Lagos Can Become $1tn Economy Through Private-sector Partnership

Oluchi Chibuzor

The Lagos State Commissioner for Commerce, Cooperatives, Trade and Investment, Folashade Kaosarat Bada Ambrose-Medebem, has called for deeper and more strategic collaboration between government and the private sector to unlock Lagos State’s economic potential and accelerate its emergence as a $1 trillion economy by 2052.

Ambrose-Medebem made the call while delivering the keynote address at the Julius Berger Luminary Soirée 2026, themed, “The Lagos Proposition: Unlocking Value in a City in Transformation.”

She said the Lagos State Development Plan 2052 provides a clear and comprehensive pathway for sustainable growth, encompassing 447 initiatives across 21 strategic sectors and anchored on four pillars: a thriving economy, a human-centric city, modern infrastructure and effective governance.

According to her, the Plan’s ambition is to grow the Lagos economy to between $800 billion and $1 trillion by 2052, a target that will require sustained policy consistency, disciplined implementation and greater private-sector participation.

“The ambition is clear: Lagos intends to grow its economy to between $800 billion and $1 trillion by 2052. Achieving this will require a new model of partnership. The era of government merely directing the private sector has passed; what must replace it is genuine co-creation,” she said.

She noted that manufacturing contributed 9.57 per cent to the State’s real Gross Domestic Product in the first quarter of 2026, underscoring the importance of industrialisation, infrastructure and enterprise development to Lagos’ long-term growth.

Ambrose-Medebem further stated that Lagos’ GDP stood at approximately $259.75 billion on a purchasing power parity basis in 2023, positioning it as Africa’s second-largest city economy and accounting for more than 30 per cent of Nigeria’s economic output.

She explained that, under the purposeful leadership of the Governor of Lagos State, Mr. Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu, the government is moving beyond generating investor interest to facilitating bankable transactions and measurable economic outcomes.

Through Invest Lagos, the State Government’s flagship international investment summit, Lagos is connecting global capital with a pipeline of structured and progressively de-risked opportunities valued at more than N4 trillion across critical sectors of the economy.