Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, said his administration will continue to create an enabling environment for foreign and local investments to thrive for the growth of the nation’s economy.
Governor Sanwo-Olu, who spoke through the Deputy Governor, Dr. Kadri Obafemi Hamzat, gave this commitment when the Ambassador of the European Union (EU) Delegation to Nigeria and Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Samuela Isopi, paid a courtesy visit on Wednesday in Alausa Ikeja, emphasizing the need for Lagos to streamline things and make it easier for businesses to flourish in the state.
The governor noted that Lagos was responsible for about 35 per cent of the GDP of the country, which makes it essential for commerce or services in the country to strive, stressing that “Lagos is like a golden egg and we must keep it for the survival of our country.”
Sanwo-Olu, who further noted that Lagos was becoming the largest Agriculture Hub in Africa, said that she had continued to have a relationship with agriculture-based countries like the Netherlands, among others to improve her agricultural initiatives.
On the state’s achievements on transportation, Governor Sanwo-Olu stressed that his administration had increased the volume of the state water transportation from about 170,000 to 750,00, adding that there was a need to increase it for more people to make use of water transportation rather than just the road.
“The challenge for us as a state is that Lagos occupies 0.4 per cent of the landmass of the country and has about 11 per cent of the population. That is why we appreciate what you are doing on our water transportation. We are also expanding the rail infrastructure which is basically to make it easy for people to invest in Lagos,” Sanwo-Olu said.
He, therefore, pledged support for the team to host an annual European Champ event that will help showcase the importance of the state as the economic hub of the country.
Ambassador Isopi, earlier in her remarks, while corroborating the request of the governor, stated that the delegate was in Lagos to seek the support of the state government to host an annual Euro Cham event which will help showcase the importance of the state as an economic hub of the country.
She noted that the event would also showcase the state’s potential in the economic, education, innovation, and infrastructure sectors, among other successful sectors.
The Ambassador, while speaking on some of the contributions of the EU to the country and Lagos State, said the EUD’s top companies were based here in Lagos, pointing out that over one hundred of them had given a good contribution to the economic growth and development.
According to her, this confirms that the economic partnership between the EU and Nigeria as well as Lagos State is very solid, saying that it also demonstrated the volume of the EU trade to the development and growth of the Nigerian economy.
“It also demonstrates the volume of our trade to the development and growth of the Nigerian economy, creating over fifty thousand jobs directly or indirectly to Nigerians, training over fifteen thousand Nigeria staff and creating an innovation app in the University of Lagos,” Isopi said.
Isopi stressed that the EU was working very closely with the Federal Government, saying that the Union was interested in the financial engagement of the country to work together and improve the business environment.
“In Lagos, we have been doing quite a lot in the digital market as Lagos is the Economic Capital of Nigeria. Our objective is to help develop infrastructure projects of the state that aim at developing Lagos waterways,” the Ambassador said.
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