Lagos State has the potential to generate most of its revenue from tourism, the Speaker, Lagos State House of Assembly, Adeyemi Ikuforiji, has said.
He told The Nation that the state is endowed to be a tourist haven. “Today, I believe Lagos should be the center of Africa, it should be the hub from where every other part of Africa, gets connected. I think we are naturally endowed and positioned to serve as a tourist centre,” he said, adding, “we have seen small places, not as endowed as we are, perform this role and doing it successfully. You look at a place like Dubai, it’s not as naturally gifted as we are, if they can do it there, we can do it here.
“Look at our Lagos, it has more to offer in terms of tourism, if we develop it. I know for example that between the Badagry and the Epe-Ibeju Lekki axis, if you know the number of beautiful Islands that we have, and you see the landscape and the rest of those things that make for tourism, you will be baffled, it’s like sitting on billions of barrels of touristic oil.
“If we go about it the right way, if we bring all the seriousness it requires into it, if we take care of our energy needs, and if we take care of the security, I’m sure we have what it takes to make Lagos a tourism destination and reap abundantly from that,” he said.
Ikuforiji, who spoke on his plans for the state in the on-going race for the governorship seat, said he would adopt the captive power option to address the power outages in Lagos.
He said he would light up the state by generating and transmitting the power from badges anchored on the sea, stating that the required technology to achieve this, is readily available.
As he put: “The technology right now has made that even more achievable. It is all over the place. You can put a barge there in the high seas, and we have them in various sizes, and the electricity is generated and transmitted to the various sections of the state.
“I can take Ibeju-Lekki, Epe as a zone and with less than 100megawatts barge on the high seas, that sector is taken care of. You can then take, say Mushin, Ilupeju and some other areas down there, generate and push it to that side, and that will be it in the interim, while you are building larger plants, and so on to take care of whatever in the future, but for the main time we can do that,” he stated.
He lamented that a number of companies have closed down or moved to the neighbouring countries because of this issue of electricity. It’s the same problem with the hotels and the only excuse they give is power, he added.
On infrastructure, Ikuforiji assured that he will always stand by his promises and will never politicise like others who do not honour their promises.
His word: “Those who promise one thing during campaigns and don’t do anything later, are politicians. I have never said one thing that I did not follow to the letter and I am not a politician who will just come out and tell you that I will do it. I have done it.
The House of Assembly that I lead is the number one in this nation. Nobody can contradict that. If I can do that with the Legislature, it is easier for me to do it with the Executive. If we have done what we have done with the Legislature from where we met it and have built an institution out of it, it is easier for people to trust me since I am proven. I don’t tell people I can do what I can’t do. In the same vein, I don’t tell people I can’t do what I know that I can do,” he stressed.
He said with some efforts, Lagos State can derive much revenue from tourist activities, as it is with Ghana. “If you go to the airport, you see many young people going to Accra to spend the weekend. Why can’t we develop Lagos to be a tourist spot to attract them? What we will get from that in terms of revenue is much. What we have now as revenue is a small portion compared to what we can get from tourism alone,” stated.
Ikuforiji said he is committed to helping the youths find accommodation in the scheme of things, but regretted that banks are somewhat reluctant to support them financially. “We have so many enterprising youths in Lagos. They have the physical strength and competence to put in their best, to make the most of entrepreneurial opportunities if given the chance. What they need to start off is so very little. However, most financial houses are always weary to fund these youths. They consider this very risky. The government should encourage them. There must be funds to encourage them, particularly the young ones. If this is done, believe me, we can turn this place around within a few years,” he said.
