The Federal Government

has flagged off the computation of the States Gross Domestic Product (SGDP) for the South West region.

Mr Shamsudeen Usman, the Minister of National Planning, who inaugurated the programme at the Government House, Ikeja on Friday, said the computation was part of Federal Government‘s strategy at stimulating the economic development of the states.

Our Correspondent reports that the scheme was aimed at providing a measure of the size of economic activities of each state.

The Federal Government had flagged off the SGDP of states in other south political zones.

The programme is an initiative of the National Planning Commission and the Federal Bureau of Statistics with support from the Governors’ Forum.

Usman said the computation of SGDP and its inclusion in the national data framework would enhance the data‘s comprehensiveness and promote the predictability of the national economy.

“The computation and the inclusion of State‘s Domestic Product (SGDP) in the national framework data will also promote accountability and create awareness of the outcomes of efforts at the sub-national levels.

“With the disaggregated data and information on economic activities available, it will give room for improved management of both the sub-national and national economies, as well as generate healthy competition among states.”

Usman said the published data of states GDP would also serve as a basis for effectively benchmarking the economies of such states and facilitating their rating by rating agencies.

The minister said that a road map had been put  in place for the implementation of the SGDP project which would be done in two phases and would be completed in June 2013.

He said the government had already completed the listing and updating of establishments in all the 774 local Government Areas preparatory to the data collection exercise to be held in pilot state.

“The key message from the exercise is that over 1000 new firms were identified and listed.

“The next set of activities in the first phase includes development of instruments and the training of statistical officers and data enumerators.

“The estimated financial cost of the GDP computation project is N1.044 billion, which is to be borne by the Federal and state governments and development partners.

‘In this wise, 36 states and FCT are contributing the sum of N522 million or N14.1million each, while the Federal Governments  contributes N313.3 million and development partners giving N208.9 million,“he said.

Usman said 14 states have already fulfilled their financial obligations to the project.

He then appealed to the remaining states to fulfill their own obligation.

The minister commended the Lagos State Government for propelling the state to an economic giant.

He said the high volume of economic activities in the state had impacted positively on the national GDP.

In his address, Gov Babatunde Fashola commended the Federal Government for initiating the project.

He said it would help provide a reliable economic data for the country.

While declaring Lagos state support for the project, the governor urged other states to embrace it.

Fashola said no country could attain development without a reliable economic data.