Lagos, Ogun deserve special status treatment

The Governor of Ogun State, Ibikunle Amosun on Wednesday threw his weight behind the call for some states to be accorded special status saying Lagos and Ogun States should be accorded special treatment by the Federal Government because of their strategic economic significance to the nation.

Amosun said Lagos State being the centre of commerce, the fifth largest economy in Africa and an emerging mega city required special status in terms of funds allocation to it, he emphasized that Ogun was next to Lagos in terms of non-oil revenue of the federal government and should be treated as such.

The Governor made this known at the on-going 8th National Council on Industry, Trade and Investment in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.

According to him,  more companies have their operational base in Ogun state as the it has officially become an industrial capital of the country.

He noted that about 423 companies with a minimum of over 2 billion investment capital are currently operating from Ogun State.

He said: “to this end, our Administration has continued to maintain and expand on existing infrastructures while new ones are being constructed. The results of these infrastructural developments are seen in the increase in investment inflow into Ogun State.

“We have continued to reap the benefits of our prudent financial management and re-engineered our Internal Revenue Generation drive. We have increased our IGR from the modest sum of N700 million monthly which we inherited at the beginning of our Administration in 2011, to over N6Billion per month in 2014, though, currently reduced to an average of N4.8 billion monthly due to the current economic recession in the country.

“As of now, our State is second only to Lagos State in the ratio of the monthly Internally Generated Revenue to the monthly FAAC allocation. This has allowed us to sustain payment of workers’ salaries, while also continuing with other development projects in all other sectors of our economy.

“According to the 2014 Ease of Doing Business Subnational rankings, our State recorded the most improvement of all the 36 states in Nigeria. This was compared to the States very poor ranking of 34th at the inception of our administration in 2011.

“We also introduced the concept of a “One Stop Shop” to assist Investors in their interactions with the government, particularly during their early stage. I am happy to report that about 423 major companies/industries are presently operating in the State, while over 100 new significant companies have opened shop since the advent of our Administration.

“Even in our current harsh economic climate, another 14 are currently in the process of commissioning their industries/ factories. Indeed, we hope that Mr President, President Muhammadu Buhari will help to commission some of these industries before the end of the year. Ogun State is now officially the Industrial hub of the nation.