By Ahmed Rahma
Organisers of the Lagos Economic Summit, Ehingeti 2021, have expressed optimism that the event will transform the economic landscape of the state.
Addressing newsmen in Lagos on Tuesday, the co-chair of the summit, Mr Yemi Cardoso, said the platform would be used to discuss very serious issues about the socio-economic and infrastructural development of Lagos State.
“In fact, call it the planning board for the gradual evolution of Lagos State into the desired shape and standard because deliberations at Ehingbeti feed into the Lagos masterplan and implementations are monitored by multiple stakeholders,” the financial expert said.
Ehingbeti is an ingenuous socio-economic apparatus that has contributed significantly to the development of Lagos State in the last 20 years. This year’s edition is slated for February 16 to 18.
Mr Cardoso said at the summit, multiple stakeholders will converge to dialogue, listen to another and come up with good policy environment to attract investment to the state as excellent coordination of private-public relationship can signal stability to investors.
“The dialogue results in understanding and consensus building. This an agreement to work together because of the shared vision established through the dialogue at Ehingbeti. At the end of these dialogues, communiqués would be issued and the parties begin to execute agreed programmes and monitor progress,” he said.
Speaking further, he said, “With the monitored implementation, the public sector acquires a new sense of operations and while the private sector feels secure with the accountability signalled by the process.”
Ehingbeti is a public-private sector roundtable that started as a collaborative effort between Lagos State Government and Business Club Ikeja.
Since the inaugural summit in 2000, the summit has gained useful insights from innumerable business and political leaders, renowned economists, notable development experts and outstanding scholars, who have participated from different parts of the world.
The summit has contributed significantly to the evolution of Lagos State into a major economy in sub-Saharan Africa and an admirable megacity, with expanding potentials.
It has been hosted by successive governments in Lagos State since the beginning of the 4th republic and has consistently redefined the dynamics of public-private sector collaborations for development across social and economic indices in Lagos State.
