Governor of Lagos State Babajide Sanwo-Olu has again assured the business community in the state of his administration’s commitment to improve the business environment towards making it more attractive to investment.
Sanwo-Olu stated this at the Lagos Day and official closing ceremony of the annual Lagos International Trade Fair organised by the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI). He states that the government shall continue to place high priority on key infrastructure that would make Lagos safe, secure, functional and productive as an impetus towards achieving a sustainable economic growth through highly-motivated and vibrant private-sector participation.
According to Sanwo-Olu, since the inception of his administration, the state government has left no one in doubt of its intention to accord the private sector a pride of place in the vision and plan to build a 21st Century economy.
“In the past two years, we have taken practical steps to translate our intention into concrete actions through the various infrastructural projects and business friendly policies that we have continued to implement with the overriding objective of making the environment more conducive for investment to thrive,” said Sanwo-Olu, who was represented by Obafemi Hamzat, the state’s deputy governor.
According to him, this year’s Lagos State Day presents another unique opportunity to showcase investment opportunities available in the State to the business community and also apprise the public of efforts to improve business climate and attract more local and foreign investments to Lagos.
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Lola Akande, the commissioner, Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Cooperatives, said the current administration had been taking giant strides to create an enabling environment for entrepreneurship development and business prosperity by focusing on development of physical infrastructure and other business support processes to enhance economic competitiveness and productivity of small enterprises in the state.
“Let me further assure that we shall not rest on our oars until business prosperity is guaranteed. This is because the Lagos State Government is keenly aware that the achievement of our dream of becoming Africa’s model megacity by 2025 is hinged on continuous improvement of our business climate to stimulate private sector investments into the State, create jobs and increase productivity,” Akande said.
According to Akande, the aim and objectives of the fair aligns with the ministry’s mandate of driving economic growth in the MSME sector. Hence, it affords all stakeholders the opportunity to gain first-hand information about policies, programs and projects of the state government, with particular focus on those targeted towards enhancing business prosperity and economic growth in Lagos.
Toki Magbogunje, president, LCCI, in her statement urged the government to continue to address issues of enabling business environments on the back of the challenges faced by the Coronavirus pandemic.
Bayo Balogun, member, House of Representatives, representing Ibeju-Lekki Federal Constituency, said there was a need to initiate dedicated programmes like the Lagos International Trade Fair to promote made-in-Nigeria goods.
According to him, Nigeria’s economy within the next few years will depend on Ibeju-Lekki on the back of the current transformation happening in the area.
