The Oyo State Government needs help, but it appears overly carried away by its own messiah complex to ask for it. The night-time economy in New York generates $35.1bn (£27bn) in economic activity, and nearly $700m in local tax revenue. Ibadan apparently can’t turn in such insane numbers, but anyone who has visited the city in recent time would perhaps agree that its own modest nightlife potential remains largely untapped.
He said; he spent the latter part of December meeting with friends at the newly built Ace Mall, as well as numerous other fun spots around Bodija/Awolowo/
Before the pandemic broke out and disrupted human interaction and sundry economic activities, the night-time economy was a growing and significant part of the UK economy, and even now, it is considered the UK’s fifth-biggest industry, accounting for at least 8% of its employment and annual revenues of about £66bn.
Oyo State attracted zero Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) for the whole of last year, according to data from Nigeria’s statistics bureau. And before anyone throws up the ‘p-a-n-d-e-m-i-
With a debt portfolio that is fast becoming asphyxiating (I should publish a full essay on this), amid slump in revenue and a bloated reccurent expenditure that does not only choke but also give little breathing space for significant funding of CAPEX, Oyo seems to be dancing on the brink of fiscal collapse.
In the context of serious discourses, we will ignore the OYSG’s Botswana maize hoax, as well as that naively populist, ignorantly hilarious, and fantastically empty promise to make Oyo State independent of federal allocation after six months of assuming power, or so.
So how does the OYGS’s insouciance essentially stifle its nighttime economy—-a potential source of revenue and, ultimately, growth?
God Bless Oyo State
