An estimated 1,200 people enter Lagos State every day in search of greener pastures; and the mega city welcomes them with open arms, swelling a population projected by the UN to hit 23 million inhabitants in 2015.
In a nation where one out of every four youths are unable to find work, the overpopulation of Lagos seems a pointer to chaos. However, the state has been able to turn this seeming disadvantage to a strength by progressive policies that have created millions of jobs for its inhabitants and thus grow its economy.
Via various initiatives, the state has created opportunities for its millions of inhabitants to make a living and contribute to the building of necessary infrastructure for a successful mega city.
Channels of job creation
An aggressive public private partnership (PPP) has resulted in the creation of welcome services needed to cater for the huge population of the mega city; resulting in the ripple effect of the creation of jobs for this population and the attendant stimulating effects on the economy.
Prior to 1999, the preponderance of street urchins, popularly known as area boys, in Lagos was alarming. While this menace has not been eradicated completely, there have been a remarkable rehabilitation of these boys and their subsequent reintegration into society as law-abiding tax payers. The magic was in getting jobs created for them.
The Lagos Ministry of Youth, Sports, and Social Development and the Job Creation Department of the Ministry of Special Duties, ensure that these youths are reformed in the various rehabilitation and skills acquisition centres in the state; and they graduate from the centres to become engaged in various jobs.
Glance box on the rehabilitation process.
Apply at the Lagos Ministry of Youth, Sports, and Social Development.
For drug addicts, they will get detoxified at the Majidun and Isheri rehab centres.
For three years, they will be taught various skills under an informal education system.
After graduation, they will receive equipment for their specialized field of endeavour and a N10, 000 grant from the state government.
Some of them might be employed by the state government under various schemes like the Drain Duck project of the Ministry of Environment, the BRT scheme of LAMATA, various agricultural programmes of the state government, etc.
Another popular channel is the state’s PPP initiative in the waste management sector. The Lagos State Waste Management Agency (LAWMA), a player and regulator in the sector, has performed remarkably well in establishing an enviable waste management regime in the state that has resulted in the creation of hundreds of thousands of direct and indirect jobs in waste evacuation, administration, manufacturing of waste collection containers, etc. The scheme has become so popular that it made history for producing trained female waste truck drivers and has been consulted by several countries in the continent.
Other laudable similar initiatives include in the area of traffic management (LASTMA), roads management, mass transportation (BRT scheme), power (IPPs), malls, and the ongoing light rail mass transit (LRMT) and Eko Atlantic schemes. These and more have contributed, and will contribute, to millions of direct and indirect jobs in the state.
Economic benefits
Internally generated revenue in Lagos State moved from N600 million monthly in 1999 to N20.5 billion in 2013, making the state the only in the country that can, and has, survived without the federal allocation. The bulk of this remarkable revenue base comes from taxes.
Financial experts agree that this serves as the ultimate reflection of social statistics in terms of education, entrepreneurial activities, the development of businesses and the development of commerce and industries in the state.
With the success of these various PPP initiatives, which has resulted in appreciable returns for investors and more efficient services for the state’s residents, more foreign investment is expected to continue pouring into the state as opportunities in power supply, mass housing, water supply and others open up. The result would be the creation of more jobs for the state’s bulging population.
Putting food on the table
Whenever 27-year-old Folakemi Shodiya gets behind the wheels of her shiny-new refuse disposal truck, she wears a broad smile knowing that she has scored a point for feminism.
“I really have interest in driving, and when I saw that LAWMA was advertising for women drivers, I grabbed the chance,” she said. “I am now happy that whenever people see me driving, they are very surprised and also pleased that a woman is behind the wheels.”
Nine years ago, Musiliu Akanbi was living on the streets, hooked on Indian hemp, and afflicted with staphylococcus. He was the quintessential street urchin or ‘agbero.’
Today, he is cured of his substance addictions, although he still smokes a cigarette or two; shares a bedroom apartment with a second cousin; earns a living as a BRT ticketer; and pays his tax. The young immigrant from Ekiti State, in his early 30s, is now a respectable law abiding citizen.
“I am ashamed of the kind (of) life that I was living before,” he said. “But, now I thank God that I am a changed person. I also thank the governor (Babatunde Fashola) for making it possible for me to become a new person.”
The All Progressives Congress (APC) government in Lagos State has been widely commended both internally and externally for an aggressive jobs creation strategy that has also been replicated in other states in the country under APC rule. With insufficient jobs touted as Nigeria’s biggest problem, keen political pundits predict a nationwide application of these strategies by the APC as voters elect new leaders in early 2015.
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