Lagos State Deputy Governor and All Progressives Congress governorship candidate, Dr. Kadri Obafemi Hamzat, says sustaining Lagos’ development will require deeper public-private collaboration, expansion of the revenue base and protection of existing infrastructure investments.
Hamzat spoke on Wednesday at the Exclusive Investment Parley with Dr. Kadri Obafemi Hamzat organised by Aztran Company at The Art Hotel, Oniru, Victoria Island. He said governance is more complex than running a private business because government cannot choose who it serves. Comparing the state’s ₦4.4 trillion budget to New York City’s $109 billion budget, he said Lagos must prioritise sustaining what it has built.
He cited the rollout of 11 Oracle Enterprise Resource Planning modules which improved financial accountability, eliminated ghost workers and blocked revenue leakages, as well as the state’s delivery of major infrastructure including rail lines despite limited resources, as evidence of capacity to deliver.
On waste management, Hamzat said government is reviewing the collection model to ensure Private Sector Participants, PSPs, are paid directly by government rather than relying on collections from residents, while maintaining subsidies to address rising operational costs.
Earlier, Co-Managing Partner of Aztran, Victor Aluyi, said Lagos with an estimated $260 billion GDP as Africa’s second largest city economy cannot fund its infrastructure needs in mass transit, power, housing and waste management from budget alone, noting that Nigeria’s non-pension asset management industry grew from ₦10.1 trillion in 2024 to ₦16.5 trillion in 2025 and must be channelled into bankable projects through policy consistency, transparency and risk-sharing.
Mr. Olayemi Agbe-Davies said broadening and simplifying the tax system would expand revenue and improve investor confidence ahead of the 2027 governorship election.
