Lagos Committed To Energising Growth, Sanwo-Olu Tells Lagos Business Community

• Sanwo-Olu met with the Lagos business community on Monday.

• He reassured the stakeholders of his state’s commitment to their growth.

• The Lagos governor sought the business community’s support for his reelection.

Eko Hot Blog reports that the Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu delivered a message of reassurance to the Lagos Business Community on Monday.

EDITOR’S PICKS

• INSIGHT: Tinubu Vs. The ‘Saboteurs’ In Aso Rock; Who Comes Out On Top?

• Naira Redesign: An Action With A Thousand Implications

• Tinubu’s Path To Power: The Accelerators And The Speed-breakers

He delivered the message at an interactive meeting with the Organised Private Sector at Oriental Hotels, where he spoke of the state’s economic redistribution plans aimed at expanding the Lagos business district to suburbs in the western and eastern parts of the State.

Addressing the business leaders, Sanwo-Olu reiterated the commitment of his administration to sustain strategic investment in infrastructure to bolster productivity, energise business growth and protect private investments.

The governor said the steady growth rate being recorded by the state economy testified to the efficient supervision and accountability process instituted in the management of the public finances.

He said Lagos had been led by a political philosophy that transformed its GDP from deficit to a promising growth, accounting for 30 percent of the nation’s GDP.

In promoting rapid economic growth, the governor said his administration had embarked on improving mobility by injecting funds to deliver an integrated mass transit system.

Aside comprehensive road rehabilitation across the state, Sanwo-Olu said the state government had also boosted productivity by expanding transport infrastructure, investing in rail and opening waterways.

“Our economic blueprint captured in the six-pillar THEMES Agenda has been rolled out and implemented in manner to fix the immediate needs of our citizens and the business community,” he said.

“In Transportation and Traffic Management, we have intervened in almost a thousand roads across the State and built new roads in total length of 125 kilometres. We activated ferry services to quickly move people at business hours. We have injected ferries of different capacities, just as we open new jetties.

“We have also shored up capacity in public transportation by providing 3,000 vehicles to service our mass transit network and taxi scheme. Lagos is about to have two fully operational rail lines to encourage mass movement. We embarked on all of this in order to give commuters mobility options, thereby reducing man-hour spent by people in traffic and raising productivity to support business growth.

“We have seen the completion of Lekki Deep Sea Port which Lagos is a major facilitator. In the next two month, the logistics infrastructure will be fully operational and this will have good revenue projection for the State. Our inaction or attempt not to invest in these infrastructure would have a lot of consequences and cost us more in terms of numbers. Now, we are beginning to see a city that is a lot more efficient and this gives an understanding of the role businesses play in the economy.”

The governor allayed the fear of the business community about skilled manpower shortages, stressing that his administration’s investment in education and technology is already yielding positive outcomes.

According to a statement issued by Sanwo-Olu’s spokesperson, Gboyega Akosile, the dialogue was part of the strategic stakeholder engagements initiated to keep business leaders and captains of industry in the loop of the “comprehensive economic policies” of All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and Sanwo-Olu.

FURTHER READING

• Lagos Govt Directs Closure Of Chrisland Schools After Student’s Death

• “Blackmail” — Obi Campaign, CAN Debunk Rumours Of N2bn Mobilisation Fee

• Whitney Adeniran: Lagos Govt Begins Coroner’s Inquest To Ascertain Cause Of Death

Minister for Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN, Deputy Governor Obafemi Hamzat, Director-General of Budget Office of the Federation, Mr. Ben Akabueze, and Senior Special Assistant to the President on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Princess Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, joined the governor at the meeting with members of the state’s business community.

Click here to watch our video of the week: