Lagos Global, a one stop shop for investors launches

In a bid to boost investment in the state, the Lagos State government through the Office of Oversees Affairs and Investment has launched a one-stop shop for investors in the state, called Lagos Global.

According to Yakubu Olajide Balogun, permanent secretary of the agency, “Experience in the last few months has advised this workshop. Yes, we have been working and we have achieved a lot in the few months that we have been working, and we have attracted a number of investments into Lagos that have created a lot of jobs for Lagosians, but we see that we can do better if we have the buy in.”

The state government in the second week of March disclosed the idea of the workshop. The aim is to enable investors coming into the state to have access to information of investment opportunities that abound in the various sectors of the economy of the state.

“With this they will be able to appreciate what we are doing, which is really to support them in attracting investment to Lagos State and make the process of documenting and making sure that investment flies easy,” Balogun said.

Lagos Global has been able to carry out detailed sector research through collaboration with other ministries in the state. In its research, Lagos Global was able to evaluate the strength, weakness, opportunities and traits of the sectors. From the research they were able to isolate specific sectors such as power, agriculture, transportation and housing as requiring greater attention.

“Housing is a major area that we are looking at, particularly social housing, affordable housing, mortgage financing, and so on. We are also interested in information communication technology, education and tourism.

“These areas we believe have great potential in Lagos given the strength in population, the availability of very high number of skilled and unskilled workforce,” Balogun said.