‘Lagos Controls Over 90% of Nigeria’s Forex Inflows’

• ‘Lagos Controls Over 90% of Nigeria’s Forex Inflows’

The Lagos State Government has said it controls over 90 per cent of foreign exchange inflows into the country.

The Commissioner for Finance, Mr. Akinyemi Ashade, said this in a presentation made to capital market stakeholders in Lagos titled: ‘Funding Lagos State Government’s Economic Agenda through Debt Capital Market’.

He said with over 23 million residents, Lagos was now the most populous city in Africa.

Ashade described the city as Africa’s fastest growing market and the fifth largest economy on the continent, contributing over 30 per cent of Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product.

“Lagos State accounts for over 90 per cent of Nigeria’s forex inflows,” he stated.

He added, “We have explosive increase in population at five per cent per annum; 123,000 people migrate to Lagos daily.

“Current demand for trips in Lagos metropolitan area by all modes (including walking) is approximately 18 million per day, with over seven million public transport passenger trips per day.

“The rapid increase in population and standard of living is forecasted to bring the daily demand for trips to approximately 30 million per day by 2020.”

According to him, 10,000 metric tonnes of waste are generated daily in the state, and the state is by far the largest consumer of power in Nigeria as the Ikeja and Eko distribution zones alone account for over 50 per cent of the total electricity consumption in the country.

On the immediate financing need of the state, he said Lagos’ 2017 budget had N500bn ($1.6bn) as capital expenditure.

The commissioner explained, “Infrastructure needs analysis shows that over $30bn will be required to achieve the 30 most impactful projects over the next five years (an average of $6bn per annum).”