Gboyega Akinsanmi
The Lagos State Government yesterday disclosed that it would constitute an Economic Management Team (EMT) very soon help globalise the economy of the state.
The state government also identified private sector as the key agent of transformation in every economy, saying the drive “to take Nigeria out of recession resides in the private sector.”
The state governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, disclosed this at a meeting with a delegation from the Nigerian-British Chamber of Commerce (NBCC) at Lagos House, Ikeja.
The delegation comprised patron of the council, Chief Michael Olawale-Cole, President of the chamber, Prince Dapo Adelegan, immediate past president, Prince Yemi Adefulu, council members; Mr. Kamarudeen Danjuma, Mrs. Margaret Adeleke and Asiwaju Fola Osibo.
At the meeting, the governor said the economy of Lagos “is in the hands of private sector. It is instructive in the sense that we are the fifth largest economy in Africa. The drive to take Nigeria out of recession resides in the private sector. This is the kind of willingness we need on the part of the government to drive Nigeria out of recession.
“Receiving this delegation is instructive to send a message that this recession is going to be collaboration between the private and public sector. Because our economy is in the hand of private sector, we are willing to allow them drive it.
“That was why we have decided that we need to take out own policies and decision that will create an enabling environment for the private sector to thrive in Lagos. That was why we have been running this administration on a tripod,” the governor explained.
He, therefore, disclosed the plan of his administration to constitute an economic team, which he said, would catapult Lagos into that global city that the past leaders indeed envisioned.
He said: “We believe that very soon, we will be inaugurating an economic management team to drive Lagos State. We need to start to think and envision our self. It will involve nominee from the private sector.
“This will afford us the opportunity to collaborate with the private sector to think together. Majorly, the economy of Lagos is driven by the private sector and the only responsibility of the government is to ensure that there was an enabling environment for businesses to thrive.
“I believe the synergy will catapult Lagos into that global city that we envisioned. I see Lagos globally. That is why we have set up office of overseas affairs. This will afford us the opportunity to think globally. And that is the only way to move forward,” Ambode explained.
In another development, Emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, commended the Lagos State Government on the management of the economy of the state, especially in this period of recession.
Sanusi explained that any country that “depends on a mono-product commodity like Nigeria is bound to fail. Nigeria and other African countries has a lot to learn from how the economy of Lagos is being run, especially before the state gained oil producing state status.”
He commended the Ambode administration in Lagos, thereby urging the state government not to allow its new oil status distract it from the very solid economic template it is currently running.
The monarch strongly urged the state “to emulate Norway, where all its oil proceeds are warehoused in a sovereign wealth fund and saved for the raining day.”
