80 per cent of all investments in Africa’s largest economy comes into Lagos State, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has said.
Sanwo-Olu said this while delivering a speech at the third Lagos investors’ roundtable organised by the Office of SDGs and Investment in Lagos on Thursday.
During the event, the governor launched a book titled ‘Lagos Deal Book’, a compendium of investment opportunities across the state as well as information about the incentives for making the investments and the processes for doing so.
He said, “It is such strategic partnerships that account for Lagos being by far the leading recipient of local and foreign direct investment in Nigeria.
“It is estimated that in the last few years, about 80 per cent of the investment into Nigeria has come into Lagos. These investments remain vital to our economic growth and wellbeing, supporting tens of thousands of jobs and livelihoods across the city.”
He said this was the reason why such a forum was an important platform for harmonising respective visions and targets, and agreeing key actions that would not only strengthen existing investment partnerships but also initiate new ones.
He said, “As a low-lying aquatic city with over 22 million citizens, confined to the smallest land mass in Nigeria, Lagos is especially vulnerable to all the challenges of a sprawling, densely populated, climate-challenged, fast-growing megacity.
“Our Infrastructure needs alone – in the face of our rising population and limited geography – exceed $15bn annually – five times the annual state budget.”