Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode on Thursday said the Federal Government has a critical role to play in addressing the fundamental structural challenges undermining sustainable and inclusive economic growth in the states of the federation, among which is unbundling the potentials of each of the federating units.
Speaking in Kaduna at the 4th Progressive Governance Lecture Series organized by Governors of the All Progressives Congress (APC) with the theme: “Building The Economy of States: Challenge of Developing Inclusively Sustainable Growth,” Governor Ambode said the Federal Government must allow the states to develop the natural resources within their domain and create the necessary infrastructure that would attract investors.
Governor Ambode, who spoke on the Lagos experience of de-emphasizing reliance on oil, said Governors must also be encouraged to tap into multiple streams of income within their domain, especially with the Federal Government allowing the states to develop their potentials.
The Governor lamented the situation whereby Governors have power over the land in their domain but cannot tap into the resources under the land and even the water, saying that such must stop so that Governors can have power over both the land and resources underneath, thereby unbundling the potentials of the states.
“We need to start looking at some changes that we need to make within and among ourselves as a government irrespective of whether it is federal, state or local government – that will now unbundle the potentials of each state which is the cornerstone of the whole message we are talking about.
“There is a great need for all of us to decide once and for all to unbundle the potentials of each state; take the comparative advantages of each state and fuse them together for the needs of our people.
“Governors are the owners of the land in their states but underneath the land and even inside the water, the Federal Government is structured in a way that it controls those potentials. In a situation where the states are being spoon-fed, because I call the federation account more or less like spoon-feeding. The federal government collects total revenue on Value Added Tax (VAT) and various revenues on behalf of all of us and make us to come to Abuja and more or less share it to us as peanuts thereby not allowing us to reach our potentials as competitive states individually,” the Governor said.
Below are photos from the venue of the lecture in Kaduna:
Once again, I welcome my colleagues in the Progressive Governors’ Forum to Kaduna. pic.twitter.com/tIbj4P2geL
— Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai (@elrufai) August 25, 2016
We welcome the VP, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo SAN, to Kaduna as he chairs the 4th Progressive Governance Lecture Series pic.twitter.com/NYK4yDxieV
— Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai (@elrufai) August 25, 2016
