Nigeria Content Online

As
the 5th edition of the annual Lagos Economic Summit commenced
yesterday, the state’s commissioner for economic planning and budget,
Ben Akabueze, stated that 34 out of the 37 recommendations issued at
the end of the last summit have been met by the state government.

Mr Akabueze, who
also doubles as chairman of the Lagos Economic Summit Group, made the
declaration at the opening of the 2010 edition of the summit while
reviewing the last summit. Amongst issues listed by the commissioner in
which the state government had made giant strides are the increasing
volume of the state’s internally generated revenue, adequate
accountability of the funds, more road constructions and effective
implementation of sustainable reforms in the state’s civil service.

He assured delegates that their contributions will be adequately utilised in developing the state.

World class hub

The state’s
governor, Babatunde Fashola, was unavoidably absent at the opening day
of the summit as he was reportedly stuck in London due to the Icelandic
volcanic eruption ash that has prevented airlines from flying in the
European airspace for over a week.

Representing him,
the deputy governor, Sarah Sosan, urged the private sector to come and
support the government’s plan in building Lagos state to become a model
mega-city in Africa.

“Lagos State
sovereign rating now ranks at par with the federal government,” she
said, adding that the state now “generates 70% of its income and relies
on the federal government for just 30% of the shared revenue.” The
keynote speaker, Paul Collier, a professor at Oxford University in the
United Kingdom, was also unable to attend the event as he was also held
back in England due to cancellation of flights as a result of the
volcanic ash.

His speech, titled
“Making Lagos, a world class Economic Hub”, was delivered via video
streaming from the UK to the delegates present at the summit.

In the speech, Mr.
Collier urged the Lagos government to adequately reform the state’s
civil service and the process in public financing of infrastructural
projects by reducing bottlenecks such as red tapes and bureaucracies so
as to make the state an attractive place to do business.

The speaker was
full of praise for the state governor whom he said has demonstrated
good leadership. According to Mr. Collier, “building Lagos state into a
model mega city of Africa is hinged on confidence”, and confidence, he
said, is “built on strong institutions.”

He described Mr.
Fashola as a good leader who makes great leadership less stressful in
the future by building the institutions needed for the future.”

Place of Lagos in Africa

A documentary was
aired at the event to showcase the growing essence of Lagos as a major
economic hub in the continent. Highlighting the areas of the state’s
economy that the government is strategising to further develop, the
government solicited the support of the private sector and investors in
developing the state’s infrastructure such as power generation, water
supply, transportation, real estate, sanitation and tourism.

According to Mr.
Fashola, who was featured in the documentary, “Lagos State with an
estimated population of 25 million people demands a power generation
capacity of 12,000MW but currently generates only 1,000MW and the power
consumption is estimated to grow to 20,000MW by the year 2020. There is
immense opportunity for the private sector to come and benefit from
this as we strive as much as possible to create the necessary conducive
and viable environment for them to run their businesses.”

The three day summit enters its second day today at the Eko Hotel
and Suites where there will be more deliberations on a number of issues
affecting infrastructural development of the state, as it works towards
becoming “Africa’s model mega-city.”