Babajide Sanwo-Olu, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) gubernatorial candidate in Lagos State, has outlined five developmental strategies that, if elected on March 2, his administration would deploy to take Nigeria’s commercial hub to the ‘next level’.
In a policy document seen by BusinessDay, the 53-year-old APC candidate presented the five strategies couched under the acronym “T.H.E.M.E.” – traffic management and transportation; health and environment; education and technology; making Lagos a 21st-century economy; and entertainment and tourism.
in the area of transportation, Sanwo-Olu said his administration will focus on prioritising the attainment of a reliable multimodal transportation system by reducing travel-related stress, improving journey time reliability, particularly for business travel and the movement of goods, and improving access to and within activity centres.
Lagos, Nigeria’s centre of excellence and commercial hub, claims the number one spot when it comes to business location in Nigeria as the country boasted about $137 billion in Gross Domestic Product in 2017, almost three times the $47 billion that Nigeria’s West Africa neighbour, Ghana, recorded as its total market value for 2017.
The state has consistently raked in the highest amount in terms of states’ Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), turning in N283 billion in revenue as at the third quarter of 2018.
With a population of over 21 million residents, the state still battles with an inadequate transport system that could ease free movement of goods and services.
In spite of the issue of poor road network, trucks have taken over every sphere of the roads with many of the drivers turning the roads into a place of abode and bathroom, even littering the environment with faeces.
“To address this, my administration will improve safety whilst enabling all sectors of the society to travel to the destinations they need to reach and give priority to those means of travel that are less damaging to our natural and built environment,” Sanwo-Olu said.
On health and environment, he said his focus will cover around expanding the Lagos health insurance scheme with a target of 500,000 households (2.5 million enrolments) by Q4 2019 and increase health spending from 8.86 percent to 15 percent of the budget in line with the Abuja Declaration.
Furthermore, Sanwo-Olu said he will create a database to capture the health needs of Lagosians by deploying a Healthcare Management System across healthcare centres; access additional funding for primary healthcare facilities through the National Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF); expand Lagos State Ambulance and Emergency Service coverage by increasing the number of ambulance points by 50 percent (from 15 to 23), and ensure minimum of three doctors, three nurses and five community health workers in all 345 Primary Health Centres (PHCs) by 2021.
Lagos State is home to some 673 junior and senior secondary schools and 1,017 primary schools, catering to more than one million students and almost 30,000 teachers.
According to Sanwo-Olu, the state’s educational system is functioning sub-optimally even though the state was ranked 6th nationally in the 2018 WAEC exams.
“We believe that Lagos State schools should be number one nationally and that our public schools must compete favourably with private schools,” Sanwo-Olu said.
“To address this, we will Increase budgetary allocation for education from 12.07 percent to 18 percent during the tenure of the administration; collaborate with industry, Federal Government and academia to update the education curriculum to reflect current and future industry needs and expand the Support-Our-School Programme in partnership with the private sector by targeting 100 schools across all 57 LCDAs,” he said.
Lagos has a rich history of economic growth and transformation and it continues to remain the commercial and financial nerve-centre of the nation. With over 60 percent of industrial and commercial activities of the nation being accounted for in Lagos alone, it, therefore, becomes imperative that Lagos continues to be positioned for sustained economic development.
The competitiveness of Lagos State as an investment destination depends on a vibrant workforce, attractive business opportunities and a regulatory environment conducive for commerce and industries to thrive.
“Our administration will focus on driving key initiatives for an inclusive policy for sustainable economic development,” Sanwo-Olu said.
These initiatives, he said, include creating a business environment conducive to attracting investments and industries, encouraging citizen participation and inclusion in governance, and empowering the workforce and local talent to drive job and wealth creation, especially opportunities for the youth.
On entertainment and tourism, Sanwo-Olu explained that his administration would seek to make Lagos the foremost entertainment and tourism destination in Africa by restoring all historic sites in Lagos at the rate of 20 cultural sites per annum. He noted also that he would rebrand to international standards and actively promote cultural events like Fanti Carnival, Eyo Festival, Boat Regatta, among others.
MICHEAL ANI
