Press Releases

We Intend To Sustain The Pace Of What We Started 20 Months Ago - Fashola

Feb 11, 2009 - Lagos State Governor, Mr Babatunde Fashola (SAN) on Wednesday declared that the State Government intends to sustain the pace of what it has started in the past twenty months by building infrastructure in all facets of life to keep the people alive, active and engaged.

The Governor who spoke while receiving the management of IBM West Africa on a courtesy visit to Lagos House, Marina added that developing such infrastructure in transportation, socio-economic, education and health sectors represent the only basis upon which commercial activity can flourish substantially.

He added that the IBM brand was one of the pioneers in the Information technology fields, which unlike a dinosaur, has successfully recreated itself and refused to die.

The Governor reiterated that the state is currently investing heavily in infrastructure because the economy has grown and outstripped its infrastructure, adding that the state is committed to addressing the deficit.

The Lagos State helmsman said: “We are clear in our plans and thinking that the growth which we envisage can only happen in an atmosphere where enterprises and businesses like yours can take place”

He also said Lagos State has many areas of interaction, opportunity and cooperation with IBM West Africa, promising that as the host state, every support would be given to ensure the support of the enterprise.

“Our commitment to education is rising to an increased level because we belief that it is the best and greatest investment that we could make”, he added.

He said the state is looking at the possibility of children interfacing with current global trends where paper is becoming almost extinct as no one can conveniently say what would happen to paper in the next twenty years.

He added that now is the time to get prepared and think of the possibility of providing Personal Computers per child for children in cluster so that they can do their assignments and home works online.

He expressed the hope that IBM can create a business hub in Lagos which will be different from what is obtainable in Asia but can as well compete with what is obtainable from there.

Governor Fashola said the state has engaged Information Technology for its security management, data management, tax management and in the health sector where it has converted its old records in analogue forms into digital ones thus positioning itself to taking cutting edge positions in e-medicine.

Continuing, Governor Fashola said: “Most of the equipments we are providing are state of the art and ultra modern and we need to match the old with the new and position ourselves for the future”.

In his words: “We are committed to developing the free trade zone which will be an interesting opportunity to manufacture some of the hardware in a duty free environment and grow the economy with jobs and also save production costs because labour here is relatively cheaper compared to Europe or America”.

He also said the state is taking well informed choices and decisions about what the future of the state should be like in terms of urban planning to ensure that Lagos grows in an orderly and sustained manner in the next 25 to 30 years with a possibility of a population explosion being very close.

“What we have built up in the state is only one tenth of the land space. We still have so much of Lagos in Epe, Badagry and all of these areas and our responsibility is to provide very functional cost efficient link to encourage growth and expansion in those areas”, he emphasized.

The Governor said with the location of the headquarters of the IBM in New York, the organization would not find it difficult to recreate itself in Lagos because both cities share a lot of similarities such as a day and night economy which will make terrain of engagement very easy.

Speaking earlier, the Country General Manager of IBM West Africa, Mr Andy Chiakpo has moved its headquarters to Nigeria and Lagos and would be pleased to develop skills and train Nigerians in IT fields.

He added that IBM which is also seeking better opportunity for growth in West Africa and Nigeria would also ensure making Nigeria and IT industry.