The Lagos State government has put in place a framework to ginger Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to perform optimally in a conducive environment, its Commissioner for Commerce, Industry and Cooperatives, Prince Rotimi Ogunleye, has said.
He said because of the vantage position of state as the economic hub for sub Sahara Africa, the state government through the ministry was determined to boost SMEs to contribute to industrial production in the state and create a forum for the diversification of the Nigerian economy.
He said as part of the ministry’s efforts at getting Medium, Small, and Micro Enterprises (MSMEs) to function and survive into maturity, “We have the corporate assembly, which we are going to do in this first quarter to call the operators in the Organised Private Sector (OPS) to meet with Lagos State Governor Akinwumi Ambode so that they can have a parley to discuss various issues affecting them, which can be tackled through government.
The programme is the fifth in the series to be hosted by the governor. The Commissioner said the ministry was also working with the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) to look at MSMEs’ capacity building and production.
“We have the industrial and enterprise zones for the micro operators. We have the industrial park for the small scale operators and we have the industrial estate for the medium operators,” he said.
Prince Ogunleye noted that the industrial parks are scattered in various parts of the state such as Ijanikin, Badagry, Matori 1 and 2, Yaba, Imota, Igberigbe, Ikorodu, Igbonla in Epe, Ibeju Lekki and others. According to him, the efforts are in the hope of moving the nation away from the current mono product system centred on oil.
He said, for instance, that the Lekki Free Zone has been specifically packaged to address that. He added that the Lekki Free Zone Development Company is saddled with the development of the project, which covers 16, 500 hectares of land in the Lekki area of the state.
“Right now, we are in the first phase, which covers 3, 000 hectares,” he said, adding that the agreement is 60/40 equity sharing ratio between the Lagos State Government and the Chinese consortium of China Africa Lekki Investment Limited (CALIL). While CALIL has 60 per cent shareholding, Lagos State has 40 per cent.
He further explained that in the Lekki free zone enterprise, Lagos State Government is not directed involved, rather she has a limited liability company known as Lekki Worldwide Investment Limited that represents her interest and also seek investors all over the world to invest in the free zone.
“You know free zone is a place where companies can operate without inhibitions that you see in the larger hostile environment. There is a lot of work going on there. A lot of companies are coming in there to invest and to produce,” the Commissioner told The Nation, adding that the State Government also has the Lekki Deep seaport in the same axis, which is an equity arrangement between Lagos State and Toran Group, a Singaporan consortium.
“The deep seaport has been specially packaged to take care of heavy vessels that may like to bring raw materials to Lekki free zone or take finished products out of the country for exports and to avoid gridlock at Apapa and Tin can ports.
“The deep sea port is not only a Lagos affair; it is a tripartite equity sharing between Toran, which has 61 per cent, Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) 20 per cent, and Lagos State Government, 18.15 per cent,” he explained.
The Commissioner listed other development projects around the axis to aid the industrialisation of the state to include the Lekki International Airport and Dangote Fertilizer and Petrochemical Plants. He said massive work is already going on at the Dangote refinery, which is not in the free zone but in that corridor. The conglomerate, he said, already has a power plant that is functioning and guaranteeing steady power supply.
The ministry under Ogunleye’s charge was formally Ministry of Commerce and Industry. Cooperative was with Agric Ministry and they were called Ministry of Agric and Cooperative. But the Commissioner said Cooperative has been added to the ministry to change the orientation of cooperative from solely depending on agriculture and agro allied businesses.
“The ministry is like an enabling ministry to assist the MSMEs to grow the economy. So, the addition of Cooperatives can broaden their scope and get them involved in the administration’s dream for massive transformation of the state,” he said.