Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has called on African cities to take a central role in driving investment and economic growth across the continent.

Sanwo-Olu made the call while delivering a keynote address at a dinner in Washington, D.C., after receiving the 2026 Global Transformation and Good Governance Prize.

The award ceremony was the highlight of the 2026 Africa Business Investment Summit organised by the Millennium Excellence Foundation at the MGM National Harbor in Oxon Hill, Maryland.

Speaking on the theme, “Lagos and the Future of African Investment”, Sanwo-Olu said African cities must become central to the continent’s economic transformation as urban populations continue to expand.

He cited Lagos as an example of how urban governance, infrastructure development and private-sector partnerships could create an environment capable of attracting investment and stimulating economic growth.

The governor said Lagos occupied less than 0.5 per cent of Nigeria’s landmass but had a population larger than that of the Netherlands and contributed more than a quarter of the country’s economic output.

He said the state’s budget for 2026 stood at N4.4 trillion, with more than half allocated to capital expenditure, while internally generated revenue was projected to exceed N3 trillion.

Sanwo-Olu also highlighted Lagos’ technology ecosystem, saying the state had been ranked by Startup Genome as the leading startup ecosystem in sub-Saharan Africa.

He said the ecosystem was valued at $8.6 billion, with three active unicorns and a strong technology talent base.

The governor further cited the $1.5 billion Lekki Deep Sea Port, which he said became Nigeria’s leading port by cargo throughput in 2025, handling about 40 per cent of the country’s cargo.

He also highlighted the 650,000-barrel-per-day Lekki Refinery, the Blue Line rail and the Omi Eko water transport project as examples of infrastructure investments supporting Lagos’ economic growth.

Sanwo-Olu said Africa was projected to add nearly one billion urban residents by 2050, stressing the need for cities to be placed at the centre of the continent’s economic development strategy.

He urged investors to look beyond Africa as a single bloc and consider individual cities, their governance structures and their capacity to provide an enabling environment for investment.