Babajide Sanwo-Olu Lagos State is undoubtedly the most advanced city in Nigeria and it serves as not only the Economic capital for the Federal Republic of Nigeria but also an exemplary state that other states in the country look up to in the realm of development.
The same state which serves as a template provider for the development of other states and regions in Nigeria and sub-Sahara Africa has now been found wanton following a shameful revelation by the Sahara Reporters, a news media platform, which reported that Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, according to the document allegedly possessed by the Lagos State Procurement Office, approved an humongous amount of money for the purchase of fragrance for his office and another huge sum of money for the acquisition of rechargeable fans for the Office of his deputy, Femi Hamzat.
Spending N7.5 billion to buy fragrance for the Office of the Governor and N3 billion to buy rechargeable fans for the office of the Deputy Governor may not be considered a big deal after all Lagos State has heavy financial wherewithal to settle the bill but the failure of the state government to use the deal to maximize the level of industrialization in the state could be described worrisome and chronically disturbing.
Consider a situation Lagos State Government provides a grant of N500 million or N1 billion to 15 or 7 Nigerian investors respectively, encouraging them to invest the money into fragrance production and pay back the money with a single-digit interest through the supply of their products to the Office of the Governor.
Reasonably, this would have maximized the rate of industrialization in the state, providing job opportunities, increasing Lagos State’s Internally Generated Revenues, and contributing, immensely to stabilize the economy of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
At worst, if Lagos State could not find a reliable business investor in Nigeria with the intention or capacity to satisfy the state’s requirement, N10.5 billion is enough to attract foreign manufacturers of fragrance and rechargeable fans to set up their firms in Nigeria.
Sincerely, if a fragrance manufacturing company knows that a market value of at least N7.5 billion per annum awaits its business in a country, the company owner would not hesitate to have his company set up in the country. The same applies to a rechargeable fan manufacturer with a potential market value of N3 billion per annum; the firm would not hesitate to have its branch opened in the country or state.
This allocation is both wasteful and shameful except it is found to be untrue. In an economy that struggles to survive and heavily depends on importations to thrive, N10.5 billion is enough to stop the importation of perfumes and rechargeable fans by inviting the manufacturers to Lagos State for production in Nigeria.
If Lagos State government should culprit of this, how do we condemn smaller states where their Governor been alleged to have spent N10 billion in three months to service Office of the Governor; a state governor who was alleged to have spent almost N1 billion to feed himself in three months or the one that was accused of budgeting N10 billion to purchase cars for his office and his cabinet members.
Until Nigerian government rises to the stage of lobbying the manufacturers of whatever we consume to take their production to the country, economic development may remain a theory in the book of Nigeria.
Category: World-News
Tag: Lagos SanwoOlu perfume fragrance rechargeable fans
Written by Omooba Alekuwodo (omoobaalekuwodo)
Published 11/21/2023 1:33:33 AM