Lagos State Governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has charged the Board and Management of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) to enhance economic interaction with states across the Federation to move the country forward.
Governor Sanwo-Olu, represented by the Deputy Governor, Dr. Kadri Obafemi Hamzat, said this while receiving the Board and Management of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) and Lagos Business School (LBS), who were on a courtesy visit to the Round House, Ikeja, stating that the states’ should not depend on the Federal Government for them to thrive.
The governor emphasised the need for deeper collaboration between Lagos and other states, noting that most private organisations had made the mistake of pushing partnerships to Abuja while not looking at the direction of the states.
According to Sanwo-Olu, it is important that states be factored into their scope of operations, saying that they should not forget that it is the states that own the land for agriculture and other infrastructure.
This was just as he bemoaned the consequences of the influx of interstates’ migration to the state. Don’t forget that it is the states that own the land for agriculture and other infrastructure.
“The state government needs help; as such, private companies need to be interacting with other states too. Lagos State is doing much with assisting entrepreneurs, the NANO, and young people, and the reality is that if we create space for a hundred thousand people and about four hundred thousand people come in from other states, it means we have really done nothing. The reality is that Lagos State cannot separate itself, so what happens in Oyo, Ogun, and Niger States is also important to us,” the governor said.
He, therefore, charged the Board and Management of NESG to lead conversations that can make states that manage people, land, and other resources work together.
Speaking further, Governor Sanwo-Olu cited the interaction between the Economic Summit Group and the state government during the Eyingbetti Summit, which birthed several infrastructures such as the BRT and others, opining that Nigeria would be better off if collaboration could be fostered in Lagos and other states.
NESG Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Dr. Tayo Aduloju, earlier in his remarks, urged the state government to consider reinforcing partnerships that were at the roots of the post-1999 democratic Lagos and commitments to the state’s future.
Aduloju assured that NESG was committed and willing to take partnerships that would build the Lagos of everyone’s dream forward, even as he commended the state government for the support rendered to the group and for being its host for over three decades.
“I must thank the state government for allowing us to thrive, and I can say that in Lagos State, we have found a strong patron and sponsor,” he said.
Meanwhile, Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has reemphasized the willingness of his administration to collaborate with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) in ensuring the registration of businesses in the state.
He charged the Registrar-General, Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Hussaini Isahaq Magaji (SAN), to seek seamless means of registering the different businesses in Lagos, particularly the new start-ups who had challenges paying the registration fees.
“The state government desires to register businesses, but the Commission must find a way of registering them without burdening them. You must find a means of helping these young people who really need to formalise their businesses but maybe do not have money to register,” the governor pleaded.
The governor, while giving the charge, cited the state tax card as an example, which he noted “is a token but allows the state to have its database, which enables the government to manage the state’s infrastructural needs.”
The governor, therefore, recommended that the Commission engage in more sensitization for people to understand the process of registration and also to correct the wrong perception that it was difficult to register businesses with the corporation.
The Registrar-General of the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Hussaini Isahaq Magaji, disclosed in his remarks that the Commission was enforcing compliance within the fintech industries, adding that POS owners can achieve registration with CAC from anywhere in the country.
He further disclosed that the Commission was willing to collaborate with the state government so that business owners could register their businesses with the CAC through the Lagos State government at a consensual rate as part of the commission’s intervention with MSMEs.
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