Ambode: $50bn No Longer Sufficient to Fix Lagos Infrastructure Deficits
By Gboyega Akinsanmi
Amid the shrinking revenues accruing to the state from the Federation Accounts, Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, Monday lamented the state’s infrastructure deficits, noting that $50 billion will no longer be sufficient to meet its infrastructure requirements.
Ambode specifically disclosed that recent studies showed that the state required a supply of at least 10,000 megawatts of electricity to effectively function contrary to the less than 2,000 megawatts the power distribution companies could supply to households in the state.
He made the disclosure at the 1st Lagos State Infrastructure Roundtable the state hosted in collaboration with the Harvard Business School Association of Nigeria (HBSAN) at Eko Suites and Hotels, thereby calling for strategic plan to fund the state’s infrastructure needs.
At the roundtable, Ambode explained that it had become imperative “to assess the state’s infrastructure deficits and take careful and deliberate actions to handle the challenges that face us as a state. We must take actions that will not only affect our livelihood today, but protect the future of our younger generationsâ€.
He therefore cited some compelling statistics, which according to him, made it imperative to decisively address diverse infrastructure challenges and deficits that face not only Lagos State, but other megacities across the world.
He cited the population of the state now estimated at 24 million, noting that the state “is on track to be a city of 36 million people or the sixth largest city in the world after Mumbai, Delhi, Dhaka, Kinshasa and Kolkata and ahead of Tokyo, Karachi, New York, and Mexico City by 2050â€.
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