Why Nigeria's plans for a dream Eldorado (Eko
Atlantic) city are not radical Enough
Gbenga Oduntan is a Senior Lecturer in
International Commercial Law at University of Kent. CNN is showcasing the work
of The Conversation, a collaboration between
journalists and academics to provide news analysis and commentary. The content
is produced solely by The Conversation.
(CNN)The
government of the state of Lagos -- Nigeria's former capital -- has proudly
proclaimed it is building a new city that will become the new financial center
of Nigeria, and perhaps West Africa. The scale of the Eko Atlantic project is
immense and progress is being achieved through a team effort between investors,
planners, engineers and contractors.
Pitched as Africa's answer to Dubai, Eko
Atlantic is a multibillion dollar residential and business
development that is located as an appendage to Victoria Island, and along the
renowned Bar Beach shoreline in Lagos. The plan is that it will:
- Consist of ten square kilometers (3.86 square miles) of land reclaimed from the Atlantic Ocean
- Be home to quarter of a million people and employ a further 150,000 people who will commute on daily basis
- Be billed as a 24-hour, green-conscious, world-class city; and
- Attract and retain top multinational corporations
There is no shortage of doubters and critics of
the initiative, which is seen as an exercise in runaway neoliberalism by a
country that cannot even ensure 30 days of continuous power supply to its
citizens. The truth, however, is that Lagos deserves its dream Eldorado and the
economic case for Eko Atlantic is sound.
The only problem is that the plans are in fact
not radical enough. Our argument is that this project is under-imagined and
should be shored up urgently to match other international projects in the
fast-developing countries. In particular, we believe a city should be created
along the lines of Paul Romer's charter city.
These are cities in which the governing system is defined by the city rather
than by state, provincial, regional or national laws.
This would mean that Eko Atlantic city would
operate under high standards of transparency and good governance. Its security
would be handled by independent policing standards. This could extend to other
aspects of its civil and criminal justice systems. Its sanitary, health, energy
supplies, environment and other regulatory rules should be pegged with
comparable standards in London, New York, Paris, Dubai and Shanghai.
This would ensure that the laws under which the
territory operates are, in essence, free of stifling national regulation which
has stood in the way of most African cities operating at optimal levels.
A
model for good governance
At the moment, all aspects of the planning and
building of the Eko Atlantic city are squarely in the hands of the private
sector involving both local and foreign venture capitalists. Those already on
board include local and international banks -- First Bank, FCMB, Access Bank
Plc. and GT Bank in Nigeria, BNP Paribas Fortis and KBC Bank -- as well as a
growing number of private investors.
The recent inauguration of a new governor for
Lagos, West Africa's mega-city with close to 18 million residents, presents a
further opportunity to rejig plans and boldly move towards chartered city
status.
Rather than just becoming a financial venture,
the Eko Atlantic experiment can be carried further at no extra cost to become
the hub to transform good governance in Nigeria and West Africa. Already Lagos
is the gold standard for other parts of the Nigerian federation. In 2012, it
generated annual revenue of about US$1 billion, dwarfing that of the other 35
federating parts of Nigeria.
If Eko Atlantic city is competently handled by
world experts in the legal economic and industrial fields, returns to Lagos
economy can easily double.
Bad systems and rules are the reason most
African cities do not attract much-needed international investment at
appropriate levels. Bad rules have tied down the development of Lagos along
with 1000 other African cities since their independence from colonialism. These
include corruption, mismanagement, political interference, unresponsiveness,
overbearing religiosity, nepotism, human rights abuses and incompetent presence
of the state.
Presently, the judiciary, health and
administrative systems of most Nigerian cities have severe problems. Lagos is
no different even though it is still far ahead of the other 34 states and
federal capital territories. Eko Atlantic ought, therefore, to provide a petri
dish to run a very new kind of African city.
Constellation
of Nigerian politics is aligned
Lagos will have to work with the federal
government to be able to create a special zone of reform. The arrangements will
require further delegation of control to Lagos state, which will in turn give
up powers to the regulatory authorities of the chartered Eko Atlantic city.
Such arrangements and concessions should be
easier now as the constellations have aligned for the first time in Nigerian history.
The Lagos state is now run by the same government and party that rule the
country. This arrangement will allow Lagos to make more credible promises to
investors across the world.
There will be a mutual benefit of exchange in
favor of investors, employers, residents, the state and the country. In a
depressed international economy, such a city would attract the qualified, the
brave and the adventurous from the entire globe.
African countries sorely need a skilled
workforce from the developed world to fill hi-tech employment and service
industries that will fuel growth in the 21st century.
There are successful comparable projects across the developing world.
The Chinese government, seeing the tremendous success that different rules made
of Hong Kong, wisely created special zones offering tax and tariff incentives.
There is the phenomenon of medical cities that
are scattered in many regions of Saudi Arabia. Dubai is a beacon of success and
Abu Dhabi is already closely following these examples with its bold creation of
the Abu Dhabi Global Market established on Al Maryah Island.
This is the latest United Arab Emirate creation
of a financial free zone based on a separate jurisdiction. Honduras is also
currently involved in the creation of such high-quality, liveable cities.
It
can be done
It is certain that the proposed changes will
generate controversy. Nationalist feelings against this proposal may run high.
But this problem is not insurmountable.
Former U.S. President Ronald Reagan allowed
himself the luxury of only one decorative plaque on his desk in the Oval Office
as president. It read: "It can be done."
The current governor of Lagos, Akinwunmi Ambode,
will do himself and nearly everyone a great deal of good if he gets himself a
similar plaque to remind him of the golden opportunity the Eko Atlantic City
represents in his hands.
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