Sammy07:
Sanwo-Olu Commissions Rehabilitated Road Network In Ikoyi-Obalende LCDA


https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10159127800101013&id=735776012

Lagos, Nigeria’s most populous city, has surpassed Nairobi, Kenya and is now the highest-ranking city in Africa, gaining 5 spots to 122nd. Kenya now ranks 136th.

Lagos among Top 50 global cities for E-commerce & Retail Technology

Lagos is also ranked in the global top 50 cities for E-commerce & Retail Technology and in the global top 100 for both Transportation Technology and Education Technology. The Nigerian city of Lagos has become the top African startup ecosystem, ranked 122nd after switching places with

Ibadan jumps 601 spots to rank 353rd globally
May be an image of text that says 'National Rank City 1 Global Rank Lagos Rank Change (from 2020) 2 Total Score 122 Ibadan 3 +5 353 4.693 Abuja Overperforming Industry E-commerce & Retail +601 466 0.688 Port Harcourt 5 -12 906 0.419 Enugu -6 978 0.135 new 0.079'
Ibadan, western Nigeria, saw a massive increase in ranking, jumping 601 spots to 353rd globally and 2nd in Nigeria, surpassing the Nigerian capital of Abuja. The latter, ranked 3rd nationally, fell 12 spots to 466th, while Port Harcourt decreased by 6 spots to 906th. The newest Nigerian city in the rankings, Enugu, ranks 978th globally and 5th nationally. Benin City has increased 9 spots to 979th, while Kano jumped 14 spots to 981st.

In total, Nigeria has 7 cities in the global top 1000 and continues to have the highest number of ranked cities of any African nation.



The Global Startup Ecosystem Index by StartupBlink has been updated annually since 2017 and is the world’s most comprehensive startup ecosystem ranking of 1000 cities and 100 countries. The Global Startup Ecosystem Index is built using hundreds of thousands of data points processed by an algorithm which takes into account several dozens of parameters.

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“As the world manages to slowly but surely innovate its way out of a devastating pandemic, it is clear that a new reality has emerged. Firstly, trends such as E-Commerce and remote work have accelerated at unprecedented speed, accelerating us toward an inevitable future where our digital presence is at times more dominant than our physical presence,” said CEO, StartupBlink, Eli David.

A notable increase in Africa is Nigeria now ranked 63rd globally. But overall, Nigeria still ranks behind South Africa that increased 4 spots to be ranked 48th globally. It will be the first time since this report was published, we have an African country in the top 50, StartupBlink noted.

Nigeria is the highest-ranking country in Western Africa and the 3rd highest ranking country in Africa.

US leads the world
The top 10 cities are San Francisco Bay, New York, Beijing, Los Angeles Area and London Others are Boston Area, Shanghai, Tel Aviv Area, Moscow and Bangalore. The US account for half of these The US leading the top 5 countries have all maintained their rank from last year, however, there are several deep changes and interesting insights. “Firstly, the United States maintains a massive lead over the 2nd ranked United Kingdom, showing a strong and dominant innovation scene across the 267 USA cities ranked in this report. Last year, the UK had a relatively large lead over the 3rd ranked country Israel, but this difference has now narrowed substantially with the UK and Israel having almost the same total score.

Brexit impacting UK ecosystem
For the first time since 2017, it seems that Brexit does have some negative influence on the UK ecosystem, which can also be seen in the rankings decline of London (more on that below). One more interesting development is a change in the group which we refer to as the “Big 4” Startup Ecosystems: the US, UK, Israel, and Canada. Canada is still ranked 4th, but it is now much closer to the solid ecosystem of Germany at the 5th spot than to the UK and Israel.

Arnold1:


Great idea!

Lagos should have a joint venture with other SW states and the private sector. Besides food sufficiency, there is plenty of money to be made. It will be a win win!

OneTemplate:


Excellent points. Personally planning to go into livestock and food/cash crop farming in future once security improves across the SW.

