Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State says the Federal Government owes as a duty to support the growth and development of artisans and tradesmen because of the strategic role they (artisans) play as economic catalysts in any country.
Fashola spoke at the 2013 artisans/tradesmen week in Lagos, last week, saying priority must be accorded to artisans in the country in terms of training, loan facilitation and creating of enabling environment for their operations.
At the event which had as theme, ‘Sustaining the growth of the informal sector: The Lagos model’, the governor said the government needed to change its developmental strategy and focus on creating conducive environment for tradesmen and artisans in the country.
He stressed that this was the way the country could achieve the seven percent economic growth proposed by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for African countries especially Nigeria in 2015.
“If we talk about an expected seven percent growth in the Africa’s and Nigeria’s economy, and we fail to provide opportunity for tradesmen and artisans to fulfill their destiny and realise their dream that economy hasn’t performed.
“Our population is growing daily and the wealth of the nation can only be built by artisans. It is the artisan that has helped to build all the great nations of the world. Any nation that must prosper must pay attention to what the artisans are doing.”
“We all depend on the service of the artisans for our daily activities. There isn’t any society that can function without artisans”.
He said the state government on its part has concluded plans to partner with the artisans to show their resolve to continuously improve the Lagos economy.
“And part of responding to your challenge, we have engaged 2,000 from the artisans and tradesmen on 8-week intensive training programme, to help the artisans compete favourably with their peers from other countries,” he said.
