By Kolawole Ojebisi
Lagos State Deputy Governor, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat, has confirmed the cosmopolitan status of Lagos by disclosing that at least 6,000 people flock to the State on a daily basis with about 3000 of them staying back with no known addresses.
Hamzat noted that the influx of people from various parts of the country and beyond into the state puts strain on the state’s annual budget.
He said the budget of the state which is around N2.2 trillion, an equivalent of $1.3bn is not commensurate with its estimated population of 27million people.
Hamzat noted that the budget of New York State, which has a status similar to that of Lagos, is $237bn as of 2023 with a population of just 19.5m.
The deputy governor spoke on Friday during the 2024 Annual Directors Conference Dinner tagged, “Business Meets Government Dinner.”
Hamzat represented the State Governor , Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, at the dinner chaired by Justice Amina Adamu Augie, retired Justice of the Supreme Court.
The deputy governor who noted that the state cannot stop the influx of people into its territory, however, stressed that the population explosion has put pressure on the state’s annual budget.
He said the challenges facing Nigeria could be traced to the collapse of the family unit, reiterating that many women had turned to widows not on account of the demise of their husbands but because they had been left to cater for their children alone.
He said, “The budget of Lagos 2024 is N2.3 trillion. Now the next one is Rivers, N700bn, look at the gap. But that N2.2 trillion is $1.3bn. The budget of New York State with population of 19.2m as at 2023, the budget is $237bn.
“The budget of Lagos with 27m people and counting because every day over 6000 will come in and only about 3000 will go back with no known address. So it keeps increasing because people want to live a good life. You can’t blame them for that. But our budget is $1.3bn, the highest in the country.
“The next one is less than half, it is about one-third which is Rivers but the budget of the State of New York with less population (19m) is $237bn.”
The Deputy Governor said his study indicated that there were 130,000 wives whose husbands have abdicated their duty of catering for the family.
He added: “So a lot of times you receive text. I keep receiving text, I need help, I am a widow. So I was now wondering how many widows we have in Lagos.
“What did we find out? There are widows but the husbands are still living. As at the last count when I said enough, we had 138,000 women. The high percentage, the men just leave. So a man has a wife with three children, four children, five children and you just leave. So those are the problems in this country. If we don’t solve the family unit, nothing will work.”
According to him, the budget of Children Protective Service in New York alone is $5.5bn bigger than the budget of Lagos, Rivers, Oyo, Ondo, Ogun and Katsina.
“Out of that $237, $5.5bn is just to make sure that the children don’t get abandoned. If you can’t take care of those children, they will take them from you,” he added.
Hamzat told captains of industries, government officials and participants at the dinner to clean their corners.
“We don’t hold ourselves accountable. We all criticise other sectors. As a professor, how is it that our girls are complaining that in order to get marks, you need to harass them? So you should solve your own problem. Clean your own environment. So if we all clean our environments, this country would be great,” he stated.
