Lagos State is pushing for the recognition of its ‘special status’ as the largest market in Sub Saharan Africa in the implementation of the Federal Government’s 5-year (2021-2025) National Development Plan (NDP).
The state governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu made the case at the just concluded third Nigeria Public-Private Partnership Network (NPPPN) Forum 2021 held in Lagos with participants from the 36 states of the federation and Abuja, the federal capital territory.
The NDP which was approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) last month to replace the former Economic Recovery and Growth Plan ((ERGP), has an investment size of N348.7 trillion. The private sector is expected to contribute 85.7 percent of the projected amount, while federal, state and local governments are to contribute the balance of 14.3 percent to drive the success of the plan.
Speaking on Wednesday, at the forum with the theme “The Role of PPP in the 2021-2025 National Development Plan”, Governor Sanwo-Olu said it was also important for Lagos to play a critical role in the implementation of the NDP in view of the state’s exciting experience leveraging PPP to drive infrastructural development.
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“Lagos has increasingly become the PPP Eco – chamber of Nigeria, being home to over 2000 financial institutions, Nigeria’s largest Ports, hosting 65 percent of Nigeria’s commercial activities and being West Africa’s maritime and aviation hub.’’
Sanwo-Olu listed the 38-Kilometre long 4th Mainland Bridge which is now at the final RFP stage and expected to be the longest bridge in Africa and a world-class 5,000 trailer park to manage the existential challenges of haulage and major investments in the development of new maritime channels for commercial operation of modern water transportation as some of the critical PPP projects being delivered in Lagos.
Others, according to him, include housing, investments in traffic intelligence and physical road signals, institutional investments in radiology and laboratory/testing equipment across health institutions.
“We have witnessed significant and extensive mileage in PPP investment to address several developmental challenges confronting Lagos State, but we still have a long way to go. It is our hope that the offices of the minister of finance and Mr. Atedo Peterside, chairman and co-chair for implementing the NDP 2021-2025 shall consider the special status of Lagos as the largest market in Sub Saharan Africa; in their implementation structures,’’ Sanwo-Olu said.
Speaking also, Boss Mustapha, secretary to the government of the federation, represented by Paul Kanu, said the Federal Government was committed to ensuring that all contracts completed in line with Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) Act would be legally enforceable and that investors would recover their expected returns subject to compliance with the terms of the PPP.
Ope George, the special adviser to Lagos State governor on PPP; on his part, said the PPP initiatives in all cases were aimed at increasing private investment in the infrastructure market and the core infrastructure sectors.
