Col. Tony Nyiam (Retd.), spoke candidly how Lagos State is being cheated for years by the federal government. “When we use the word, structure, people think about different things. What we are saying in effect is do we have an appropriate political, economic structure on which our country is built? Nigeria is another structural, political-economic injustice whose reverberations stifle our development. The present lopsided macro-political-economic structure, which the elected civilian governments inherited from rogue military dictators is urgently in need of the restoration of balance of power and fairness. This must at the minimum, be resolved to what was obtainable prior to 1969 when they led the military, for the benefit of their kith and kin to replace the 1963 Federal Constitution with Acts and military decrees that were aimed at undermining and subverting the tenets of federalism.”

“Take for instance, Lagos State, which has always been, and still is more populated than the old Kano State (now inflated into two states of Jigawa with 26LGAs, and Kano with 42LGAs) has only 20 LGAs. In other words, Lagos that produces over 75% of non- oil related revenue, and of the total country-wide VAT collection has 48 local governments avenue for getting federal funding less than the old Kano State. To correct the existing injustice, Lagos State needs at least additional 48 LGAs, three additional senatorial districts and a corresponding number of Federal House of Representatives constituencies.”

– Culled from The SUN