Opinion!!! The Reno Omokri Series (16)

By Reno Omokri

To put some perspective on the economy of Lagos, understand that the largest open air markets in Lagos were closed recently for some time due to filth, squalor, and other environmental issues. And guess what? The economy of Lagos continued to thrive. Lagos’s economy did not collapse!

Coincidentally, the closure period came at the same time as when the National Bureau of Statistics released last week, the Internally Generated Income of each state and region of the federation of Nigeria. Lagos alone generates more internally generated income than any region in Nigeria. Lagos generates even more than three regions combined.

And where is this income being generated from? Not from markets and traders. Please do not be mad at me. I am merely being guided by the NBS figures. Yes, traders contribute their quota, but it is minimal. And more to the point, it is sometimes harmful to the local economy, because when you sell imported goods and services, you are actually destroying the local economy and sending made in Nigeria money abroad.

According to the NBS, the bulk of Lagos’s income comes from the manufacturing sector at Ikeja, Oshodi-Isolo, Iganmu, Apapa, Yaba, and Gbagada. Next comes the service sector, which includes banks, telecommunications, and oil firms, which, while not operating in Lagos, are headquartered there.

So, please let us allow facts to guide us before making such fallacious, shallow and unfounded claims that ‘we built Lagos’ and ‘without us, Lagos economy will crumble’. Do note that Lagos had its highest internal Gross Domestic Product growth between 1969-1972. Please fact-check me. That alone should tell you something.

It is not that Lagos cannot do without some of us. Rather, it is more accurate to say that some of us cannot do without Lagos. According to data, not according to me.

Oya, insult!

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