Lagos: The Future New York City of Africa?

For years now, Lagos, the Nigerian state and megacity, has been battling its image problem. Slotted at the bottom rungs of the Economist Intelligence Unit's livability ranking in 2016, Lagos is often associated with poverty and violence. Though those aspects certainly exist, they tend to eclipse other positives about the city.

Lagos is one of the fastest growing cities in the world. In 2015, the state of Lagos produced a GDP of US$131 billion, the fifth highest in all of Africa. Nigeria itself has been vying to achieve Africa's highest GDP in a neck and neck competition against South Africa, with Nigeria's record GDP of US$568.51 billion winning out in 2014. Much of Nigeria's success can be attributed to its wealth in resources: 14 percent of the nation's GDP and 90 percent of its foreign exchange earnings are owed to its petroleum industries. The conurbation of Lagos sports no such crutch, as its rapidly swelling population of approximately 21 million has resulted in diverse economies abounding amid its urban sprawl.

Lagos' growing populace has spawned a construction boom which in turn has generated work for many Lagosian citizens. Lagos state also contains 45 percent of Nigeria's skilled workforce, resulting in a perpetual proliferation of commerce, electronics, wholesale and retail businesses inside the city. Recently, stricter enforcement of taxation has also enabled the funding of superior public transportation and waste management.

拉哥斯：非洲未來的紐約市？

多年來，拉哥斯──這個奈及利亞的州和巨型城市，一直在為自己的形象問題而戰。拉哥斯在經濟學人智庫的 2016 年宜居榜單中敬陪末座，人們往往將它與貧窮和暴力聯想在一起。儘管這些面向確實存在，卻常掩蓋這座城市其他的正面資訊。
拉哥斯是全世界成長速度最快的城市之一。2015 年，拉哥斯州的國內生產毛額達 1,310 億美元，在非洲排名第五。在爭奪非洲最高國內生產毛額的競賽中，奈及利亞一直與南非旗鼓相當。奈及利亞的國內生產毛額在 2014 年以創紀錄的 5,685.1 億美元勝出。奈及利亞的成功有一大部分可歸因於其蘊藏的豐富資源：該國 14% 的國內生產毛額以及 90% 的外匯收入都來自石油產業。拉哥斯大都會圈沒有這樣的經濟支柱可炫耀，雖然其迅速成長而直逼兩千一百萬的人口，在城市擴張當中造就了多元的經濟活動。
拉哥斯壯大中的人口催生了營造業的榮景，因此為諸多市民帶來了工作機會。奈及利亞的技術勞動力也有 45% 集中在拉哥斯州，促使拉哥斯市內的商務、電子、批發與零售等產業長期擴張。近來，更嚴苛地落實課稅也提供了改善公共運輸和廢棄物管理所需的資金。