Lagos State Governor, Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu, has called for a stronger collaboration between the State and Federal Governments to enable the state to leverage on their comparative advantages.
The Governor made this known through the Deputy Governor, Dr. Kadri Obafemi Hamzat, on Thursday while receiving the Participants of the Senior Executive Course (SEC) 47, 2025 of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru, at the Conference Room, Lagos House Ikeja.
The Governor noted that there should be effective collaboration between states and federal government agencies in the states across the country adding that such collaboration will go a long way in proffering solutions to issues and challenges that may be affecting harmonious relationships between them.
Sanwo-Olu therefore called participants to include in their reports issues affecting state and federal agencies, and how to find a lasting solution to frictions among them.
According to Sanwo-Olu, “Most nations, like Germany, Netherlands, a 20-kilometer radius around their ports, is taken care of port that takes care of the infrastructure, the roads, and everything, but that’s not the case here. So, as you write those reports, I think it’s important to also bring those issues out. Also, they cannot be creating liabilities for states to take on, it’s just not fair. A federal agency cannot approve for people to sand fields our water, it’s not fair.”
He added that these are parts of the issues that both governments must deal with, so that the states can leverage their comparative advantages, advising the institute to also visit some of those federal agencies so that they can also hear their side, and then do their report as appropriately as they see it.
Besides, the Governor noted that the State is the only sub-sovereign in the world, that funds rail on its balance sheet, citing that other sub-sovereigns such as London, New York, shares its ratio with the federal government, but in the case of Lagos, the state government has solely funded the rail because of the number of people that live in those areas.
Sanwo-Olu stated further that it is generally believed that things will keep getting better, adding that such eminent bodies like this eminent study group engage those issues and bring them to the forefront. “I think it’s very important for our country, so that we can design template structures that help the various institutions and various states.”
Earlier in his remarks, the Director-General, National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies and Leader of the Delegation, Prof. Ayo Omotayo, stated that Participants of the Senior Executive Course (SEC) 47, 2025 of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru are in the State on study tour owing to the significance of Lagos to this year’s theme of the Senior Executive Course.
The Director-General noted that as Nigeria’s foremost think tank, the Institute do receive the mandate of Mr. President at the beginning of every Executive Course in which he chooses a theme of study that he thinks is important and germane to the focus of his government.
He added that for this year, the President has chosen the theme, “Blue Economy and Sustainable Development in Nigeria: Issues, Challenges and Opportunities, adding that the place of Lagos in the Blue Economy is very germane and they will be called a failure if they fail to come to Lagos..
Professor Omotayo added, “Deputy Governor Sir, for the theme we are investigating this year, Mr. President will call us failures if we fail to come to Lagos because Lagos is the biggest in terms of the blue economy. We came here last year too, because the theme also had to do with Lagos,” he said.
He also commended the state government through the officials who have been taking them around all through, requesting possible recognition and applause.
