Lagos State Attracts $1.5bn Investment in Technology in 5 Months

Gilbert Ekugbe

The Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget Lagos State Sam Egube, has stated that the investment inflow into Lagos State’s technology space has hit over $1.5 billion in five months.

According to him, this is the first time the State is ahead of other States in technology investments.

Egube stated this on the sidelines of the Year 2023 budget consultative forum for Ikorodu division.

In his words: “One of the things that attract technology companies is the idea that there is a lot of distribution. For the first time, Lagos State is ahead of other states has driven significantly, the broadband expansion. We now have about 3000 kilometers of broadband fibre infrastructure which can now connect to towers and connect to homes.”

He added: “The Google underwater cable coming into Lagos, all of that will reduce the cost of internet services and increase the speed. So the capacity of all of that is almost 20 times that are coming into this place and it is going to create jobs. Is going to make it possible for us to work faster for companies in Nigeria and for companies abroad from Nigeria.”

He further stated that the increase in investment recorded in the tech space is due to the partnership, which the State entered into under the broadband fibre infrastructure expansion programme.

“We will continue to push the envelope further as we have the Knowledge, Innovation and Technology and Enterprise center (KITE) in Yaba which is a big technology campus we are putting there and we are driving another one out of Lagos State University (LASU) Campus. Indeed, Lagos is leader right now in Africa as well long as technology and enterprise support is concerned and we expect to remain so our next target is to begin to also need in emerging markets,” he averred.

On the State’s N1.65 trillion budget size for next year, he expressed optimism that despite challenges of dwindling revenue, the State would be able to hit the 80 plus budget performance target it records on annual basis.

“As of today, we are at 70 per cent in terms of budget performance and on the revenue side, we are at 81 per cent. So it is transforming those revenue into execution speed, “he said.

“Typically, we have always achieved by 80 plus per cent in performance and we believe that the execution powerhouse called Lagos will continue to deliver those expectations to the people of Lagos and we believe that is what we expect to see, “he said.

He noted that Lagos is an economic powerhouse in Africa, saying that if Lagos was a country, it probably would be sixth in Africa.