Report: Lagos residents seek improvement in economy & job creation

By Joy Obakeye

A report by the Human and Environmental Development Agenda, (HEDA) shows that about half of the respondents surveyed, which makes up 47 per cent wants the government to improve the economy and job creation.

The report titled ‘Leadership Approval Rating: A Survey of Citizen Perception on Governance in Nigeria, (Focusing on Lagos State)’, was conducted by Emani, a platform for rapid, robust surveys of hard-to-reach communities anywhere in Nigeria and across Africa and Asia.

According to the Chairman, HEDA Resource Center, Olanrewaju Suraju, the report also showed that 23 per cent of respondents consider government performance in this area unacceptable.

“5% of the respondents consider the performance on road maintenance very effective, although 16 per cent consider the performance unacceptable, 39 per cent said the performance needs improvement.”

Meanwhile, in education, the report highlighted that only 3 per cent of female respondents said the performance of the Lagos state government in the education sector is very effective. “2 per cent of males agree with this while 45 per cent of the respondent (23% male and 22% female) said the performance of the government in the education sector needs improvement, “

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The report recommended that the state government should ensure a participatory budgetary process, while also urging the State House of Assembly to make public and proactively distribute copies of the budget immediately after passage.

Considering also the spate of insecurity and increasing rate of unemployment, the report said that the state government is under renewed obligation to rededicate attention towards creating sustainable jobs for the teeming youths and tackling insecurity.

HEDA while presenting the report to the public, said it hopes that the government of Lagos State will thoroughly review the report and develop ways and strategies for improving citizens’ perception of governance and the government.