Lagos State Governor, Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu has enjoined the Organized Private Sectors to collaborate with the state government to accelerate business growth, create more jobs, and drive economic development in Lagos.
The governor stated this on Tuesday at the 9th Lagos Corporate Assembly with the theme “Unpacking Barriers to Ease of Doing Business: Accelerating Business Growth” held at the Eko Hotel & Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos.
Sanwo-Olu, who spoke through the Deputy Governor, Dr. Kadri Obafemi Hamzat said this would help to foster a more conducive and thriving business environment for everyone.
He said “Let us reaffirm our collective commitment to overcoming the barriers to ease of doing business. Let us work together to accelerate business growth, create more jobs, and drive economic development in Lagos State.”
Speaking further, the Governor noted that through the T.H.E.M.E.S+ Development Agenda of his administration, the government is unwavering in its commitment to fostering an environment where businesses can flourish.
He added that the agenda embodied the vision for a Greater Lagos, especially highlighted by the 4th Pillar – M, which focused on making Lagos a 21st Century Economy, stressing that through the implementation of the agenda, the government had initiated numerous policy reforms to facilitate business operations in Lagos.
Accordingly, he said his administration is simplifying regulatory processes, improving infrastructure, and leveraging technology to streamline interactions between businesses and government agencies, noting that his administration’s goal was to minimize bureaucratic blockages and create a seamless experience for all businesses operating in the state.
Speaking on the importance of the Lagos Corporate Assembly, the governor said the Assembly is a testament to his administration’s unwavering commitment to fostering a conducive environment for businesses to thrive in Lagos State.
“Lagos is the economic hub of Nigeria and is home to a diverse and dynamic business community, as such the government sees the Lagos Corporate Assembly as a crucial platform for public-private dialogue, collectively identifies challenges, discusses solutions, and charts a course for sustainable economic growth and development.
“Our resolve is to make the assembly a formidable platform for public-private collaboration, ensuring that your voices are heard and your concerns are addressed promptly. We are determined to turn the feedback we receive from you into actionable policies that will further ease the business environment in Lagos,” he said.
Sanwo-Olu, therefore, assured the State Cooperate Organisation of his continued support, as his administration is unreservedly committed to providing the necessary resources, infrastructure, and policies that would ensure their businesses did not only survive but thrive.
He said that the government would continue to engage with them, listen to their needs, and implement reforms that would foster an environment necessary to grow their businesses.
Earlier, Commissioner for Commerce, Cooperatives, Trade and Investment, Mrs. Folashade Ambrose-Medebem stated that the ministry would continue to collaborate with bilateral and multilateral Chambers of Commerce and Industry to achieve and sustain the objectives of having an enabling environment where doing business in Lagos would be much easier.
Ambrose-Medebem disclosed that the ministry was in the process of constituting an Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) Team that would be tasked with interfacing with stakeholders in the business community via a one-stop-shop virtual interface.
She added that the team’s approach would be technology driven to meet the demand of the highly digitised local and global investors community, noting that “The virtual one-stop-shop interface will be enabled with robust connectivity to strategic global business gateways to enhance access to the State for the global business communities.”
According to Ambrose-Medebem, in recent years, the economy had grown from 27 trillion to 41 trillion naira, adding that the phenomenal growth had been made possible by initiating and implementing deliberate policies and intentional strategies to facilitate the ease of doing business and promoting a conducive environment that continues to attract investments into the State.
A member of the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council, PEBEC, Dr Jumoke Oduwole said the mandate of the council was to remove bureaucratic bottlenecks and improve the perception of doing business in Nigeria.
Oduwole said, “We work with friends of Nigeria, development partners and diplomatic corps and Civil society groups. We also work with regulatory bodies that you encounter on a daily basis.
“We listen to complaints from your companies directly or through social media and we look at international best practices and engage with MDAs. We negotiate this: why does it take 10 steps in Nigeria while in Ghana, it takes only three steps and in Singapore, it takes only four minutes? We break down the process and we say what we can do better.”
She explained that since inception in 2016, PEBEC had been focusing on MDAs which represent 50 percent of Nigeria’s GDP, saying “It is time to start looking at the other 50 percent. It is a continuous process.”
Oduwole disclosed that since the council collaborated with sub-national, states with performance results would have its share of 750m dollars domiciled with the Federal Government from World Bank.