Insecurity will truncate many developmental plans of the SW if the region does not give it robust priority asap.

walefresh3:
Lovely....

sophxx:
jrjfjfj Liberty stadium belong to the then Western Nigeria govt but since the dissolution of regional govt, it's been the property of the FG. Sunday Dare promised he 'll renovate that stadium, we are still. It is only Lekan Salami Stadium, Adamasingba that belong to OYSG in Ibadan and it has been remodeled. Search for the picture, you 'll love it. It's lovely. And also the Olubadan stadium which belong to Ibadan people was set for renovation then but i have no idea if it went down or not.

jrjfjfj:
yes i have seen it ,but the fg wont pump money to renovate it ,since it doesnt benefit them .that is why i say yorubas must control their resources to make yorubaland great

jrjfjfj:
The Liberty Stadium in Ibadan, the first to be constructed in Nigeria and Africa in 1960, shot the country into the world boxing fame in 1962 when it hosted the first world boxing title fight in Africa. The bout saw Nigeria’s Dick Tiger beating America’s Gene Fullmer to win the world middleweight boxing title.
The complex was one of the several infrastructure and institutions that the Chief Obafemi Awolowo government established and programmed to take the region, and by extension Nigeria and the Black race to the pinnacle of global emancipation and development.

And from the early 1960s, through the 70s and late 80s, the Liberty Stadium was ‘alive,’ fulfilling Awolowo’s objectives as centre of sports engagement, activity and development in West Africa’s largest city, Ibadan.



That fight between Dick Tiger and Gene Fullmer in 1963 was one of the ways Awolowo used in showcasing Western Nigeria’s emergence as an authentic technological, social, cultural and economic regional power to the rest of the world. It saw Ibadan city welcoming the whole army of agents, managers, the media and the world’s boxing travelling fans who, in their hundreds, followed the train of the best boxing fights around the world then.
However, like many sectors of the nation’s economy, the Liberty Stadium, which stood then as a pride of Africa, has since become an eyesore, with reptiles of various shapes now occupying the edifice.

The complex, which was renamed Obafemi Awolowo Stadium by the Goodluck Jonathan administration in 2015, needs Federal Government’s intervention as quickly as possible.From the main bowl pitch, the tartan track, to the swimming pool, a first time visitor to the Liberty Stadium will mistake it for an old theatre of war.

The Guardian learnt during a visit to the complex on Monday that a contractor removed the polyurethane on the tartan track in 2014 with a promise to replace it. It was never done.

An official of the Ministry of Youth and Sports told The Guardian that when he assumed duty in 2014, the swimming pool and other facilities within the Liberty Stadium were already in bad shape. “That same year, the contract for the renovation of the swimming pool was awarded to a Lagos-based contractor. But I don’t really know why he couldn’t fix it. The same thing happened to the tartan track. A contractor came from Abuja and removed the old surface with a promise that he was coming to fix it soon. Till today, we did not see the tartan track and the contractor,” he stated.

Former Green Eagles winger, Adegoke Adelabu was one of the regular users of the Liberty stadium in his active days. He told The Guardian that it was the dream of any Nigerian player to play at the complex then. “In our days, it was a dream for anyone to play at the Liberty stadium because the complex was so good that even players from different parts of Africa wanted to visit it.“One great thing about the Liberty Stadium then was that you can beat any visiting team there, and you could also be beaten at home because the pitch was good for everyone to play football. But I don’t know how the complex suddenly became a waste. The government has to do something about it and also generate games to be played at Liberty stadium,” Adelabu stated.

In 1980, the Liberty stadium hosted several matches during the African Cup of Nations, which Nigeria hosted, including a semi-final between Algeria and Egypt. The Liberty Stadium, along eight other stadia hosted the 1999 FIFA World Youth Championship. The complex hosted all of the Group C matches, one of the Round of 16 matches, and one of the quarterfinal matches.

Apart from the main bowl, the Liberty Stadium has three football pitches with floodlights. At inception, the complex also boasted the indoor sports hall for boxing, swimming pool, courts for tennis, volleyball, handball, basketball and hockey.Former Green Eagles captain, ‘Mathematical’ Segun Odegbami, played his first international match inside Liberty stadium in 1973 against Central African Republic in preparation for the All Africa Games. The match was played under floodlights.

According to Odegbami, Western Nigeria became the focus of the world’s major media many months after the Liberty stadium hosted the Dick Tiger versus Gene Fulmer fight. “It was unprecedented advertisement for the people as one of the fastest and most ambitious developing regions in West Africa,” he said. “Liberty Stadium was a great showpiece because its architecture was unique. Some of its facilities were world-class and it was a local tourist attraction for visitors because its sports facilities engaged the teeming youths from schools and sports clubs, and produced national champions in many sports.”

How the decay started
Chief Segun Odegbami revealed that when the Federal Government picked Liberty stadium for renovation ahead the proposed 1995 FIFA World Youth Championship, the engineers in an Israeli firm that was contracted to do the job lamented that what they met on ground in the complex was far ahead of whatever they had brought to ‘improve’ the stadium.

