By OLASUNKANMI AKONI

Governor  Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State, has stressed that informal sector would not be properly harnessed if not captured in the real economy.

Babatunde Raji Fashola

He therefore, called on tradesmen and artisans to  formalise  their businesses  with a view to moving to the real  economy.

Fashola made the remarks in his address at the traders and artisans  during the grand-finale of fifth Lagos Tradesmen and Artisans Week in Ikeja, themed: “ Sustaining the Growth of the Informal Sector: The Lagos model.”

According to him the huge potential of the  informal sector would not be properly harnessed if not captured in the real economy.

The governor described artisans and trademen  as strategic players in the economy, urging them to register their businesses to get captured in the state’s economic data.

“We have tried to capture some of the data of your members because so  many of you  exist in what we call  extra-legal economy. The  extra-legal economy is estimated to be about $45 billion and this economy has no record of it.That is about N7.2 trillion and that is about 14 times the state budget if we use  2012 budget as the basis.

”We need to capture these businesses in the real legal form so that our records can reflect it.” Fashola said the proper capturing of all economic activities in the state was necessary for development planning, “A reliable economic data will help the government to address problems such as unemployment and other related problems.

“You hear the people say I am unemployed, perhaps it is not the case of total unemployment. Some truly are unemployed but some are just underemployed.

”Some people for example are running a business that is not as productive as they want and they count themselves as unemployed.

“If we don’t capture that kind of person in our legal economy, such person does not account for one of the people who need electricity.

”So when we are planning electricity for hairdressers in our data, we would not see that person.

” We need to capture the records of the extra-legal economy to be able to know who is doing what so that we can plan for you.” he said.  Earlier in his address, Special Adviser to the Governor on Commerce and Industry, Mr. Oluseye Oladejo, described artisans and tradesmen, as strategic development partners in the state.