Daniel Bwala, Special Adviser to Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has defended the Federal Government’s huge allocations and infrastructural investments in Lagos State.
Speaking on Arise TV, Bwala insisted that the country’s economic survival depends largely on the city, which he described as the pride and beacon of Nigeria’s growth.
He argued that the concentration of federal projects in Lagos should not be viewed as lopsided but as a deliberate strategy to strengthen Nigeria’s economic hub.
Drawing parallels with global financial centres, he pointed out that London attracts more investment than the rest of England, New York outweighs other American states, and Paris leads in France’s economy.
According to him, the state, being the commercial nerve centre of Nigeria, requires more federal support to sustain its role as the nation’s economic driver.
“Whatever it benefits, benefits the country,” Bwala said, stressing that infrastructure in the state serves as a springboard for national development.
“Lagos is a no-man’s land. Lagos is the hub of Nigeria. Lagos is the pride of the country. Lagos is the beacon of economic growth of the country,” he added.
He dismissed criticisms that the Tinubu administration was unduly concentrating federal resources in the state, insisting that Lagos’ growth benefits the entire federation.
Bwala’s description of the state as a “no-man’s land” also echoes a historical remark by Jaja Anucha Wachuku, Nigeria’s first indigenous Speaker of the House of Representatives and inaugural Minister of Foreign Affairs.
In 1947, Wachuku used the phrase during constitutional debates under British colonial rule to describe Lagos as the Federal Capital Territory at the time.
Wachuku, an Igbo statesman from Abia State, argued then that the state, as the national capital, belonged to all Nigerians rather than any single ethnic group.
He emphasised its role as a neutral, shared space amid regional divisions a context Bwala reevoked while justifying why it remains central to Nigeria’s economic planning today.
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