Lagos, Nigeria’s business nerve center and commercial capital of West Africa has every odd stacked against it yet it remains one of the most popular cities of the world. For anyone that loves to sleep a lot, Lagos is not the city for you because it is popularly known as the city that never sleeps. As early as 3:00, residents are already on the road and around 5:00, traffic begins to build up. No one knows when the last person leaves the street – that’s even if the street could even remain empty. Unlike several other cities across Africa where security guards restrict movement and business activities to specific hours, no one can tell Lagosians (as residents of Lagos are popularly called) when not to go around.For West Africans, Lagos is Dubai, London, New York and Mecca. It is an African city with the Golden Fleece, the place where all dreams could come true.The city attracts skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled workers from across West Africa and beyond due to the large number of companies, organizations and multinationals that are in the city.It is therefore not inappropriate to call Lagos the best city in West Africa. What did Lagos do right, what can other cities learn from it, and what challenges should the state prepare for as it contends with overpopulation? Lagos’ development started when it became Nigeria’s federal capital city. Like almost all capital cities in West Africa, Lagos is on the coastal region and had large sea ports where…
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