Oil price fall cannot ground Lagos economy, Fashola boasts

The continuous fall in crude oil price at the international market will not ground the Lagos State economy, Gov. Babatunde Fashola said on Tuesday.

Mr. Fashola said this at the formal presentation of the state’s 2012-2025 Development Plan in Ikeja.

According to him, the Lagos economy was not built to rely on earnings from any extractive resource.

“The uncertainties in the oil market cannot have serious effects on the state’s economy.

“The state’s economy thrives on its diversity, its rich human resources, strong immigrant capital and government`s sound fiscal policies.

“Whatever happens to oil, the state will survive. This is because the state`s economy is not built on extractive resources, but on very strong foundations that had ensured continuous development,” the governor said.

Mr. Fashola said the drafting of the new economic plan for the state was to promote the state`s development and make it an African model megacity by 2025.

He said though, some of the components of the plan were already being implemented by the state government, complete implementation would transform the state massively.

The governor listed the 70 million Adiyan Water Works, the Island Power Plant and the Alausa Plant, as some of the components of the plan that had been implemented by his administration.

Mr. Fashola enjoined residents to see the plan as their own and work with the state government to ensure its successful implementation.
Earlier, Ben Akabueze, the Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning, said the development plan was borne out of the need to harness the various documents articulating the vision.

He said that the plan provided the framework to guide private and public investments in government programmes.

“The purpose of the Development Plan is to provide overall direction for the growth and development of the state.

“It will provide a framework by which all sectors of the economy can direct their energies and contribute to the improvement of the quality of lives of people in the state.

“It will set the overarching long-term framework for government`s planning and budget system.” he said.

Mr. Akabueze said the plan would focus on developing the key areas of the economy, environment, infrastructure and security, adding that its successful implementation would make the state a model city by 2025.

In his remark, Jariya Hoffman, the Country Director of the World Bank, commended the state government for coming up with the plan, saying that it would further promote development.

She said that the success of the plan would largely depend on its implementation, urging the state to muster the necessary courage to implement the document.

Some of the policy targets contained in the document by 2025 include decent housing for all residents and increasing to 40 per cent the contribution of the manufacturing sector to the state’s GDP.

Others are a 40 per cent reduction in traffic offences and an employment rate of more than 90 per cent.

(NAN)