Francesca Odimgbe
The Governor of Lagos State, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, on Thursday said his administration will continue to support the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) for economic growth.
He said the Lagos State Government is not averse to investment, and therefore it will do more than what is expected to encourage investments in technology, communication and key sectors for economic growth.
Governor Sanwo-Olu spoke during a courtesy visit by the Governing Board of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), led by its Chairman, Chief Idris Olorunnimbe, at Lagos House, Marina.
Governor Sanwo-Olu described NCC as one of the foremost forward-looking Federal Government commissions in Nigeria. He commended President Bola Tinubu for appointing men and women of impeccable character to lead NCC to give growth and direction to a very strong enabler of Nigeria’s economy, which is the communication industry.
He said: “We will be expecting so much from this sector. It is a very strong service industry that we believe will be one of the very deep growth paths that can also help us deepen the GDP of our country.
“This is a national assignment and we want to ensure that Lagos can be used as a very strong demonstration and a test point to push development as even as possible to every nooks and crannies of this country. We believe there has to be fairness and purposeful governance all around.
“We will continue to support NCC. I can assure you that we will do more than what is expected. We are not a government that would be averse to investment. Technology, communication and the rest of it are the next growth paths that we want to be part of. We can use technology as a strong enabler to do a lot of catch-up.”
Speaking earlier, Idris Olorunnimbe described Governor Sanwo-Olu as his mentor, saying his first experience in the public service board was presented to him by the Governor to serve on the board of the Lagos State Employment Trust Fund.
Olorunnimbe said Governor Sanwo-Olu is the first person the new Governing Board of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) would be visiting after inauguration, noting that Lagos is very important and crucial to NCC operation.
He said: “I am here, and I owe a service and a duty to Lagos State that Lagos must work. There are parts of Lagos that are unserved and underserved. And some of these places are not very commercially viable for the operators because every time they put infrastructure, the consideration is, ‘How will it generate its money back?’
“We would like the Lagos State Government to blaze the trail amongst the other states in Nigeria to grant free right of way in some of those areas in Lagos so that we can use that as an incentive to get the operators to go to those communities and those places.
“We will work with the Commissioner and the Lagos State Infrastructure Maintenance and Regulatory Agency (LASIMRA) to design this and implement it and use it as our pilot as we go to other states.”