“They admitted that the drainage system underneath the stadium pitch was better than the untested ‘Cell’ underground watering system they had brought and wondered why Nigerian sports administrators in charge were insisting they should go ahead with the excavation and demolition when they advised against it.

“In ‘renovating’ the stadium, the Israelis completely destroyed it. Since that ill-informed deliberate destructive act, the Stadium has remained prostate, its painted walls a shell and a constant and painful reminder of what was once one of the best in the world,” Odegbami stated.In the 80s, the Liberty stadium was a ‘Mecca’. “People came on excursions for a tour of the facilities,” Odegbami said. “They would wait and watch the well-choreographed watering system of the turf that took place three times every day throughout the year.

“Thousands of spectators came daily to watch the training sessions of star athletes on the facilities – the great Shooting Stars FC on the lush green football training field, track and field, cricket, volleyball, badminton, basketball and table tennis athletes many of whom were representing Nigeria at the time.

“The youths from all over the state came in droves, mornings and evenings, to ‘drink’ lavishly and freely from the well of inspiration of the known star athletes training daily at the stadium.”Odegbami added: “The stadium had excellent functional floodlights. Many of the international matches Shooting Stars played at the time, mostly against football clubs from Germany, England and even Brazil, were played at night.”

“I am sure if Chief Awolowo should wake up from his place of eternal rest and see what has become of the Western Region of Nigeria, one of the places that would make him wail the loudest would be the Liberty Stadium. “He would wonder how a people he left, sophisticated, enlightened and largely educated, with respect for values and a way of life that set them apart from the rest, would destroy one of their greatest legacies on the altar of personal interests, materialism, bad conduct and poor political judgments. Even in the 1950s, Chief Awolowo had understood the immense power of sport in national development. In 1971, I still met the structures, facilities, and personnel running the sports agenda of Chief Awolowo and his immediate successors. It was a visionary script for the development of Western Nigeria with sports as a major contributor,” Odegbami stated.

For years, many Nigerian athletes, including the likes of Innocent Egbunike, Chidi Imoh, Olapade Adenikan, the Ezinwa brothers (Davidson and Osmond), Sunday Bada, Chioma Ajunwa, Mary Onyali, Falilat Ogunkoya, Fatima Yusuf, Tina Iheagwam, Faith Idehen, Beatrice Utondu, Mary Tombiri and Christy Okpara-Thompson used Liberty stadium tartan track to prepare for international competitions. Today, the tartan track is like a ‘run way’ for airplanes. There is nothing covering the hard surface for athletes to carry out their track and field business.

In the build up to Cairo ‘91’ All African Games, the hostel at the Liberty Stadium was used as campsite for the swimmers including the likes of Mrs. Ngozi Chris Momah. Like other parts of the complex, the stadium hostel is in serious decay. Apart from being overshadowed by weeds, including cassava farm around it, all facilities inside the hostel are either vandalised or damaged. The dinning hall, bathroom and toilet facilities are no go areas.

The swimming pool itself is a complete disaster. In the old good days of Nigerian sports, the swimming pool at the Liberty Stadium was one of the best in Africa. It is an Olympics size swimming pool. But poor maintenance culture, which has eaten deep into the fabrics of Nigerian sports facilities, is taking its toe on the Liberty stadium swimming pool.

Today, thick bushes have taken over the swimming pool, with athletes, who use the facilities, saying they often see snakes and other reptiles coming out of the water.The roof of the spectators’ stand of the swimming pool and the stairs have fallen off, while the tiles covering the pavement have peeled off with grass taking over more than 80 per cent of the surface.

