Lagos and homeless 70

The ‘Onitsha 70’ saga is only the symptom of wrong-headed federalism

THE news that the Lagos State government dumped 70 beggars of South East origin at Onitsha, Anambra State, has upset many, especially Nigerians from that part of the country. That development is unfortunate and should be decried. Inasmuch as Lagos faces the dire prospect of its facilities being over-run by economic migrants from other parts of the country, the solution is certainly not dumping citizens in their suspected places of origin as it was the case with these 70 beggars. Yet, the Lagos action and the consequent emotional angst are only mere symptoms. The real challenge is to locate the real problem; and solve it, once and for all, to avert a future recurrence. To do this however, both the Lagos State government and the aggrieved citizens must quit the emotional game. To start with, the ‘Onitsha 70’ was not the first case of Lagos destitute shipped back to their states. There were earlier reported cases of 160 “northern beggars”; and even Yoruba hinterland destitute sent to Oyo State. These were very drastic actions, no doubt. But the rational reasons that fuel it must be tackled: an economic pull that though drags virtually the whole of Nigeria to Lagos, while Lagos in return is not equipped to cope with the flood. That is the crux of the matter. Because Nigeria’s federation is structured on elite consumption and hardly productivity, there is little or no attempt to create economic hubs all over the country. In the absence of that, there is always the long treasure pilgrimage to Lagos. Lagos, to the bulk of deprived Nigerians, is the magic city that solves all economic problems. But that grand illusion to economic migrants is dire straits to the government, as it tries to manage its limited facilities, stretched to breaking point, to cope with the explosion. Indeed, it is a grand failure of state in which Lagos is as much a victim as the destitute it expels. Destitute streams into Lagos because of little or no opportunities in their locale, leaving their home government free of their woes. Lagos, on the other hand, picks up the extra burden when its burden is crushing enough, as it is. Meanwhile, the Federal Government, in Nigeria’s skewed federation, sits on idle funds better needed in the states to avert the migration catastrophe that Lagos faces. Meanwhile, when Abuja was decided on as the new federal capital, Gen. Murtala Muhammed, the then military head of state, made a firm pledge that special provision would be made for Lagos, because of its peculiar status as the nation’s economic capital. But that has been observed in the breach as even extant federal infrastructure in Lagos has progressively decayed with almost no hope of resuscitation. Even value-added tax, the consumption tax, the bulk of which is generated in Lagos, is redistributed with a skewed formula that prevents the state from benefiting from its own tax sweat. To prevent future recurrence of destitute expulsion therefore, the Nigerian federation must, as a matter of urgency, be restructured. But that is in the long run. In the short run, the country must give Lagos special funds to cope with the extra burden it carries. Also, state governments whose natives stream into Lagos must wake up to their responsibilities. It is ingenious, to say the least, to pass your due burden to a sister state and yet mount the mountain tops to scream when that sister throws back at you your original problems. So, a tri-partite – Lagos, Federal Government and other states – initiative is called for to think of equipping Lagos for its extra burdens, while also trying hard to reduce the influx of migrants by creating economic opportunities in other parts of the country.