Lagos Population Growth Forecast

An article by The Economist titled "Huddled Masses" caught my attention on Google+, and here is a record of the comment I left on it. Couple of people did made the statement that solution is birth control. 

I for one think the population of Lagos state, Nigeria, will be 'already' more than that 11.7m forecast[but guess being called forecast means it's never expected to be accurate]. And good point by one of the contributors who highlighted that the pop growth in Lagos is [mostly] down to people coming to look for better chance of survival in a country that has little for it's people.


One of the major reason for creating Abuja (Capital of the Nigeria) was to ease the population in Lagos, but guess the hustling and bustling is something people are not willing to easily give up to migrate to Abuja. 


Those that think birth control is the solution to all problems, should please understand the main reason for the population growth(/concentration) before suggesting such ideas [though in some cases, they might be correct, but not all situation are the same]. Nationwide, Nigeria is a very big country, that I personally don't see as having population growth problem. We will no doubt require good visionaries with good urban planning knowledge. 


Once Nigeria stop having 'rulers' and start having 'leaders', those with vision, then we will have a better chance of growing. It will no doubt requiring creating industries in other states, with good transportation link into Lagos (The Financial centre), here am referring to something like Holland (Amsterdam to be specific). This remains a fantasy, but hopefully one day it will become a reality, one day. 


The various diversities (Yoruba, Igbo, Hausa, Chinese, British, Poor, Rich, crazy, community spirits, etc) are what makes Lagos a unique place.