Lagos State Governor, Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu, on Thursday, said bridging the gap in the engineering infrastructure through proper funding will have direct and indirect impact on several other sectors in the economic fortune, especially in the area of revenue generation.
The Governor stated this while speaking at the Nigerian Academy of Engineering Annual Lecture themed: “Financing Engineering Infrastructure,” held at J.F Ade Ajayi Auditorium, University of Lagos, Akoka, Yaba Lagos.
The Governor, who was represented at the event by the deputy governor, Dr Kadri Obafemi Hamzat, emphasized that collaboration and partnership among all stakeholders remained a key strategy which the government must adopt and explore to achieve its goal and objective.
Governor Sanwo-Olu posited that it became imperative, in the face of dwindling economic fortunes especially in the area of revenue generation, for the government to apply innovative and creative strategies to bridge the financing gap being experienced in the country as the government alone cannot provide all the solutions.
“We must do a lot of inward-looking and come to terms with the fact that the government alone cannot provide all the solutions. Collaboration and partnership among all stakeholders remain a key strategy which we must adopt and explore to achieve our goal,” the governor said.
He argued that emphasis needed to be placed on the acquisition of the required knowledge and skill as well as the provision of necessary support for professionals in the engineering, science and technology related sectors to enable them to channel their knowledge and expertise towards developing sustainable solutions to the nation’s local challenges.
Anambra State Governor, Prof. Charles Soludo, in his paper, disclosed, among other issues that despite alternative financing initiatives, infrastructure needs and provision in Nigeria continued to widen due to the rate of population growth and urbanization.
The governor, who was the Guest Lecturer at the event, therefore, called on the government to invest eight to 10 per cent of GDP in public infrastructure per annum for the next 10 years to meet public needs as, according to him, the provision of infrastructure is germane to the wellbeing of the citizens and development of the country.
“For example, in the area of road infrastructure provision, the state governments are in the best position to know the alignment of roads from one end to the other. Thus, such project(s) must require joint collaboration for successful and functional execution,” he advised.
The President of the Nigerian Academy of Engineering, Prof. Peter Onwualu, earlier in his address, expressed the readiness of the Institution to assist governments in providing advice in actualizing its goals in all areas by using engineering and technology to drive development.
Prof. Onwualu stressed that the country was currently faced with challenges in almost all sectors of the economy, most of which he said can be overcome if the nation sustainably applied engineering and technology.
“The transition of the new government at the Federal and state levels throws up opportunities for us as a nation to solve these problems through a judicious and sustainable application of engineering and technology to improve productivity in all sectors of the economy.
“Application of engineering and technology-based solutions can enable the country to eliminate poverty, food insecurity, infrastructure, electricity supply, healthcare, among others,” he stated.
According to him, for this to happen, the government needs to strengthen the efforts in the area of acquisition and dissemination of emerging technologies and using them to drive economic development.
Also speaking, Engr. Iyiola Omisore, in his remark, called on the engineering sectors in Nigeria to help in capital building and financial development, noting that such would enhance development, and eliminate poverty, and growth in the country.
He, therefore, implored engineers to scale up their skills by training and retraining unskilled and inexperienced engineers not to take over the administrative capacity of the country, adding: “There is only one way for the country to move forward which is a functional engineering system.”
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