Sanwo-Olu says Abuja politicians won't back Lagos special status

Lagos Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has said politicians in Abuja are unwilling to grant the state the special status it has long asked for, even though he accepts the federal government is helping Lagos in other ways.

He spoke at the Financial Times Africa Summit in London at the weekend, according to accounts of his remarks published by Arise News and The Whistler.

Sanwo-Olu said Lagos deserves to be treated differently from other states because it was once the country's capital and remains its commercial centre, and because people from every ethnic group live there.

But he said the resistance is political. "We have talked about Lagos being given a special status but constitutionally, the politicians in Abuja will never let that happen," he said, adding that talks were continuing.

What Lagos is asking for

Asked whether President Bola Tinubu, who governed Lagos before moving to Abuja, was doing enough for the state, Sanwo-Olu said the conversation was ongoing and that he could not claim the federal government was doing nothing.

He said Lagos used to be the country's administrative headquarters before Abuja took over, and that while help is coming, "it could be a bit more."

Money is at the centre of the request. Sanwo-Olu said a large share of the value-added tax (VAT) pooled nationally is collected in Lagos, and that the state should keep earning more from it. VAT is the tax added to goods and services, and its national pool is shared among the three tiers of government.

For ordinary Lagos residents, how that pool is shared feeds into what the state can spend on roads, transport, schools and health services in a city of more than 20 million people.

Sanwo-Olu also pointed to federal projects he said are helping. He said the 70-kilometre Lagos stretch of the coastal road is largely finished, and that the planned Sokoto-Badagry superhighway, with a network of 250 dams for irrigation and farming, could bring more food into Lagos.

On electricity, he said reforms under Tinubu have let states take a bigger role in generating and distributing power. Lagos has set up its own electricity regulator and signed about 22 public-private partnership deals, he said, aimed at adding 2,000 megawatts within three years.

He also said talks on state policing are continuing, and that he hopes a constitutional amendment will let states do more on security.

What happens next

Changing Lagos's status or how VAT is shared would need political agreement and, in some cases, changes to the constitution, which Sanwo-Olu said would take time. He said the federal government is listening, but gave no timeline for any decision.