President Bola Tinubu’s Record of Success in Lagos

There are few leaders of African countries that can boast of a verifiable record of economic achievement. Most African leaders are best known for peace, but few are known for economic development. This makes Bola Tinubu very special.

Bola Tinubu has a verified record of economic achievement as Governor of Lagos.  Lagos is a success story, the city with the biggest GDP in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Lagos is one of the biggest economic zones in Africa in terms of  GDP. At the conclusion of Tinubu’s term as Governor, the GDP of Lagos was $90 billion. This was bigger than the countries of  Cote d’Ivoire and Kenya.

Bola Tinubu achieved his ealry education in Nigeria. After high school, he completed undergraduate studies in the United States, first at Richard J. Daley College in Chicago and then at Chicago State University. He graduated in 1979 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting. However, he knew that to achieve self-actualization he had to return to Nigeria. In America, he would always play second fiddle but in Nigeria, he could truly be the boss and call the shots. He joined a multinational giant an American company that was compatible to his American education the oil giant Mobil commonly known as Exxon- Mobil today as an auditor.

Tinubu got into business for himself achieving great success and wealth. But what do men with wealth and success want? He wanted power and influence and so he got into politics in the 1990s. Eventually being  elected governor of Lagos when military rule ended in 1999. He served two terms.

Under the leadership of Tinubu Lagos achieved the following:

GDP growth Under Bola Tinubu

• GDP of Lagos made up 30% of the Nigerian GDP.
• 65% of industrial investment in Nigeria was in Lagos state
• 80% of exports came from Lagos
• Created Leki Free Trade Zone (LFTZ)

LFTZ, Africa’s fastest fastest-growing zone, had attracted $15 billion from domestic and foreign investors.

Energy Power Supply

Today, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe are gripped with load shedding or insufficient energy. You cannot have economic growth without energy. So Tinubu understood that a modern city needed energy. In 2000, the then Governor Bola Tinubu partnered with AES Nigeria to build an Independent Power Plant to generate 270MW for Lagos residents. It ended up feeding the national grid. How about that for energy leadership.

Infrastructure renewal

Bola Tinubu facilitated the creation of a modern intra-city rail infrastructure and led his state in the construction of roads, bridges, or hospitals, to be completed with private funding which meant they were self-sustaining and would not require the assistance of the Nigerian federal government and were privately funded. During that time, real estate values climbed tremesndously.

“Constrained again with a debt asset known as land, and which is the smallest among all the states in the country but with unlimited potential for prosperity.” –

Among his other socio-economic success were

• Improving road network to allow traffic to move and facilitate commerce.
• Trash collection
• Pride in Lagos as the heart of Nigerian commerce
• Creating jobs for residents
• JIGI BOLA – free eye screening for Lagos residents

Nigeria’s new president, elect Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s victory is seen as  victory for the business community. Despite reported irregularities and reports of violence in some areas it is clear that Bola Tinubu has a record of success in Economic Development which is a win for Nigeria and the continent of Africa