recording for the maiden edition of Lagos Global on TV, it certainly elicited more than passing curiousity and interest.
With an improvised studio setting inside the Lagos House Alausa Ikeja venue of the programme recording, Ambode was for over two hours virtually at the mercy of the television crew and the presenter as he responded to different questions while a studio audience, drawn mainly from the business sector, cheered or applauded as the interview session progresed.
Apart from the governor, the recording programme also featured as a guest, Professor Ademola Abass, the Special
Adviser to the Governor, Office of Overseas Affairs and Investment. For the duo it was another opportunity to
speak and further educate Lagosians, and indeed
Nigerians, on what the administration is doing to realise its
vision of creating an investment-friendly Lagos State,
especially under the auspices of the Office of Overseas
Affairs and Investment which the governor established
May last year in fulfillment of one of his election promises.
Remarkably this is not a one-off opportunity as viewers will
have the opportunity to hear and learn more, through the
Lagos Global TV, of the numerous investment opportunities
that exist in Lagos and what the government is doing to
promote investment by creating the enabling environment.
The new television programme, which will run for 26
weeks, will, for now, air on Television Continental, TVC, and
Lagos Television, LTV.
Explaining the consideration that informed his decision to
establish of the Office of Overseas Affairs and Investment,
Governor Ambode said one of his priorities was to see
“how to improve on the ease of doing business in Lagos
and I also believe that we needed to carry out some kind of
public sector reforms to drive the vision which we had
actually set for ourselves and we needed to also have a kind of structure and institutional framework that would
drive the vision.
The vision is very simple: we want a safer, cleaner and a more prosperous Lagos and one of the structures would be
if we want to tackle the issue of bureaucracy in the civil service. And without actually competing with the Federal
Government, we needed to find a place where our foreign
investors, foreign business men will come in without going
from one ministry to the other, … we needed to have a
24/7 one-stop shop office where we can drive investment,
especially where our businessmen can actually walk into
and get everything that they need. In going about that, we
decided to come up with the office of Oversees Affairs and
Investment, otherwise known as Lagos Global. It is
designed to serve as one-stop shop to facilitate local and
international investments.”
On his part, Abass informed that the TV programme to run
every week is intended to help Lagosians know what the
state government is doing in terms of how it is driving and
generating investments and creating job opportunities. He
added that though it will be showing for now on TVC and
LTV, “by the grace of God by next year we will add another
one or two channels” and will retain the current format of
studio audience participation. He explained that in the
matter of ranking Lagos and Kano are critical, with Lagos
having the edge. He buttressed this by informing that
Lagos was recently pronounced the fifth largest economy
in Africa. “So, it’s no longer a guess work; that means if
Lagos today were to be country, we’re the fifth largest
economy in Africa,” he said, adding that it presently has a
Gross Domestic Product that is bigger than those of Kenya
and Ghana combined.
With regards to Lagos Global, he had this to say: “Primarily
our focus or aim is to drive investment. As a government
we have no business running business. Our business is to
create an enabling environment for the the private sector
to partner with government. “Lagos Global aims to ensure
that investors who desire to invest in Lagos enjoy a
seamless and hurdle-free experience. At Lagos Global, we
aim to provide first-class service delivery to investors,
right from the point of initial enquiry down to the setting
and running of businesses in Lagos State. Our goal is to
eliminate difficulties with multi-agency handling of
investments”.
Providing the background to this arrangement, Ambode
had explained: “We are running on a tripod of security, job
creation and improvement of infrastructure. If Lagos is
safe, more businessmen will do business and more
investments will come to Lagos, thereby creating more
jobs and growing our Gross Domestic Products”.
He added that the state was willing to partner with
investors who would add value to the people. According to
him: “…Our administration has resolved not to be the sole
driver of the public enterprise, but rather be an enabler,
facilitator and regulator, while the private sector drives the
economy. Our focus therefore is a win-win scenario where
the private sector makes profitable returns on investment
and the government continues to focus on providing quality
and improved public services to the citizenry in partnership
with the private sector”.
Waxing optimistic on account of the positive results
already recorded, he said this became possible through the
reforms already carried out, especially in the judicial and
security sectors. “…It is gratifying that the modest and
concerted efforts are yielding positive outcomes as the
state economy has continued to expand rapidly with top-
notch local and foreign investors making new
commitments in bus services, retail outlets and hotels,
amongst others. We have been having the rule of law
properly upheld in the state in the last 16 months and when
you put all the reforms together, that is the main thrust of
what you can now say confidently that we have created an
enabling environment for investors and they are now
coming into Lagos in droves. The FDI(foreign direct
investment) that we have attracted into Lagos in the last
16 months is greater than what we have been having in
the last 10 years.”
Responding to a question from a member of the studio
audience, the governor said: “Primarily, our business is to
create enabling environment for business to thrive. We can
sometimes waive some charges like land charges,
depending on how impactful the investment is to the
people of the state. This administration has deployed
technology to bring about seamless service delivery while
scaling up the identity card scheme for data, economic and
financial planning.
“But, we need infrastructure to make it happen. We are
limited by resources and we cannot increase taxes, but
with more funds from taxes, we can do better. The N25
billion Empowerment Trust Fund is not for big investors
but SMEs and the youth. Our ID card project will be for
planning and accessing government services. The contract
has been awarded. However, we need to know the real
census figure of the state as well as those going in and out
of the state.
“There is no government money anywhere. What we get as
tax is what we use to create services. The more efficiently
we collect the taxes, and the more willingness of the
people to pay, the better for us. I urge investors to see
Lagos is on the rise and the future of Nigeria rests in her
commercial capital, which is Lagos”.
He also stated that reforms in the transport sector have
reduced travel time, thereby making Lagosians more
productive. “Again, our civil service has been very
responsible. Our judicial sector reform has been effective
with the rule of law respected. Investors are coming in
droves…,” he said.
Responding to a question on the prevailing poor energy
situation, he pointed out: “We need energy security to
protect the investment. But we’re not in position to drive
our energy need. But we’re discussing and collaborating
with the DISCOs to come up with a new roadmap and have
set up an advisory council on petroleum supply. I don’t
want to pre-empt that council; in another few weeks they
will come out with their report. Energy security of our
economy is the way to go”.
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