Lagos to De-Risk Foreign Investments—Sanwo-Olu

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Governor of Lagos State, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has revealed that his administration is looking to adopt a strategy where investments coming into it would be domiciled in local currency to de-risk foreign exchange.

The governor spoke during a plenary session at the 2023 Africa Investment Forum (AIF) Market Days on Thursday organised by the African Development Bank (AfDB) themed Regional Corridors: Quest to Integrate Africa.

Mr Sanwo-Olu said, “Such a strategy will deepen our local currency and also help us de-risk foreign currency interest rates and other issues.

“So, indeed, it is a lot of money. So, if you want me to put some numbers to it, it could be a billion dollars in local currency or a trillion naira. That is the kind of thing that we are going to pick on.”

The governor explained that the state government was discussing with the Federal Ministry of Finance Incorporated (MOFI) to sell off some public assets to generate revenue and cash.

Mr Sanwo-Olu added that there are a lot of assets in Lagos, and they want to determine the real owners and what percentage everybody owns. This, he said would help free up dead assets locked down in some sectors.

He expressed confidence that the state government was working on the timelines.

Speaking on the completion of the Red Line railway by the end of 2023 and its partnership with Ogun State on the project, the governor revealed that the project was going to get to its neighbour.

He remarked that when they designed the project, there was no partnership with Ogun State, saying, presently, there is a partnership with the Ogun State government on the project.

“They have given them access to land and we will start testing by December. We will do a lot of testing before full commercial services and transportation of passengers can commence.

“My administration is committed to leveraging opportunities created by the ongoing Africa Investment Forum (AIF) and interfacing with investors from across the world to create projects that impact the lives of the citizens.

“I came to this forum for the exchange of ideas with the global business community, to identify areas of mutual economic relationship to enable my government to come up with policies that could easily ramp up projects in transportation, food processing and film industry among others to help change the lives of the people,” he added.