jrjfjfj:
This is so sad for we yorubas.Awolowo must be rolling in his grave ,he would be shocked to see how south west have been derailed ,and ought to have been better .As at 1959 ,Western nigeria was far better than Singapore , But now you cant even compare both again , as at then Western nigeria already got its embassy in Uk ,same embassy nigeria took from us ,and using till date ,same with Abuja house ,acuired by western nigeria for a place of refuge for Yorubas in uk ,A very promising media power ,as the only region with a Tv brocasting station in africa as at 1959, A good educational system with Free universal basic education ,aimed at developing the brain power of the Yorubas ,at the same time developing our human resources ,A good farming settlement system ,which aims at Yorubaland been a food sufficient region.All this were a good headstart to be a regional power ,but some how was truncated and began to derail .To be candid ,The rate of poverty in Yorubaland is alarming ,Most of our young boys and girls are into Yahoo Yahoo ,ritualism and human part dealing , armed robbery ,touts,agbero,drug addict ,smoking hard drugs and Olosho due to poverty and lack of parental care and divorce among Yoruba couples in which poverty is amain cause eg a home where the father is unable to feed his wife and children due to poverty will surely lead to divorce ,which makes the young vulnerable ones to be exposed to all sort of harm and threats turning them to street urchins ,junkies and street beggar and miscreants,Even most of our Youths are not intrested in education anymore ,which was contrary to Awolowos education plan as at the 60s,which was every Yoruba child must be educated ,rich or poor ,every Yoruba child must enjoy free basic education ,then should pass through the secondary and then tetiary,with provision of scholarships and student loan which student begins to pay back ,After he or she has acquired the required qualifications to work ,with no intrest .But it is not what we experience in Yorubaland today.As at today there is no financial and welfare support for Yoruba citizens ,no stident loans,no agricultural loan ,no free and affordable housing benefit ,nothing at all the help common yoruba citizen,so why wont a yoruba youth with no financial backing and parental guidance and care wont result in to crime .The proposed Solution to our problems facing us in Yorubaland is A RETURN TO REGIONAL GOVERNMENT and even at most ODUDUWA REPUBLIC .Ever since Ironsi and Gowon goverments have successively destroyed regionalism ,Yorubaland has been on steady decline .Note this :Yorubaland Will never be great untill ,we the Yorubas are able to control our resources .

sophxx:
Totally true. Federalism doesn't in anyway favour Yoruba. Coming together of the states to build something like that can never be possible since they all have their burdens to bear well maybe they can through Oodua investment if only it will be profitable. We just have to keep fighting for regional or Oduduwa honestly.

Classicool:
If people in the government is not ready private and capable individuals can come with this only if government is will and ready to make more money. If we can get this to work from private angle I guess government will sit up trust me... though dangote is currying government favor it is because dangote gives anyone in government to surely work for him.. if our state governors can genuinely agree to work with private investors of Yoruba origins and start by patronizing our local innovations at various governments level. If there is a way the we can make this our region work even though federal government might use our tax to develop other regions only if our current governors use this insecurities in the country to make Amotekun formidable.. how I wish Ambode is still governor of lagos state. Dawn commission makes some functional moves then.. but sanwo olu is just a puppet.


P:S Anyone that knows how taxing system works in Nigeria should please explain. To know how FG and States taxes.

jrjfjfj:
We cant develop our region in a large amount ,without controlling our resources first .How will the Yoruba government develop our space without finances ,no way .Except Private investors of Yoruba origin with foreign exchange comes to invest in yorubaland,but how many are they ?
Money are being generated from Yorubaland through
1 Yoruba ports and waterways
2 Yoruba customs
3 Yoruba airports
4 Yoruba oil and gas industries (lagos ,ondo,itshekiri)
5 lagos stock exchange
6 Agricultural exports
these are the monies that are supposed to be used to develop yorubaland ,but we are not in controll of it

sophxx:
Totally true. Federalism doesn't in anyway favour Yoruba. Coming together of the states to build something like that can never be possible since they all have their burdens to bear well maybe they can through Oodua investment if only it will be profitable. We just have to keep fighting for regional or Oduduwa honestly.

Ibadanpikin:
Will u keep quit there,Lagos is a no man's land how is all those things u mention yoruba achievement.

OneTemplate:


I have a feeling we will get one or the other in the not too distant future because, contrary to what many assume, Nigeria does not have enough money and cannot create enough wealth to facilitate the required development of the nation without embracing regionalism, as a softer option, or break-up.

For sure, we cannot carry on as things are currently. Staring us in the face is the fact that oil is becoming less valuable daily, meaning we need to diversify the Nigerian economy massively and immediately, yet the parasitic and lopsided federal arrangement, favoring the elite alone, makes it impossible for Nigeria to fully utilize the wealth States can generate if they had autonomy.

States and regions need freedom from being indebted to the regressive centre which, in a modern nation of visionary and selfless leaders, should operate in a supervisory role mainly. What we have now is a very retrogressive and unwieldy centre drawing back the progress most serious Nigerians States and region could be making.

Last last the choice will be be taken out of Nigeria's hands, to the benefit of the SW, when we are bankrupt completely, because of drastically reduced demand for crude in around 10 years.

