…says ease of doing business has significantly improved in last one
LAGOS, Nigeria – Lagos State Government on Thursday said its Gross Domestic Product (GDP), has moved from N27trn to N41trn within four years of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s administration till date.
The State Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget, Mr. Ope George, made this known during the ongoing ministerial press briefing that took place at Alausa, Ikeja, to commemorate the first year in office of the second term of Governor Sanwo-Olu.
George, while noting the challenges over the last couple of years, however, said the state was currently riding the curve and “coming out on a better side,” contributing at least a minimum of over 20 per cent of Nigeria’s GDP, and “currently ranked 7th in Africa.”
“Over the last couple of years, Lagos had face numerous challenges particularly when COVID-19 and #EndSARS struck.
“And so we have had a lot of shocks within our system over the last couple of years and with everything going on around the world. We are currently riding the curve and we are coming out on a better side.
“You hear sometimes when they say Lagos is one of the largest economies in Africa and truly, it’s not static, we will continue to move based on what’s going on in the world.
“As we speak now, I believe that we are currently ranked 7th in terms of GDP in Africa.
“We contribute at least a minimum of over 20 per cent of Nigeria’s GDP and you will find that over a period of review, during the first term of Mr. Governor, we are moving in the right direction.
“Our GDP has moved from about N27trillion to N41trillion, everything shows that our indices are climbing in the right direction despite all the shocks and all the problems we have witnessed in the past,” he stated.
George acknowledged that the Year 2024 Budget was doing well, pointing out that the ability of the state to increase its Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) had been helpful in the budget performance.
The commissioner noted that year in year out, the state had been doing better in budget performance, explaining that it started slowly but latter improved, particularly in area of IGR.
According to him, a sum of N300bn was realized in the first quarter of the year 2024, saying that the state targeted a total sum N800bn for the year.
On the ease of doing business in the state, George said such had significantly improved in the last one year through the deployment of technologically driven initiatives to assist stakeholders in the business community to effectively contribute to the GDP of the state without unnecessary bottlenecks.
He explained that deployment of this ease of doing business initiatives was in consideration of the fuel subsidy removal and globally economic hardship currently being witnessed.
The commissioner said his ministry had innovatively introduced strategies to keep the state’s economy rising despite economic challenges to boost investor’s confidence, assuring that the state government would continue to introduce economic policies in line with global practices to improve the living standard of Lagos residents.
