Managing a mega-city: learning the lessons from Lagos

Africa is urbanizing at a remarkable rate, generating a host of new challenges for those in charge of its towns and cities. This paper assesses the potential for local and regional governments to implement innovative solutions to the demands of managing urban spaces through a case study of the much talked about case of Lagos state in Nigeria. Drawing on over 100 elite interviews and a representative panel survey of Lagosians, we explain how political leaders at the sub-national level were able to embark on a process of impressive statebuilding and institutional transformation. More specifically, the article develops a comparative analysis of the tax and transport sectors to identify the conditions required for sub-national innovation, demonstrating how federal democracy, strong economic potential, political competition, the ability to mobilize public support, and elite commitment to build a functional mega-city combined to enable state-level politicians to overcome a number of potential barriers to reform. While this suggests that empowering regional and local actors can facilitate more responsive and effective government, we argue that the necessary conditions for sub-national statebuilding are rare and can only be found in a small number of African states. As a result, the lessons from Lagos cannot easily be applied elsewhere.