Then we will have no choice but to embrace diversification, through empowerment of States and region, or die.

jrjfjfj:
We cant develop our region in a large amount ,without controlling our resources first .How will the Yoruba government develop our space without finances ,no way .Except Private investors of Yoruba origin with foreign exchange comes to invest in yorubaland,but how many are they ?
Money are being generated from Yorubaland through
1 Yoruba ports and waterways
2 Yoruba customs
3 Yoruba airports
4 Yoruba oil and gas industries (lagos ,ondo,itshekiri)
5 lagos stock exchange
6 Agricultural exports
these are the monies that are supposed to be used to develop yorubaland ,but we are not in controll of it

jrjfjfj:
But about the diversification of Yorubaland ,What do you think is feasible and can generate foreign exchange into Yorubaland ,apart from oil,ports and Cocoa exports

walefresh3:
Alaro City is an integrated, mixed-use city planned for over 2,000 hectares(1.25 x the size of Victoria Island) in the Lekki Free Zone. Alaro City has areas for offices, logistics and warehousing, homes, schools, healthcare facilities, hotels, entertainment and 150 hectares of parks and open spaces.

Located in the North West Quadrant of the Lekki Free Zone, Alaro City is ideally situated on the Lekki-Epe Expressway for ease of transportation to Lagos or towards the rest of Nigeria.

Quotas

Alaro City is a partnership between Lagos State Government and Rendeavour. The city works with a number of global and Nigerian organisations to deliver a world-class city.

Cost of land in Alaro City:

500 Sqm at a sale price of $50,000 or NGN 18 Million

750 Sqm at a sale price of $75,000 or NGN 27 Million

1,000 Sqm at a sale price of $ or NGN 36 Million

Investment

jrjfjfj:
Your input is not needed here ,just respect your self and move out

walefresh3:
WHY AMOTEKUN IS NOT YET FUNCTIONAL IN LAGOS BY GOV SANWO OLU..

The Amotekun Corps has not been integrated into the security architecture in Lagos State because the state lacks a formal operational base for the corps to function, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu said yesterday.

The governor spoke yesterday on Arise Television while answering questions on how his administration has fared in the last two years.

According to him, the concept of Amotekun was for members of the corps to focus on border patrol by going into the forest, gather information and relay same to security operatives for further action.

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He said: “I was in the committee on Amotekun and I supported it fully. The concept of Amotekun is for the corps to go into the forests and focus on border patrol. But what borders does Lagos have? Is it Berger bus stop where we don’t even know where Lagos ends or begin? We all need to think out of the box and proffer local solutions peculiar to each state.

“Each state has its own challenges; ours in Lagos is not having forests where kidnappers hide, but our challenges revolve around cultism, traffic robbery and others, which we need to deal with. I need to think global but act locally to solve these peculiar problems.

“It’s not just about the fanciful name of Amotekun, but in the quality of what we are seeking to achieve. It’s all about intelligence gathering; going into the communities to gather information for the real security operatives to deal with. So, my colleagues agreed that Lagos should strengthen the 6,500 men in its Neighbourhood Watch Corps for this purpose.

“We even gave 1,250 men of our Neighborhood Watch to the police to support their community policing while Lagos still pays their salaries. So, we need to go back and recruit this number back to strengthen the corps.

“We have also approached the traditional rulers and local government chairmen to give us men who know and understand the community well for this purpose.”

The governor also said insecurity still thrives in the country because there is no consensus as to establishing state police.

He added: “Insecurity is thriving because we have not agreed, as a nation, that we should have state police. Amotekun and Neighbourhood Watch are reflections of state police, and if members of these groups are properly trained, they will become stronger, and challenges around kidnapping and others will be nipped.

“Whether Amotekun or Neighbourhood Watch, these are all pointers to the necessity of states to have police to make them stronger. All the kidnapping and killings we have been witnessing can be nipped in the bud. The Inspector-General of Police (IG) will be in Lagos in two days and these are conversations we would have and take steps on.

“Two days ago, I received report of abandoned buildings across the state from Neighbourhood Watch. The list is about 250 pages with addresses and pictures of the buildings. These are some of the places where criminals and miscreants hide to launch their activities. We are passing this list to the security for immediate response and actions.

“Government will also take over such buildings following consensus reached at a consultative security meeting where participants urged government to take over abandoned buildings and vehicles so they don’t become security threats to the people.”

Sanwo-Olu also said he would not receive pension after leaving office. “I have no intention to receive any pension after I leave office. That’s why we have sponsored an executive bill to repeal the existing Pension Law for ex-governors in the state. The bill is before the House of Assembly for consideration into law,” he added.