Unless
Lagos is accorded its well-deserved special status in Nigeria as has been
advocated in recent times, it would be increasingly difficult for the state to
continue to play its role as the economic and socio-cultural epicentre of the
federation.
Olasupo
Shasore, a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and former Lagos State
attorney-general and commissioner for justice, stated this in an exclusive
interview with BusinessDay at the weekend.
Shasore,
who spoke extensively on his new book entitled ‘Possessed – A History of Law
and Justice in the Crown Colony of Lagos, 1861-1906’, said it was getting more
and more difficult for Lagos to sustain its crucial role in Nigeria because of
the rate of migration into the state occasioned by the abundance of opportunities
or the relative presence of opportunities, infrastructure and gainful
livelihood in the state.
“It
is a serious burden on the
infrastructure of Lagos; it is a burden on the
resources available as a result of increasing population. The population of
Lagos in 1850 was about 20,000; in 2014, it is 20 million without any
additional economic support from the central pool of resources that this
country has,” he said.
“The
attitude of treating all states and all areas of Nigeria the same way without
looking at our comparative advantages and supporting them is going to make it
difficult for Lagos to sustain that special role in Nigeria’s today,” he added.
Shasore
said colonial Lagos had a lot of lessons to teach modern-day Nigeria,
particularly in the area of unity.
“There
was unity irrespective of what the origins of the Lagosians of the time were;
that unity was what allowed them to survive the exercise of colonisation. The
lack of sub-ethnic nationalities, the lack of prejudices, discriminations and
bigotry in colonial Lagos is a lesson that modern-day Nigeria can learn. The
phrase that I like is that there was unity in their diversity in those days. In
Nigeria today, we need to take a leaf from that,” he said.
On
the central message of the book, Shasore said he hoped the book would have more
than one message, adding, however, that essentially he wanted to emphasise the
uniqueness of Lagos, the fact that its contribution to the creation of Nigeria
could no longer be glossed over.
“There
were two events in Lagos without which there might not be any Nigeria today. If
the Lagos colony had not been established in 1861, if Lagos had not been
attacked, bombarded during the five-year war, maybe there might not be any
Nigeria today. So when we say that Lagos is unique, it is not because we are
seeking for people to accept us, we are making a statement of historical fact
that Lagos is special, a consequence of its status,” he said.
“So
when we agitate in modern-day Nigeria that the special status of Lagos be accorded
certain economic privilege, certain economic support for its contribution and
place within the Nigerian economy and within Nigeria’s socio-cultural context,
that is the reason. And I hope that this book will assist people to appreciate
that it is not just a whimsical statement; it is actually a statement based on
a lot of contexts and a lot of circumstances that can no longer be changed,” he
added.
Businessday
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