.

“But Lagos is not important only because of its size. It is important because of what it represents. It is youthful. It is restless. It is diverse. It is globally connected. It is a city that absorbs people, ambition and pressure at extraordinary speed.

“We currently estimate a median age of just 23.5, a very large working-age youth population, strong female labour- force participation, and more than 2,000 new migrants arriving daily. Those numbers are not abstract.

“They mean that every day in Lagos, the demands on transport, housing, health systems, schools, security, the environment and jobs are renewed in real time. That is the context in which we govern.

“So, when we speak of agency in Lagos, we are not speaking in the abstract. We are speaking about the discipline of governing a city that does not pause for theory.

“We are speaking about the choice to act with intention rather than to surrender to scale. We are speaking about refusing the old assumption that African cities are merely sites of deficiency, congestion, informality and endless crisis.”

According to the Lagos governor, “My own conviction, since assuming office in 2019, has been that Lagos must be governed not as a problem to be managed, but as a platform to be unlocked.

“That is the spirit behind our development philosophy in Lagos, captured in our THEMES+ agenda. We needed an operating system that could hold together the complexity of a mega-city: transport and traffic management; health and environment; education and technology; making Lagos a 21st century megacity; environment and tourism; security and governance; and, importantly, social inclusion, gender equality and youth.

“This framework became even more necessary because Lagos, like many global cities, has had to confront overlapping shocks in recent years: the COVID-19 pandemic, rapid population expansion, rising climate risks and a very substantial infrastructure financing gap.

“One of the clearest expressions of urban agency is mobility. A city that cannot move people efficiently cannot unlock productivity, dignity or inclusion. That is why transport has been central to our work.

“In the years since 2019, Lagos has accelerated the building of a genuinely multimodal transport system. The Blue Line rail began passenger operations, the Red Line was inaugurated as a second intra-city rail corridor, and we have continued work around roads, bridges, bus reforms and water transport as part of a broader mobility architecture.”

Taken together, Sanwo-Olu added that, “Another reason Lagos is relevant to this conversation is that it demonstrates how policy and enterprise can reinforce each other. Lagos has emerged as the anchor of Nigeria’s startup landscape and one of the most dynamic technology ecosystems in the world.

“Lagos was recently ranked the world’s fastest-growing tech ecosystem, in that it hosts more than 2,000 startups, and has produced five unicorns across fintech and digital commerce.

“What this tells us is something profound: agency in the 21st century is not exercised only through ministries and memoranda. It is also exercised through enabling platforms, regulation, talent formation, connectivity, payments infrastructure and the confidence to let innovation scale.

“In Lagos, we have tried to create an environment where government does not suffocate enterprise, but rather clears a path for it. That same story is true in the creative economy. One of the great mistakes often made about African cities is to treat culture as an accessory rather than as economic infrastructure. Lagos teaches a different lesson.

“In Lagos, music is industry. Film is industry. Fashion is industry. Design is industry. Digital content is industry. Identity itself becomes productive capital.

“Nollywood’s scale, the density of production companies in Lagos, the global reach of our musicians, the visibility of our fashion ecosystem, and even new frontiers such as technology-themed filmmaking all point to a city in which creativity is not merely expressive, but developmental.

“This matters greatly in a world that is increasingly multipolar. Because influence today is not only military, diplomatic or financial. It is also narrative. It is cultural. It is technological.

“It is reputational. Cities that shape what people watch, wear, code, build, invest in and aspire toward are exercising real power. Lagos understands that. And this is why I often say that our cultural energy is not incidental to our development; it is one of the engines of it.”

Sanwo-Olu, therefore, inferred that, “So, when we speak of agency beyond the nation-state, let us not imagine something abstract or distant. Let us think instead of the everyday work of building cities that can carry the weight of the future.

“Let us think of transport systems that restore time to working people. Let us think of digital ecosystems that turn young talent into global enterprise. Let us think of creative industries that change how Africa is seen.

“Let us think of climate action that protects both lives and livelihoods. Let us think of governance that is close enough to feel the pressure and bold enough to answer it. That, for me, is the meaning of Lagos.”

Overall, the governor described Lagos as “a city still in motion, still under construction, still imperfect, but unmistakably alive to its possibilities. A city determined not merely to inherit the future, but to help shape it.

“A city demonstrating, in practical terms, that African transformation does not have to wait for permission from elsewhere. It can be designed, financed, built and lived from within.

“And if Lagos can continue to do that with courage, discipline and partnership, then it will not only transform itself. It will help expand the vocabulary of African agency for the world.”

Specifically answering questions on some of the policies of the government, especially the Makoko demolition, Sanwo-Olu traced public’s resentment to poor or limited communication by the government, which inadvertently paved the way for a misreading, often, of government’s actions and policies, no matter how well-intentioned.

His words: “I must admit that governments generally are poor communicators. Our inability to properly communicate our policies is why people misread and misunderstand them.”

According to him, decisions and actions of government were usually for the overall good of the people, but because government barely communicated them properly, people misread the good intentions behind them and tagged them inimical to their interest.

For a session moderated by the visiting professor at African Leadership Centre (ALC), Ambassador Manoah Esipisu, under the direct supervision of the Vice-President, International, Engagement and Service at the King’s College, Professor ‘Funmi Olonisakin, with many of their PhD students in attendance, Sanwo-Olu definitely had a premium platform to not just sell Lagos under his watch, but to also establish her distinct place in the federation.

With a topic directly related to his ongoing job of infrastructure renewal and how Lagos is mindful of the competition she is into, both locally and internationally, Sanwo-Olu knew from the get-go what his job entails and seemed equipped, even for its ancillary challenges.