Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, on Tuesday said the state has a critical role to play in taking Nigeria out of the current economic doldrums, just as he harped on the need for partnership between government and the private sector to address strategic challenges confronting the nation.
Governor Ambode, who spoke at the Lagos House in Ikeja when he received on courtesy visit members of the Governing Council of Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN), who came to notify him of the hosting right of the 22nd World Conference of Banking Institute to be held in Lagos in April 2017 and other activities of the Institute, said Lagos, as the economic hub of Nigeria and the West African region, contributes about 70 percent of the financial services in the country, and as such the State was in a good stead to lead the nation out of recession.
The governor said the visit by the CIBN Council led by its President, Professor Segun Ajibola, was apt as it came at a time that Nigeria was undergoing recession, but the cheering news was that the country was abundantly blessed with a group of people that can actually help the country out of recession, to which many of them are members of the Institute.
He, therefore, harped on the need for partnership between the government and the private sector, saying: “This is like a clarion call, we need this partnership to take us out of the doldrums. Irrespective of the fact that Lagos contributes like 70 percent of the financial services in this country and if there is anything that can take us out of recession, it has to start from us and from Lagos.”
Ambode expressed readiness to partner with CIBN to create a structured capacity building for state officials with the view to getting a stream of hardworking professionals.
Earlier, Ajibola commended Ambode for the massive infrastructure development ongoing in the state, especially the improvement on security, the Light Up Lagos Project, ingenious traffic management strategy in strategic locations across the state such as the Iyana Oworo lay-by, Ketu-Alapere slip road, multifaceted Berger expansion projects, Ojota Pedestrian Bridge; road rehabilitation and light rail project, among others.
“As at today, the banking community is more than happy with the state of security in Lagos State. Our banks are now safer; our ATM locations are safer; we see secured human and properties more than ever before within Lagos and its environs,” Ajibola said.
