Sanwo-Olu: Lagos Lost ‘Hundreds Of Billions’ To #EndSARS Violence

Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has claimed that the state lost “hundreds of billions” to the violence that accompanied last month’s #EndSARS protests in Lagos.

According to Sanwo-Olu, the violence negatively impacted Lagos and nearly ruined the state’s fortress of commerce built over many centuries.

The governor said these during the formal inauguration of an 8-man committee constituted to oversee the recovery efforts of the state government.

The committee was inaugurated during an event themed “Consultative Forum on Rebuilding Lagos” which held at the Adeyemi Bero Auditorium in Alausa. It is being headed by Citibank Nigeria chairman, Yemi Cardoso.

Sanwo-Olu said, “The violence we witnessed last October is the most widespread carnage the State has seen in decades. Every aspect of life and livelihood in Lagos was affected – government buildings, offices, public monuments and historical archives, public infrastructure and very sadly too, private property and investments.

“The violence has, no doubt, set our economy back by hundreds of billions of Naira, and impacted our confidence. We have, however, found hope and great strength in the offers of assistance from far and wide, which culminated in the constitution of the Lagos Rebuild Committee to coordinate our efforts to rebuild and upgrade our state.

“We seek to restore the infrastructure that was destroyed, to revive the energy and confidence of everyone who has been affected by these losses, to help restore the confidence of the people of Lagos in the infinite potentials of Lagos. The State Government cannot do this alone. We need all the help that we can get.”

Governor Sanwo-Olu also revealed that the committee would be handed a huge sum as the government’s collateral in efforts to rebuild and re-tool security infrastructure and strengthen public transportation systems in the state.

According to him, part of the of the money would go into restoring judicial and local government operations and rebuilding of public monuments destroyed during the violence.

The event was attended by the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, Lagos West Senator, Solomon Adeola, Chief Judge of Lagos, Justice Kazeem Alogba and chairman of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, represented by Mansur Ahmed.