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| L-R: Samuel Egube, commissioner, economic planning and budget, Lagos State/chairman Lagos Economic Summit Group; Babajide Sanwo-Olu, governor, Lagos State, and Moyosore Onigbanjo SAN, attorney-general and commissioner for Justice, Lagos State, presenting the Lagos State Wealth Fund Bill at the 2022 Ehingbeti Lagos Economic Summit, in Lagos, yesterday. |
The Lagos State Wealth Fund, LSWF, the first sub-national sovereign wealth fund in Africa, is currently being rolled out by the Lagos State Government.
The LSWF bill was signed by the state’s governor, Babajide
Sanwo-Olu, as the organization’s 30-year development plan—which will run from
2022 to 2052—was formally launched.
The governor observed that the LSWF is essential to the
future growth of the state during the closing ceremony of the 2022 Ehingbeti
Economic Summit in Lagos last week. He emphasized that this will improve the
ease of doing business in Lagos.
According to him, the LSWF bill signals the commencement of
the state’s sub-sovereign green bond that will create sustainable wealth for
the government and the people of Lagos.
He claimed that the fund would enable the state to build up
a wealth reserve that would be useful for constructing infrastructure. The fund
will make the state a destination for technology and investment and shield
Lagos’ revenue from outside shock.
By this development, he claimed, LSWF has joined Singapore
and Canada, which also have such wealth funds and have achieved tremendous
things with them, as the first sub-national sovereign wealth fund in Africa.
He added that the state Assembly had already been informed
about the bill and that he had been promised that it would be passed quickly
into law because it is so important to Lagos’ future and its 30-year growth
plan. Lagos.
“The state
Assembly are aware of this bill we are signing today. This is critical to
secure the future financing of Lagos and serves as reserves to plan for the
future,” he stressed.