Faux Production and Overproduction in Lagos: A Marxist Analysis

Lagos, the economic nerve center of Nigeria, embodies the contradictions of late-stage capitalism in a peripheral economy. Through a Marxist lens, the city’s focus on faux production and the overproduction of non-essential goods and services reveals the systemic inefficiencies and alienation inherent in its capitalist framework.

At the heart of this issue lies the commodification of need. Rather than addressing the fundamental requirements of its working-class majority—such as affordable housing, efficient public transportation, and accessible healthcare—Lagos channels its productive forces into consumerist goods and services aimed at a burgeoning middle class and elite. The proliferation of luxury apartments, high-end retail outlets, and entertainment complexes caters to an imagined demand driven by profit motives rather than genuine societal need.

The State and city today embodies a polluted ideation of the American Dream, stripped of the foundational supports and government interventions that once made that dream plausible for early Americans. Instead, it offers a hollow spectacle of luxury, underpinned by faux production and overproduction of goods and services that serve no real purpose for the masses.

This faux production highlights the contradictions between use value and exchange value. The fefetishisation commodities in Lagos prioritises profit over utility, exacerbating class stratification. The working class, which bears the brunt of exploitation in informal markets and precarious employment, finds itself alienated from the fruits of its labour. They toil to sustain an economy that prioritises imported goods, flashy consumption, and speculative real estate over investments in critical infrastructure or social welfare.

Overproduction compounds this crisis. The capitalist imperative to maximise profits creates an oversupply of goods and services disconnected from the needs of the majority. This results in waste, environmental degradation, and a cycle of artificial scarcity for essential goods. For instance, while there is a glut of boutique hotels and high-end eateries, public schools remain underfunded, and potable water is scarce.

Rather than building an economy that addresses the core needs of its people—affordable housing, public education, reliable healthcare, and clean water—Lagos has tethered itself to the logic of profit over people. High-rise luxury apartments mushroom where slums once stood, not to provide housing but to serve as symbols of wealth for the elite. Lavish malls and exclusive eateries populate the city, catering to a minority, while the majority of its population remains trapped in informal work, fighting daily for survival in an unforgiving urban jungle.

Ultimately, this contradiction reveals the failure of the Lagos economy to resolve the fundamental tension between production for profit and production for need. The overemphasis on faux production not only perpetuates inequality but also sows the seeds for systemic crises, as resources are diverted away from sustainable and equitable development.

The contradictions are glaring: an economy that invests in symbols of opulence while neglecting the foundational needs of its population—where resources flow toward vanity projects instead of public goods, and urban development prioritizes private wealth over collective well-being. This path is unsustainable. Only through the revolutionary restructuring of the relations of production can Lagos transcend these contradictions and align its productive capacity with the genuine needs of its populace. If not, it will remain a city of contradictions—where dreams are sold to many but lived by only a few, and where systemic inequality continues to define the urban landscape.