Lagos and the rest of us

Following repeated violations of the abolition of slavery act by the ruling houses of Lagos, the British took the decision to annex Lagos into a crown colony in 1862. Ten years earlier in 1851 the British had bombarded the coastal city for the same reason and by this they thought the various ruling houses would learn a painful lesson and comply and desist from trading in Slaves for which Lagos along with Badagry, and the coastal areas of present day Benin and Togo was part of the territory notoriously known as the ‘’Slave Coast’’.

Among the prominent figures that featured in the succession struggles for the Lagos throne as well the slave trade was Efunroye Tinubu, an Owu-Egba woman of substance. She had made a name in Abeokuta through trading captives from Yewaland and Awori which she sold as slaves in Badagry. From Abeokuta she came to Lagos and wormed her away into the Lagos royalty by marriage, expanding her wealth and influence in the often topsy-turvy struggles between the ruling houses of Lagos.

At time of the British annexation of Lagos in 1861 and subsequent establishment of the British Colony of Lagos the following year, Madam Tinubu was the wealthiest woman arguably the single wealthiest individual in Lagos. She owned choice landed properties in the Marina area of Lagos including the site where the Central Bank building in Lagos is presently situated and adjoining areas up to Kakawa Street.

Madam Tinubu’s activities was one of the principal reasons why the British annexed Lagos as a Crown Colony in order to put a definitive stop to slave trading. But despite the bombing of Lagos, Madam Tinubu continued to trade with the Portuguese in defiance of the British.

As the debate on President Bola Tinubu’s Tax Reform Bill is trending currently, this background is necessary for us to unearth some of the well hidden issues and bring them to public discourse. If this is meant to be a pivotal, game changing bill in the annals of Nigerian fiscal history intended as its purveyors say, to launch Nigeria on the road to fiscal federalism, then it is pertinent for us as Nigerians to be appraised of the historical background of how Lagos which has been the greatest beneficiary of revenues generated in the country and which stands to benefit more from this bill evolved to this position.

Although the British made out that the reason for the establishment of Lagos as Crown Colony was to stop the trade in slaves, it was a ruse. As the first country to industrialise in the world, Britain needed more of raw materials to feed its industries. The abolition of slavery though a humanitarian canvassed by conscientious activists like William Wilberforce in Britain was actually a welcome opportunity to use machines more than humans for industrial production, and also to get much needed raw materials like cotton, palm oil, cocoa, groundnuts and minerals like tin, Columbite etc.

From reports about the existence of such bounties that could be found in the hinterland by their agents, the British came to focus more on acquisition of such commodities than on trade in slaves which they had been one of the more active participants and beneficiary for centuries.

The annexation of Lagos in 1862 fitted into the overarching plan. Lagos was to be the base from which the hinterland of Nigeria was to be conquered and raw materials and minerals acquired to be exported to Britain. Thus from 1862 right through to 1914 when it became the capital of the amalgamated colony of Nigeria and right up to date Lagos has been playing this role almost exclusively.

Down the years from 1862, Lagos has grown and benefitted not because it produces any of the primary products or minerals in the country but principally because it has been the main port for the export of cocoa, groundnut, tobacco, cotton, and minerals produced in the hinterland of Nigeria. And Lagos also benefits as the main port of import of goods from overseas into the hinterland.

The services and allied activities from this huge import-export business made Lagos into the wealthiest city in Nigeria and also one of the wealthiest in Africa.

The wealth of Lagos built largely on the taxable services of the import-export of commodities produced from the Nigerian hinterland and the expenditure of successive Nigerian governments on the city cumulatively results in the city being the beneficiary of about 60% of the total revenue in Nigeria.

We often talk about the injustice of the lop-sided structure of the legacy of British Colonial rule in Nigeria in terms of the political, geographical and population figures. True as this is, the decision to make a tiny enclave of Nigeria whose total land area is marginally larger than some local governments, which produces little or nothing of substantial commercial value but which has been skimming off the sweat of the produce of poor groundnut, Cocoa, Tobacco, Sesame seed farmers for over a century now, is the greatest lop-sided legacy of British colonial history in Nigeria.

Today Nigeria runs a two speed economy; one for Lagos and the other for the rest of the Country. When we talk of the IGR of Lagos we often conveniently forget that if we break it down realistically we are likely to find that 70-80% of the quantum is made up of the export-import of goods from hinterland Nigeria through Lagos.

President Tinubu’s tax reform bill provides the auspices for us to go further than tax revenues and consider the diversification of import-export in Nigeria.

Essentially the tax reform bill was crafted by people who have the mind-set of maintaining the Lagoscentric template that has given Lagos the exclusive advantages of tax and revenue retention in Nigeria over the years. Those who crafted the tax reform bill know that as long as Lagos continues to unjustly monopolise the import-export trade and ancillary activities in Nigeria majority of revenues raised within the country will almost certainly be retained in Lagos.

And one other factor that has been conveniently hidden in the tax bill is the possibility that the proposed National Revenue Service which will be saddled with collecting the taxes could just appoint ‘’consultants’’ in this regard. This will be a replica of what currently obtains in Lagos where a firm of tax ‘’consultants’’ had been retained over the years to collect tax revenues for a fee. Indeed this might just be the main consideration behind the bill whereby as in Lagos a tax consultant will ‘’assist’’ the NRS in collecting the humongous tax revenue accruing to the coffers of government.

Some practical suggestions to state governments who are now vehemently in opposition to President Tinubu’s tax reform bill is for such states to push vigorously for diversification of port services in Nigeria. The South East and South South states who contribute immensely to the import-export activities at the Lagos port could aim for the canalization of the Orashi River from Onitsha to Port Harcourt port making the former an inland port. A similar canal could also be constructed from Aba/Arochukwu using the old trade routes to Bonny or Onne ports.

The Northern states could also collectively fund the dredging of the River Niger to Baro from Onitsha. Alternatively the North East and North Central states could fund railway and expressway projects from Calabar or Port Harcourt ports carrying north bound goods to their northern destinations and vice-versa.

These projects are doable through private public sector initiatives; the Suez and Panama canals as well as the Manchester canals are prime examples of such. The dredging of the Rivers Danube and Rhine to aide inland transportation of goods and services across several land locked countries in Europe also comes to mind.

The continuing monopoly of Lagos port as the import-export of Nigeria is strategically, politically and economically dangerous. While considering the merits and demerits of the Tax Reform Bill we must also begin to think out of the box on this issue going forward as a country.

Gadu can be rached via [email protected] 08035355706 (texts only)