FIVE ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES IN A NAMED CITY IN NIGERIA CASE STUDY: LAGOS STATE, NIGERIA.

Introduction
This paper examines the five types of economic activities out of various ones that takes place in the central business district of lagos state, an urban centre situated in Nigeria, the paper looks how this various economics activities exist in that state, and also take a look at how this economic activities are complementatry with one another, the reason for their location in the city of lagos and so on will be discussed in this write up

What are economic activities
There are various definition of the word economic activities, economics activities are those activities that individual, group of people, or an organization involve in so as to generate income for their own living and satisfaction, also it can be said that economics activities are the activities which are done in purpose of earning money to fulfill the wants of the people which are unlimited and unending.
Economic activities all those things that people do to try to make their lives better and more comfortable, economic Activities simply deals with in and out flow of value, economic Activities is the act of combining the factors of production so as to return a profit by satisfying the needs and wants of consumers, economic activities are activities done to fulfill the citizens needs.
An economic activity may also be defined as any effort made by an individual, mental or physical, with the intention to earn something in return. Thus for an activity to be called as an economic activity it has to satisfy two conditions
a) There must be an effort.
b) The effort should be with a motive to earn something in return.
All various forms of economic activities takes place at central business district of the above named city and it is present in the economy of all nation, it relate with the input of capital so as to gain return on the capital which is used to start the economic activities for example, the populace living in the city comes out to buy a particular commodity with their own money and this actually generate income for the investors in that activity it is not only buying and selling that connotes the word economic activities, it may be any form of way of generating income. The central business district of the above named city is the focal point where economic activities actually takes place most, and this is due to the fact that the central business district offers the greatest accessibility which is largely dependent on the transport facilities location and existing road, the participant in an economic activities(individual, group of people, organization or firm) locate their activities where they can maximize profit and household where they can maximize utility, i.e. achieve the greatest residential benefit but the main thing that determine the profitability and utility of the main actor in the economic activities is the accessibility i.e. the advantages of this named city in term of movement, conveniences, and various amenities. economic activities have a way of creating employment opportunities for the populace of the named city simply put, no nation no city, that lack one form of economic activities or the other, it may be in form of a petty trader, or a large firm as relate to production company, construction company, banking institution, various forms of economic activities is largely dependent on the capital input, the level of education in it.

The essential of economic activities
The essential of economic activities relates to what is been done in an economic activities i.e. that makes an economic activities to be functioning well and this can be grouped together as highlighted below
 Production
 Distribution
 Consumption
PRODUCTION
The first of the three basic economic activities is production. Production is the conversion of resources into usable products, which may be either goods or services. Goods are tangible objects, like bread or books, whereas services are intangibles, like TV broadcasting, teaching, or haircuts. Manufactured assets, such as machines and buildings, are also the result of human productive activity—that is, some items are produced for investment purposes. Popular bands producing music, recording companies producing CDs, local governments building roads, and individuals producing cooked meals are all engaged in the economic activities of production. The economic activities of production converts some resources, which we call inputs, into new goods and services, which we refer to as outputs, as a flow over some period of time. The way in which this production occurs depends on available technologies. Production processes can also lead to undesirable outputs, such as waste products. We consider only useful outputs to be economic goods and services.Inputs include materials that become part of the produced good, supplies that are used up in the production process, and labor time. For example, were we to ask a chef how to prepare one of his specialties, say ginger chicken, we would be given an answer in terms of ingredients (chicken, ginger, oil, etc.) and a method for combining them. The food ingredients become part of the produced good. Other inputs that will be used up in the process probably include the natural gas or electricity that provides heat and other supplies such as paper towels. The chef’s labor time is necessary for the dish to be prepared, and is used up by the process. But the recipe, the chef’s skills, and the stove and cooking implements that will be used neither become part of the produced good nor are “used up,” although they are crucial for the production process. We can best think of these as flows of services arising out of capital stocks. The production process draws on services from social capital, in the form of the social knowledge embodied in a recipe; services of the chef’s human capital in the form of the chef’s acquired knowledge; and services of manufactured capital in the form of the stove and implements. But unlike materials and supplies, these capital stocks are not themselves transformed or used up in production. In the case of commercial production, the services of another form of capital—financial capital—are also vitally important. This is because the production process takes time. Imagine that the chef and her husband, for example, are also entrepreneurs. They need to be able to buy the ingredients, buy or rent kitchen space, and get to work well before they can prepare the meal and sell it. They therefore need to have financial capital available at the start of the process—either financial assets of their own, or loans they can use to pay the bills until their revenues start coming in. If at the end of the process, they can sell the meal, cover all their expenses, and make a profit, they will end up with more financial capital than before.
Distribution
Distribution is the sharing of products and resources among people. In contemporary economies, distribution activities take two main forms:
 Exchange and
 Transfer
When you hand over money in return for goods and services produced by other people, or when you receive a wage for the work you have provided to an employer, you are engaging in exchange. Markets are social institutions that facilitate exchange relations. People are generally much better off if they specialize in the production of some limited range of goods and services, and meet at least some of their other needs through exchange, than if they to produce everything they need themselves. Distribution also takes place through transfer. Transfers are payments given with nothing specific expected in return. For example, wealth is transferred from one generation to the next by inheritance. Social Security payments from the federal government to the elderly, to give another example, are transfers. Distribution also takes place through transfers of goods, services, or assets as well as transfers of money. Local public school boards, for example, distribute education services to child and teenage students in their districts, tuition-free. Parents in households transfer food and care to children. These sorts of nonmonetary transfers are called in-kind transfers.
Consumption
Consumption refers to the process by which goods and services are, at last, put to final use by people. In some cases, such as eating a meal or burning gasoline in a car, goods are literally “consumed” in the sense that they are used up and are no longer available for other uses. In other cases, such as enjoying art in a museum, the experience may be "consumed" without excluding others or using up material resources. The activity of consumption is frequently contrasted, in macroeconomics, to the resource maintenance activity of investment. The two activities are linked by the activity of saving, or refraining from consumption today in order to gain benefits in the future. For example, suppose a subsistence farmer grows a crop of corn. To the extent the farmer eats some of the corn, the farmer consumes—the corn is used up in the process of eating, and is not available for future use. To the extent that the farmer sets some of this year’s corn crop aside for planting next season, the farmer saves. The farmer also invests—that is, creates a resource that will aid production in the future. Having an inventory of seeds is what makes growing a crop in the next season possible. In a modern, financially sophisticated economy, the situation is more complex, but the basic idea is the same. Modern households can save by spending less money on consumption than their income would allow. Governments can save by spending less on government consumption goods than their budgets would allow. Businesses save by retaining some of their earnings, instead of paying out to their shareholders (as dividends) all of what they make beyond their (non-investment) expenses. These flows of savings add to the stock of available financial assets. Financial intermediaries such as banks and bond markets allow savers to loan out the use of their financial capital to others who want to borrow. Some of the borrowers will use the funds to pay for the creation of new investment goods, such as buildings, factories, or a college education.


