Group photograph of some important guests at the conference ….on Wednesday last week.
By Ibeawuchi Uwaleke
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila, a lawyer, and the governor of Lagos State, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu on Wednesday night, June 26, 2019 at Eko Hotel and Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos, venue of the 13th annual business law conference of the Section on Business Law (SBL) of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), jointly agreed that national development hinges on a robust economy that creates employment opportunities and eradicate poverty through government and corporate/private partnerships.
The duo spoke as keynote speaker and special guest of honour respectively at the opening ceremony of the three-day conference of SBL with the theme: “Growth, Investment and Employment beyond Rhetoric” which ended on Friday, June 28, 2019.
For Gbajabiamila, the House under his watch will review existing statutes, Acts and other relevant legal instruments for purposes of regulating government ministries and parastatals in order to boost enterprises and other businesses in the country.
He also said that the House would try to introduce bills to reform corporate taxation, create a working group on investment and through legislation encourage community policing to reduce the spate of insecurity across the country.
In his own address, the governor of Lagos State, Sanwo-Olu said his government would pursue investment programmes that will create employment opportunities and provide the enabling infrastructure for private investment in all areas particularly in tourism.
The governor also promised to ease out traffic congestion on Lagos roads, while urging the NBA to allow Lagos State to host the next International Bar Association conference when ever Nigeria’s turn, adding that the state has moved up in the ease of doing business in Nigeria.
His words: “In terms of the business regulatory environment, we are fully aligned with the Federal Government’s Ease of Doing Business reform agenda. I am pleased to note here that Lagos was in 2018 adjudged by the World Bank as one of the most improved States in terms of the Ease of Doing Business.
“I am just as pleased to note that the NBA Section on Business Law (NBA-SBL) is very much involved in these Business Environment reforms, at the National level. I look forward to a similar involvement by the SBL at the subnational level, here in Lagos State. There is still a long way to go, no doubt, but it is important also to acknowledge just how much ground has been covered, to inspire us to continue the journey with commitment and dedication. I believe, we will have a lot to learn from the ideas that this conference will generate.
“We therefore look forward to adopting some of the suggestions and recommendations that will emerge at the end of this conference. I welcome you once, again, to Lagos State and wish you fruitful deliberations. Thank you all and God bless you”.
The conference which featured a lot of topics for national development also hosted the cream of the society including the acting Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad, represented by a Justice of the Supreme Court, Bode Rhodes-Vivour, the NBA president, Paul Usoro (SAN), chairman NBA/SBL, Seni Adio (SAN) and host of other invitees.
