Sanwo-Olu: One week and the different faces of a single development challenge

By DAVID OWENS There was a common thread running through several of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s engagements in the last week of October: the future of Lagos and the resources required to build it. It was not immediately obvious from the variety of events he attended. Indeed, anyone following the governor’s activities from Monday, October 26, to Saturday, October 31, might have been struck first by their diversity.

There was an economic summit, a women’s conference, an international business gathering, meetings with development partners, a political manifesto unveiling, a medical centenary, an education award ceremony, a bankers’ investiture and a fashion show. Yet, beneath the differences in setting and audience, several of these engagements raised essentially the same questions.

How does Lagos attract investment? How does it translate infrastructure development into economic opportunity? How can public policy improve the conditions under which businesses and individuals operate? And how can a government prepare its institutions for the demands of a rapidly expanding metropolis? These were among the questions that gave coherence to an otherwise unusually crowded week.

At the 32nd Nigerian Economic Summit in Abuja on Monday, Sanwo-Olu approached Nigeria’s economic challenges from the standpoint of regional integration and trade. His contribution centred on the opportunities offered by the African Continental Free Trade Area, the importance of functioning trade corridors and the infrastructure necessary to facilitate commerce.

For Lagos, these were not abstract economic propositions. A state with major ports, extensive commercial activity and growing industrial corridors has a direct interest in the efficiency of national transport infrastructure and cross-border trade. Sanwo-Olu argued that better roads, railways, electricity, broadband connectivity and logistics systems were essential to improving competitiveness.

The significance of that position becomes clearer when considered alongside his activities two days later. At the Nigerian-British Chamber of Commerce executive business breakfast in Lekki on Wednesday, the governor returned to the subject of investment, this time with the future of Lagos itself as the centrepiece. The gathering, themed The Future of Lagos: Business, Investment and Global Competitiveness, brought him into direct conversation with investors and private-sector operators.

He spoke about the state’s long-term development plan, the expansion of rail transportation through the Blue and Red Lines, infrastructure improvements and the movement of certain government services onto digital platforms. These investments, he argued, formed part of the foundation for a more competitive economy. But the discussion also illustrated the distance between ambition and implementation.

Investors are concerned not only with major infrastructure projects but also with administrative efficiency, operating costs, land processes and the reliability of public services. For a state seeking to sustain its commercial position, those everyday concerns are as important as headline investment figures. The day’s subsequent engagements extended the conversation beyond domestic business interests.

At Lagos House, Marina, Sanwo-Olu met Christophe Lecourtier, Chief Executive Officer of the French Development Agency, to discuss continuing cooperation on transportation development. Among the projects under consideration was OMI-EKO, designed to improve water transportation and introduce modern electric ferries into the state’s transport network.

The implications extend beyond the transportation sector. A city where workers and goods move more predictably has an economic advantage over one repeatedly constrained by congestion. The governor also received senior executives of international shipping company CMA CGM, whose operations are linked to the Lekki Deep Sea Port. He encouraged the company to deepen its investment and place greater emphasis on developing Nigerian talent.

Such discussions are important because large infrastructure investments are not automatically synonymous with broad economic participation. Their wider benefits depend partly on employment, local capacity, supplier networks and the ability of smaller businesses to participate. By Wednesday, the economic conversation begun in Abuja had moved through international trade, transportation, maritime investment and the practical concerns of local businesses.

It would return on Saturday. At the Fellowship Investiture of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria, Sanwo-Olu challenged financial institutions to put their enhanced capital positions to productive use. Against the background of banking recapitalisation, he argued that stronger financial institutions should translate into greater support for manufacturing, agriculture, industrial projects and small businesses.

The governor identified affordable long-term credit as a major requirement for busine