The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry says that the unintended consequences of rapid population growth pose risk to the economic potential of the heart of Africa’s center of commerce – Lagos Island.
Other aspects to note are urbanization, relentless demands for infrastructure, and increasing demand for quality education services and healthcare.
The LCCI President, Asiwaju Michael Olawale-Cole, said this on Wednesday during his opening remarks at the Lagos Island economic summit webinar.
Olawale-Cole noted that Lagos Island was pivotal to trade and commerce in Nigeria as a huge volume of commercial and financial business was carried out daily in the central business district situated on the Island.
He said, “The extensive and daily money-making activities have, over time, accelerated the transition of the Island from a mere trade point to a commercial nerve center. This underscores its immense potential along with the key structural components of the Nigerian economy, especially in distributive trade, real estate, transportation, logistics, tourism, and hospitality sectors.
“However, as the economic assets of the metropolitan mega-city increase by leaps and bounds, unintended consequences of rapid population growth, urbanization, relentless demands for infrastructure, increasing demand for quality education services, and healthcare are common realities.
As it is, the economic growth of Lagos Island is outpaced by the geometric increase in the population size.”
