OPS wants Ehingbeti summit to focus on infrastructural development, job creation

As Lagos sets the pace for the next decade with its Ehingbeti economic summit, the organised private sector (OPS) has stressed the need for government to focus on infrastructural development, job creation, among other social issues.

The OPS also advised that the government should invest in technology while enabling entrepreneurial youth domiciled in the state to take advantage of their skills and talents.

Speaking at the Ehingbeti 2020 stakeholders’ conference and logo unveiling in Lagos yesterday, Chairman, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), Ikeja branch, Otunba Francis Meshioye, said the government should match manpower development with available needs to create room for employment.

Meshioye said there were many companies domiciled in Lagos, adding that if the growth of industrialists is eroded, it will affect the economy and gross domestic product of the country at large.

He said Lagos needed more industrial clusters to become the desired economic hub, adding that government should create viable links to channel goods from one cluster to another.

Director-General, Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA), Ambassador Ayoola Olukanni, said attention needs to be focused on municipal solid waste.

Olukanni, who expressed support for the summit, said Lagos State was still struggling with issues of waste management, which if not tackled could become a disaster.

According to him, there is a national policy on waste management, waste to energy, and wealth, which should be one of the studies at the summit.

Earlier in his remarks, co-chair, Ehingbeti 2020, Olayemi Cardoso, said the summit represents the development of Lagos and Nigeria as it has pioneered economic summits for other states.

He said Ehingbeti is about the outcome delivery of private and public sector deliberations.

According to him, from 2008 to 2017, the summits have produced 78 communiqué in, which 72 of it has been met.

Cardoso, who also doubles as the Chairman, Citi Bank, said the summit started in 2000 to accelerate and stimulate economic growth and has grown to a template for progress.

Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget, Sam Egube, said with 206 resolutions made so far, 193 have been implemented, stating that the summit is open to anyone who has an idea of what Lagos can become in the future.

With the theme, ‘For a greater Lagos: Setting the tone for the next decade’, Egube said the next decade comes with a lot of opportunities and challenges, which if the challenges are well coordinated with a sound mind, could be surmounted.

In his words: “We must come together to build Lagos in a participatory and contributively manner to achieve the Lagos of our dreams. If Lagos achieves it, it will rub off on others.”

He solicited for deep participation of stakeholders in achieving what Ehingbeti stands for, saying Ehingbeti is the private sector-led with government backing.

Special Adviser to the Governor on Sustainable Development Goals and Investment, Mrs Solape Hammond, Lagos is a global city and it is a city important to the world.

She said the summit aims to have at least 100, 000 participants or more to come up with resolutions to challenges faced by the summit.

She encouraged participants to sign up, stating that the summit would be broken into workgroups with thoughtful leadership.