Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo has called for a change of mindset in managing the affairs of states in the country.
He made the call at an Economic summit in Ekiti State on Thursday.
The summit had as its them “Investment Attractiveness and Economic Development: Lessons for Sub-nationals.”
The vice-president was the special guest at the event which had many dignitaries in attendance.
“I bring you and the great people of this State – the Fountain of Knowledge – the very warm felicitations of President Muhammadu Buhari, on this auspicious occasion of the third-year anniversary of your government. As you know, President Buhari has a special interest in this State being that your dynamic Governor is actually on loan in the second coming from the Federal Executive Council chaired by Mr. President.”
“The economy of the sub-national is a peculiar animal. The State within the Federation is not a nation, but it must behave like one, it derives some resources from the federal pool, and generates some income; the sum will provide infrastructure and services to the community.
“The size of the sum and the quantum of opportunity available to provide livelihoods for the populace will depend on how the State enables local and external investors, small and large to put their resources into business and commercial activity business in the State.
“The funded portion of the State’s budget is after all a mere fraction of the sum total of economic activity or income-generating activity, formal or informal, within the State. So, the attractiveness of a State to commerce is a radical issue. The very lives and livelihoods of the people within the borders of the State, whether the people will live prosperous and happy lives, be educated, have access to affordable medical care, depends on it.”
He said Ekiti has established the foundations for a modern and thriving economy.
“The fundamentals are there; a modern, strong, consistently improving legal and Justice sector, with forward-looking laws, which include a contemporary administration of Civil Justice Law, a first-of-its-kind Sustainable Development Goals law, a Tourism and Hospitality law, Property Protection law, a 2020 amendment to the Ekiti State Board of Internal Revenue Law, which amongst other provisions, enables the service to collect all taxes due to the State Government and all the Local Government Councils in the State under any law through a centralized electronic payment platform.”
“This is important for two reasons; the first is that it decentralizes payment and does so electronically, but also, it takes directly to the question of the bane of multiple revenue collectors and multiple taxations.
“Also, a business-friendly environment with Ekiti ranking 18th overall out of the 36 States and the FCT in the inaugural edition of Nigeria’s own homegrown “Subnational Ease of Doing Business Baseline Survey.” The survey was commissioned to serve as a status report on the current attractiveness of business environments of States for small and medium-sized enterprises.”
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