Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State on Thursday urged the Federal Government to grant special economic status to Lagos.
The governor, who described the state as a “national asset”, said the benefits of Lagos transcend a region of the country as all Nigerians enjoy the state’s prosperity in one way or the other.
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Sanwo-Olu made this known at the 2023 Budget Estimates Presentation to the Lagos State House of Assembly in the Alausa area of Ikeja, the state capital.
He presented the Budget Estimates of N1,692,670,759,894 with Recurrent as N759,958,569,792 (45%) and Capital being N932,712,190,102 (55%).
Christened the ‘Budget of Continuity’, the governor said its effective implementation will be for the benefit of all.
He said;
Lagos continues to experience increased pressure on social services due to unhindered migration from other parts of the country.
It is for this reason that I always sought and I will still continue to reiterate the need for Lagos to be accorded a special status as a national asset.
Lagos is too big for this country to allow it to fail. Lagos is too strategic for us not to see it that the wholesome of Lagos is the wholesome of this country, that the benefits of Lagos transcend one region, one part or one scope of this country.
As a microcosm of the entire country, Lagos deserves all the support it can get at the national level.
The development of any megacity like ours is the responsibility of both the public and private sectors, and to this end, we will continue to explore public-private-partnership strategies in the provision of infrastructure, social services, and the conversion of challenges to opportunities within the context of scarce resources.
I am indeed very grateful to the members of the organized private sector who have always heeded our calls for partnership and shown great and uncommon civic engagement with our government.
