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Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo State has said his administration has taken deliberate steps to make local economies work in Imo State by implementing different initiatives that are people-centred, even as he canvassed greater government partnership with the locals to deepen development.
Uzodimma made the disclosure in Lagos as the Keynote Speaker at the Maiden Lecture of the 77-year-old Lagos Country Club on Policy Dialogue with Government Leaders.
The Governor who spoke on The Future is Local: Stimulating Grassroots Economies for Inclusive Growth said: “The topic challenges us to look beyond the familiar centres of commercial activity to the possibilities in our towns and communities across Nigeria.”
Uzodimma noted the incredible inherent strength in the people who inhabit the localities, insisting that if more attention was paid to the diverse talents of the rural people the society would be better for it.
His words: “Many people who drive the Lagos economy have roots in the South-West, South-East, South-South, North and Middle Belt. They carry with them knowledge, values, relationships and ambitions shaped by their origins. What would happen if the communities they come from became stronger centres of production, enterprise and opportunity? Our concern is about national productivity, economic resilience and shared prosperity. My central argument is straightforward.
“Nigeria’s growth will be sustainable only when it is built on the strength of its many local economies. Government must lay the foundations, and private capital, much of which is represented here, must turn them into productive enterprises, jobs and prosperity. Neither can do this alone.”
The governor explained that it is difficult to separate the cities from the communities where those who live in such cities reside in their quest to seek better ways of living.
“Lagos has become a symbol of enterprise, ambition, innovation and resilience. It attracts people, businesses, capital and ideas from across the country and beyond, yet its story is inseparable from the communities that supply its workforce, food, entrepreneurs and investment capital.
“This Club began in an aircraft hangar with about a hundred members and has grown into a family of more than two thousand. Many of you came from towns and villages across the federation, yet few have ever really left home. A good part of what is earned here flows back through social investments: the house in the hometown, the school fees paid and the community projects funded. That flow of money and loyalty is one of the most enduring economic links in this country.
“It also brings me back to the question I asked two years ago. In a survey my research team conducted for my lecture at the Yoruba Tennis Club, 85 per cent of respondents did not believe Nigeria offers its citizens an equal opportunity to thrive. Closing that gap is what inclusive growth is about. Many Nigerians live far from the commercial centres, and whether they prosper depends on the economies of those places. That is where Nigeria’s next phase of growth must come from,” he explained.
Uzodimma brought to the fore what his administration had been able to do in Imo since inception in 2020, insisting that his policies were designed to ensure that the local economies worked.
He said whether in the area of road infrastructure, improvement in internally generated revenue, increment in the salary of the Imo workers, job opportunities, investment in sectors like agriculture, education, transportation, youth empowerment, all had worked together to enhance the standard of living in the local communities in Imo.
Uzodimma told the management of Lagos Country Club that there is something to take away, for instance, from the OKOBI
(One Kindred, One Business) initiative of his administration where communities in Imo State choose, nurture and are supported by the government on any business idea of their choice, as well as the SkillUp initiative that has taken thousands of youths out of the labour market.
He said through such ventures and others the economy of the locals are boosted and consequently, crimes are reduced.
