By Jungle  Journalist

“A nation cannot stand when one city is treated as a country, and thirty-six states are left as shadows.”

State-Sponsored Inequality at the Heart of Nigeria’s Budget

Nigeria today is trapped in a cycle of state-sponsored inequality, where Lagos keeps rising on the back of neglected regions, and the very foundation of the nation continues to crack.

The 2025 national budget of about ₦54.99 trillion exposes the imbalance in plain sight. While 36 states and the FCT stretch their hands for marginal allocations, Lagos alone has projects worth tens of trillions. Consider the figures:

• Lagos 3MB Project – ₦3.6 trillion
• Lagos Airport Expansion – ₦712 billion
• Lagos Coastal Highway – ₦15 trillion
• Lekki–Epe Expressway – ₦158 billion
• Lagos Light Rail – ₦3.2 trillion
• Industrial Clusters in Lagos – $238 million

By comparison, no other state or region enjoys such largesse. This is not budgeting for national growth — it is budgeting for regional dominance.

Lagos: The Smallest State, Yet the Most Favoured

Here lies the greatest irony. Lagos is Nigeria’s smallest state by land mass, measuring barely 3,577 km².

• Niger State, the largest, spans 76,363 km² (over 21 times bigger).
• Taraba State spreads across 54,473 km².
• Even cities like Gusau (Zamfara) or Makurdi (Benue) rival Lagos in physical spread.

Yet despite this tiny size, Lagos today boasts a population of over 20 million people, making it Nigeria’s most crowded state. But this growth is not by accident. It is the direct product of federal bias: every major port, refinery, and industrial project is forced into Lagos, triggering a nationwide migration funnel.

Instead of nurturing regional hubs — Kano in the North, Aba and Onitsha in the East, Port Harcourt and Warri in the South-South — government policy ensured that Lagos became the only centre of opportunity, while other states, larger in land and richer in resources, are left to decay.

The Port Monopoly: Forcing the Nation into Lagos

Nigeria has other seaports — Onitsha, Port Harcourt, Warri, Calabar, and Azumini (Abia State). Historically, ships from Europe, Asia, and the Americas docked there, feeding vibrant trade across the regions.

But successive governments strangled them, keeping Lagos ports as the only viable gateway. Traders from the South-East — who dominate Nigerian commerce — are forced into Lagos, where 95% of traders in the big markets are Igbos, yet they are treated as outsiders in a city they keep alive with business.

This monopoly is not efficiency — it is a deliberate chokehold on regional economies.

Refineries and Pipelines: Wealth Taken From the Source

The oil story follows the same script. Crude is mined in the Niger Delta — Rivers, Bayelsa, Delta, Akwa Ibom, Cross River — but is pumped hundreds of kilometres to Lagos and Kaduna for refining.

The Port Harcourt and Warri refineries, sitting next door to the oil wells, were left to rot. Meanwhile, the Dangote Refinery in Lagos is fed by pipelines that drain crude from the Delta.

Why should petroleum travel thousands of kilometres while oil-rich communities sit in poverty and pollution? Why should Lagos be the refining hub when the resource is elsewhere?

Market Advantage: Lagos Thrives on Igbo Sweat

Markets once defined by history — Onitsha Main Market, Ariaria in Aba, and Kano markets — have been systematically weakened. Today, Lagos is branded as Nigeria’s “commercial hub,” not because of natural advantage, but because federal policy crippled rival centres.

The Lekki Industrial Corridor is being heavily funded, while indigenous industrial powerhouses like Aba and Nnewi are ignored. It is a case of state-backed displacement of other regions’ economic potential.

Why This Matters: The Nation at Risk

This imbalance is more than bad economics — it is a recipe for national instability. When one state monopolises wealth, infrastructure, and opportunity, resentment festers. Migration into Lagos creates slums, congestion, insecurity, and ethnic tension. Meanwhile, abandoned regions breed poverty, agitation, and unrest.

This is why separatist agitations simmer. This is why the call for restructuring grows louder. Inequality is not just unfair — it is dangerous.

The Final Word

This is not a natural imbalance. It is a deliberate structural injustice that has turned Lagos into a fortress of wealth, while the rest of Nigeria withers.

Unless the Federal Government urgently embraces fair allocation, regional equity, and balanced industrialisation, Nigeria will continue sliding toward deeper fracture lines.

No nation can prosper by turning one city into a country, while thirty-six others remain as shadows.