Ehingbeti to drive post-COVID-19 recovery

Ehingbeti, the private sector economic transformation conference in Lagos, will now hold from February 16 to 18, 2021.

The event was shifted to the first quarter of the year after its postponement last November.

This edition has ‘’Rebuild Lagos Agenda’’ as its theme with focus on the government and its developmental campaigns.

The three-day summit, a hybrid of virtual and live events, is expected to draw participation from various sectors across the globe.

As an ingenuous socio-economic apparatus with significant contributions to the evolution of the state into a major economy in sub-Saharan Africa and an admirable megacity.

Over the last two decades, successive governments in Lagos since the beginning of the Fourth Republic, have hosted the summit to redefine the dynamics of public-private sector collaborations for development across social and economic indices in the State.

The Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget, Sam Egube, said: “Deploying Ehingbeti as a recovery strategy from the shockwave of COVID-19 and as a socio-economic reinforcement tactic at this period in the history of our state is timely.’’

Egube, who is also a co-chair of Ehingbeti’s Steering Committee, added: “In the last two decades, Ehingbeti has played a pivotal role in the transformation of Lagos State, with useful input into the Lagos State Development Plans (LSDP).

“Our realities from 2000, when the first Ehingbeti held, exactly 21 years ago, have significantly changed. Now, we have to cater to the infrastructural needs of more than 22 million population and ensure that Lagos remains on the path of continuous growth.”

Last November, Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu constituted an eight-man team led by the Chairman of Citibank Nigeria and co-Chair of Ehingbeti, Olayemi Cardoso to coordinate recovery of Lagos State assets lost to the #EndSARs protest in October.

The team was inaugurated at the “Consultative Forum on Rebuilding Lagos” at the Adeyemi Bero Auditorium in the Lagos State Secretariat, with Vice President Yemi Osibajo, Speaker House of Representatives, Femi Gabajabiamila, Central Bank Governor, Godwin Emefiele and Senator Senator Solomon Adeola in attendance.

Other stakeholders at the event, aimed at restoring the destroyed infrastructure were members of the organised private sector, diplomatic corps and captains of industry, include  a representative of the President of Dangote Group (Alhaji Aliko Dangote),   Mansur Ahmed, the Group’s Executive Director.

At the heart of Nigeria’s first state-institutionalised economic forum is the quest to strengthen the relationship between government and the private sector since greater private sector participation in governance is a prerequisite for a functional state.

Ehingbeti is a collaboration  between the Lagos State Government and Business Club Ikeja.

Since the inaugural summit in 2000, Lagos has gained  insights from contributions by innumerable business and political leaders, renowned economists, notable development experts and outstanding scholars, who have participated from various parts of the world in the Lagos Economic Summit Group (LESG) events.