LAGOS, SWEDEN Advocate Improved Collaboration For Economic Growth

Lagos State Government and Sweden have concluded plans to improve collaboration across technology, transportation, power, digital skills and other sectors to accelerate economic growth for mutually beneficial development. 

This was part of the outcome of a roundtable meeting between the Lagos State Government, led by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu and Sweden led by the Crown Princess, Duchess of Vastergotland, Her Royal Highness, Victoria Ingrid Alice Desiree, at the Lagos House, Marina on Tuesday. 

Represented by the Deputy Governor, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat, the Governor described Lagos as a State with immense investment potential and new huge opportunities in the power sector, which the Federal Government recently unbundled and the present administration has domesticated through the new Lagos State Electricity Law. 

His words: “The State has done the audit of its power mix and the various capabilities for solar and other sustainable power sources. Today, we have various power generation companies and the focus is to build a mini-grid to ring-fence and ensure delivery to various users. Our goal is to fully develop our power generation, transmission and distribution network and we are looking forward to working with investors for delivery. 

“The State is developing a food logistics hub to ease distribution, reduce middlemen and ensure reduction of food prices by about 30 percent. It is also building platforms to integrate health facilities to ensure patients’ records are live and accessible online and real-time to avoid the provision of medical services and drug prescription without considering the patient’s history.” 

Governor Sanwo-Olu remarked that the State is surrounded by water making water transportation a gold mine and investors can leverage the strides already made by the administration – through the deployment of over 30 boats, to also invest in the sector. 

“The State already has two active rail lines Blue and Red – carrying thousands of commuters daily while others, designated by different colours, remain potential areas for investment. There are road transportation projects designed to be integrated into other transportation modes, with a unified payment platform using the cowry card. There is a need to build more transport hubs like the one in Oshodi to be able to serve about 14 million commuters who daily travel within Lagos. 

“Lagos has facilitated tech hub in Yaba that has become an ecosystem for youths to explore their talents by plugging into the facilities provided, as over 50,000 youths have been trained in coding to serve as ready pool for tech startups and other businesses,” he said. 

Sanwo-Olu further stated that all the sectors have huge potential that can be scaled and expanded as opportunities for Swedish-owned companies to explore for investment. 

Leading the Swedish team, along with the Crown Princess, and coordinating their responses, the Swedish Minister for Infrastructure and Housing, Andreas Carlson, reiterated the need for improved economic cooperation to strengthen already existing Nigeria-Swedish relations. 

“Nigeria has a growing economy with increased opportunities which come with increased challenges in accessing the sectors. This calls for improved engagement with the State and the Federal Governments. In the area of technology, Swedish companies are working to deepen 5G penetration strengthened by our belief that communication should be used for improved security and economy, and we are hoping to expand the relationship existing with telecommunication and mobile money companies to strengthen their operations. 

“Some of our companies are interested in ensuring that the large population of youth are digitally literate and that women and youth have digital certificates and entrepreneurship training to promote the tech ecosystem. Others are hoping to deliver a sustainable transportation system in Lagos, develop a biogas project using organic waste and expand into the mining sector. We will be glad to work with agencies in the State and also scale to the Federal level,” he said. 

Commissioner for Commerce, Cooperatives, Trade and Investment, Folashade Ambrose, represented by the Permanent Secretary, Dr. Olugbemiga Aina, expressed confidence that the roundtable, which is the third meeting with the Swedish representatives in six months, would transform into a virile platform for future engagements as he tasked the visiting team to work with the Ministry in setting up milestones and establishing timelines that will guide in the effective delivery of a working partnership between Lagos State and Sweden.