A social media user, Dr D Udoh, has reignited the popular ‘no man’s land’ debate about the status of Lagos State with a controversial proposal.
Udoh suggested that Lagos should be adopted as the commercial capital of Nigeria, with the President appointing a minister to head the state, just like the Federal Capital Territory.
He argued that with the state’s standing among committees of states in Nigeria, it should be given a special status that includes protecting everyone’s interest.
But taking the debate to another height on Monday, Udoh in a series of posts on his X handle, @Udoh_D, listed five new proposals that should be adopted by the Federal Government to ensure Lagos achieves a special status.
He wrote, “Lagos State, by virtue of being a former capital of Nigeria and a commercial city that is cosmopolitan, should be granted a special status that achieves the following:
1. Protect the interest and strategic investment of all Nigerians that are domiciled in that state.
2. Decouple the state from ethno-religious politics and bigotry that could threaten the strategic position of the state as a melting pot for all Nigerians.
“A future president who is completely detribalised and not emotionally biased towards the politics of the state through legislation should sponsor a bill before the National Assembly that seeks to achieve the following:
(a) Completely and formally adopt Lagos State as a commercial capital of Nigeria
(b) Vest the powers in every elected President to appoint a minister for Lagos who will preside over the affairs of Lagos State just like the President currently appoints a Minister for the FCT
(c) Some headquarters or departments of Federal Government infrastructures and parastatals could be formally moved to Lagos.”
Countering his proposal, another social media user, @de_generalnoni, told Udoh to ask others to develop their states rather than strip Lagos of its constitutionally guaranteed status.
He wrote, “Only non-Yorubas are saying to this…. Doctor abeg delete this trash. How can you say people whose Lagos is their homeland should lose such? Never ever! Dead this agenda. Others should go and develop their states not put eyes on Lagos. Lagos is Yoruba land and will remain so!”
Responding, Udoh explained that his proposal was not to ensure Lagos is stripped off from the original indigenes who are Yoruba from South West.
“No, they won’t… the Yorubas that own Lagos, it’ll still be their ancestral home. Just like the Gbaygi’s and others still own Abuja,” he posited.
Sharing Udoh’s sentiment, @konibajeooo, wrote, “I would prefer replicating China (Deng Xioping) model of economic development via est of Special Economic Centres(SEZs). States having seaports and economically viable states such as Anambra, Imo, Oyo, Kano, Delta, Kaduna etc should be made SEZs to expedite economic development.”
Responding, Udoh said, “That can still be adopted in a restructured Nigeria. But the above suggestion is to make Abuja Nigeria’s political (official) capital and Lagos to be Nigeria’s economic capital. There are countries with multiple capitals, so it’s not a strange proposal.”
Not satisfied with his proposal, another X user, Yinka Oladejo, wrote, “We can start this experiment with Anambra or River state. Then spread it to other parts of Nigeria. Lagos shouldn’t be the first with everything. Thank you.”
Also, @abiolapharays, said, “All you guys do is to be disrespecting us. Abuja is the current capital, y’all should go there and continue from where you stopped with Lagos. The word cosmopolitan is extremely annoying to me.”
On his part, @AjiseAyode66166, wrote, “Instead of you to champion growth of other subnationals, you are instead interested in land grabbing. Let each state be developed at the same level and speed, enough of all this nonsense.”
Responding, Udoh said, “All these ‘Lagos Boys’ crying under my mention….did I burst a major artery? All the major oil companies in Nigeria are headquartered (sic) outside their (sic) production areas… and this govt is already introducing the decentralisation of FG offices and headquarters to Lagos. The presidential house in Dodan Barracks and VP residence were already captured in the budget for renovations to serve as the alternate presidential residence.
“So why are you crying at a proposal to formally adopt Lagos as one of the nation’s capitals. Multiple capitals aren’t a new concept; some countries have it….”
But reacting to the debate, the Lagos State Government explained that the proposal by Udoh remains a personal opinion.
Speaking with our correspondent during an interview on Wednesday, the Special Adviser, Media and Publicity to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Gboyega Akosile, said the proposal was against the status given to Lagos constitutionally.
He said, “That’s just the opinion of that person. I mean, is it a constitutional thing? The person only expresses his own opinion. Whoever is saying that is only expressing his personal opinion and it’s not a constitutional thing.
“Lagos is a state. It is one of the states listed in the constitution of Nigeria. I mean, the debate on whether Lagos should be like Abuja where the person at the central will appoint a minister to oversee its affairs is not constitutional.
“The special status that we, as a government, are clamouring for in Lagos is that the state should be treated like New York in the US. Lagos was a former capital city and there is so much left by the Federal Government to be handled by the state. So, this is like a heavy burden on the state.
“So, that is why people are clamouring for the state to get a special status whereby more resources should be given to Lagos in terms of revenue and to get a commensurate amount in allocation from the centre. So, that is the kind of special status we are talking about.”
On his part, a Lagos indigene from Lagos Island Local Government Area, Dr. Ganiyu Okunu, said the special status deserving of Lagos was that of economic advancement and not the one being proposed by Udoh.
He said the capital status given to Abuja was enough, and Lagos should only be supported by the central government to fully realise its economic potential.
“What I will want as a special status is for the Federal Government to grant more economic benefits to the state. Economic benefits in terms of meeting the developmental needs of the state.
“Yes, Lagos has indigenous populations and the state is also a home to a lot of non-indigenes and it is the economic capital of the nation. So, if there is anything the government should do, it is to provide more support to aid the development project of the state, that would be better,” Okunnu, who is a lecturer at the Lagos State University, told our correspondent in an interview.
Lagos – the nation’s economic and commercial capital – was created on May 27, 1967, by States Creation and Transitional Provisions Decree No. 14 of 1967 which restructured Nigeria’s Federation into 12 states.
Before this, Lagos Municipality was administered as a Federal Territory by the Federal Government through the Federal Ministry of Lagos Affairs as the regional authority, while the Lagos City Council governed the City of Lagos.
However, with the formal relocation of the seat of the Federal Government to Abuja on December 12, 1991, Lagos ceased to be Nigeria’s political capital.
There had been ongoing debates about the status of Lagos, particularly on social media, before and after the 2023 general elections, sparking ethics faceoff among the South West and South East people domiciled in Lagos.
While one party argued that Lagos should be home for all irrespective of ethnic leanings, Nigerians of South West extract insisted that despite its centrality, Lagos remains part of South West, with known indigenes and a distinct history.
