Osinbajo: Lagos responsible for 70% of Nigeria’s businesses

Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo has described Lagos State as a foremost migrant community in Nigeria, which accounts for over 70 per cent of business in the Nigeria.

Osinbajo said this as he joined hundreds of Nigerians in the celebration of Lagos @50 at the Lagos House on Saturday.The Acting President described the state as the foremost migrant community in Nigeria aggregating talents from everywhere.

“This Lagos is going to be a leader; it would be a leader in expressing the world’s view that the black man is capable of governing not just himself but in leading the world,” Osinbajo said According to Osinbajo the strategic contribution of the state to the country’s economy could not be overemphasised, as the quest to evolve a greater and more prosperous Nigeria lies in the prosperity of Lagos State.

Speaking at the Anniversary Gala Nite, he alluded to a recent statistics released by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) to the effect that Lagos accounted for 912 of 914 individual businessmen who pay self-assessed tax of over N10million, saying that the strategic contribution of the state to the country’s economy could not be overemphasised.

At the elaborate event were Governors of Ogun, Oyo, Gombe, Ekiti, Imo, Edo; first civilian Governor of Lagos, Alhaji Lateef Jakande; former Governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu; former Military Governors of Lagos State – Brigadier-General Mobolaji Johnson (Rtd.); Brigadier General Olagunsoye Oyinlola(Rtd.); Brigadier General Buba Marwa (Rtd.); Rear-Admiral Ndubuisi Kanu (Rtd.); CEO of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote; CEO of Forte Oil, Femi Otedola, Chief Olabode George, Jimi Agbaje, among others.

Osinbajo, who recalled his days as Attorney General and Com-missioner for Justice in Lagos State, lauded the leadership virtues of the then Governor of the State, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who he said took cognizance of the diversity of the state while forming his cabinet in 1999.

He said: “I did not and I had never met Bola Tinubu before I was appointed Commissioner and that says a lot about the kind of individual that he is.