Lagos, Nigeria’s biggest sub-national economy and business hub says it will be leveraging Public Private Partnerships, (PPP) to bridge its huge infrastructure gap.
The government in 2018 estimated that the state would need an investment of over $50 billion for five years to address its infrastructural deficit.
“Assuming the entire budget for 2018 (N1.04 trillion) is spent only on infrastructure development, Lagos will be left with a deficit of about N14.47 trillion and an additional 19 years of similar expenditure to bridge the infrastructure deficit,” said Akinwunmi Ambode, immediate past governor of Lagos, in 2018.
Speaking in similar tone at a stakeholders’ engagement, organised by the Lagos State Infrastructure Maintenance and Regulatory Agency (LASIMRA), on Tuesday, the state governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu said he was considering PPP as a model to tackle the infrastructure gap.
The governor told participants at the meeting that LASIMRA will also ensure that businesses across the state thrive using technology will as an enabler.
He said: “What we are doing is to ensure that we bring about a PPP model to solve our infrastructure challenges. It is also in that same vein that we will be using a PPP model to also fast-track technology.
“We believe that technology can be a major lead for us and you are in that critical sector where we can use technology as an enabler. For technology to live and survive, it has to have a strong backbone which is also in infrastructure.”
He urged the participants to embrace policies of the government and consider them as meant to make life better for Lagosians while also assuring that his administration will deliver on all the promises made.
JOSHUA BASSEY
