Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has announced that his administration will keep supporting the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to drive economic growth.
He said the Lagos State Government welcomes investment and will go above and beyond to promote investments in technology, communication, and other key sectors that drive economic growth.
During a visit from the NCC Governing Board, led by Chairman Idris Olorunnimbe, Governor Sanwo-Olu praised the commission as one of Nigeria’s most forward-thinking federal agencies. He applauded President Bola Tinubu for selecting men and women of outstanding character to steer the NCC, guiding growth and providing direction for the communications industry, a key driver of the nation’s economy.
He said: “We will be expecting so much from this sector. It is a very strong service industry that we believe will be one of the very deep growth paths that can also help us deepen the GDP of our country.
“This is a national assignment, and we want to ensure that Lagos can be used as a very strong demonstration and a test point to push development as even as possible to every nooks and crannies of this country. We believe there has to be fairness and purposeful governance all around.
“We will continue to support NCC. I can assure you that we will do more than what is expected. We are not a government that would be averse to investment. Technology, communication and the rest of it are the next growth paths that we want to be part of. We can use technology as a strong enabler to do a lot of catch-up.”
Speaking, Idris Olorunnimbe described Governor Sanwo-Olu as his mentor, saying his first experience in the public service board was presented to him by the Governor to serve on the board of the Lagos State Employment Trust Fund.
Olorunnimbe said Governor Sanwo-Olu is the first person the new Governing Board of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) would be visiting after inauguration, noting that Lagos is very important and crucial to NCC operation.
He said: “I am here, and I owe a service and a duty to Lagos State that Lagos must work. There are parts of Lagos that are unserved and underserved. And some of these places are not very commercially viable for the operators because every time they put infrastructure, the consideration is, ‘How will it generate its money back?’
“We would like the Lagos State Government to blaze the trail amongst the other states in Nigeria to grant free right of way in some of those areas in Lagos so that we can use that as an incentive to get the operators to go to those communities and those places.
“We will work with the Commissioner and the Lagos State Infrastructure Maintenance and Regulatory Agency (LASIMRA) to design this and implement it and use it as our pilot as we go to other states.”