The forms/types of economics activities within the name city
There are various types of economic activities that takes palce within the named city, but for the purpose of this course(esm 305) that ask I should identify only five economics activities, I shall identify five types of economics activities that takes place within the named city, in categorizing the fives types of economics activities that takes place in the above named city the FORMAL and INFORMAL concept will be as a guiding principles for clasiifying the five types of economics activities that takes places within the named city and it is diagrammatically illustrated below:
ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES IN LAGOS STATE

FORMAL SECTOR INFORMAL SECTOR

1. Business services 2. Large scale companies 3.small scale distribution 4. Tertiary services 5. Secondary activities
Out of many various economic activities that take places within the named urban city, I have been able to identified the five which was requested and these can be simplified below.
1. business services
2. large scale companies FORMAL SECTOR
3. tertiary economic activities

4. small scale distribution as an economic activities INFORMAL SECTOR

5. secondary economic activities
but before giving a good theoretical background for these various economic activities I shall make a vivid explanation on the concept which act as a guiding principles i.e. THE FORMAL SECTOR AND THE INFORMAL SECTOR
• FORMAL SECTOR: the formal sector of economic activities connotes the various registered companies or firms that have more opportunities for expansion in the growing economy, those companies or firms must be registered with all their various organization for example an estate surveyor and valuer must a registered member of the Nigeria institution of estate surveyor and valuer (N I E S V), also in like manner an urban planner must be a registered member of their own organization to. All those registered firms have formal structures for operation which are concerned with how their component parts in terms of resources, processes, people and their skills are pulled together to form a strategic architecture that can effectively deliver higher level of economic advantage, as stated earlier that business services and large scale companies are located within the formal sector of the named city they are examined below:
 Business services: the business services as an economic activities is in the form of trading firm and they are regarded as a major economic base of the named city. This part of economic activities deals with some particular market segment and sees it role as consolidating the development of strategic relationship within the urban economy. The business services actually consist of three major component and they are: EXPARTRIATE FIRM, INDIGENOUS ESTABLISHMENT, PROFESSIONAL ENTERPRISES
 The EXPATRIATE FIRM are similar in many respect to the commercial organization but the only differences that exist between them is the nature of ownership and the activities which they carried out. The expatriate firm are firms in range of different types of business in the form of subsidiary companies within the holding company structure or division within a multidivisional structure. The firms concentrate on such principal activities like the large scale whole salling of imported and locally manufactured goods, especially of a technical or specialist nature, motor vehicles, machinery, pharmaceuticals, retailing of goods requiring large amount of capital and after sales services. The operation of departmental stores, and the provision of specialist services facilities within the urban centre. They are services firm which are controlled centrally with the operations centers in the urban areas and of fairly high employment capacity of between twenty to thirty peoples taken a look at the named city there exist many expatriate firms and a few of them include NESTLE FOODS, UNILEVER NIG PLC, DRUGFIELD PHAEMACEUTICALS.
 The INDIGENOUS ESTABLISHMENT on the other hand are homed based firms which tend to specialize on the trading of specific items like electronics, shoes, clothing, cosmetics, e.t.c. on wholesales to individual traders in the informal sector. Many of these indigenous establishments are privately owned and hence they lack the strength of multiple divisions within the named city. They are essentially concerned with wider aspects of the organization which compete on the basis of the services this sector provides. In the named city there exist many indigenous establishment in ;places like OSHODI,BERGER,IKEJA,YABA within the city