Lagos leverages Ehingbeti summit to deliberate future plans

Acknowledging the need for collaboration, especially in realising its developmental goals, the Lagos State government, alongside economic and finance experts from public and private sectors of the economy, has concluded plans to leverage the upcoming 2022 Lagos Economic Summit known as ‘Ehingbeti’ to deliberate on the paths to sustainable socio-economic growth of the state.

Speaking at a media parley in Ikoyi, Lagos, the Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget, Samuel Egube, said arrangements have been made to ensure the summit, expected to take place between August 16 and 17, 2022, addresses the dream future of Lagos, disclosing that, a Development Plan, to this effect, would be launched at the summit.

Themed ‘Lagos 2022- 2052: Charting the paths to sustainable socioeconomic growth,’ he said: “The future is a hope we all have. Lagos State government has never believed it can do it alone but has excelled with the cooperation and understanding of relevant stakeholders in which the private sector has a major role to play. Lagos will continue to do well. Lagos cannot fail because there is so much around the way it is governed.”

He said Lagos is central to the survival of the country and being the economic nerve centre of the nation, it will continue to attract people from other states of the federation, who want to eke a living in a state that has one of the least land mass.

To cope with the influx of people, he said, requires lots of planning, not just for the moment, but for the future.

Stating that some of the current developmental initiatives in Lagos were products of resolutions taken from previous Ehingbeti summit, Egube added that the conference is not just about talk shows, but to walk the talk.

According to him, “Lagos’ future is germane to this administration and we have invested our time and energy to ensure that Lagos lives up to its potentials and projections. Lagos needs to take ownership of its future. We are going to assemble a lot of people from the public and private sectors to assess what has been done so far and what is left undone.

“People have investments in Lagos because they believe in the future of Lagos. We might quarrel about today, but we are united about what our future should be and that is what we are going to be celebrating in the next Ehingbeti.”

The Lagos State government, he said, has implemented 193 out of 206 resolutions from Ehingbeti since its inception, adding that, over the last 20 years, recommendations from Ehingbeti have helped the Lagos State government to focus on areas that concern the citizens, investors, and businesses with positive results achieved.

Since the inaugural summit in 2000, Ehingbeti has gained useful insights from innumerable business and political leaders, renowned economists, notable development experts and outstanding scholars, who have participated from different parts of the world.