To the delight of everyone, the prestigious Project Financial International (PFI), awarded the ‘2019 Best African Infrastructural Deal’ to Lekki Port thus generating a huge amount of goodwill for the project worldwide. The tenaciousness of the promoters was deemed quite laudable and this soon paid off. In no time, work on the Port (the first deep sea port in Nigeria and the deepest in West Africa), was started in earnest by China Harbour Engineering Company once funds were secured, and it kept moving at an incredible pace. He said the project received a lot of traction in the last four years, especially, due to the efforts of the Lagos State Government in granting settlements to dislocated indigenes the Federal Government’s renewed commitment and the desires of institutional investors championed by the Tolaram Group (A Singaporean Conglomerate), to fund it. He took everyone on a 19-year odyssey in the life of the project, highlighting the environmental, political, procedural and financial challenges encountered in getting Lekki Port on steady, and on track. That singular act of the team’s punctuality, set the tone for the important business at hand.ĭecked in a fitting blue jeans trousers, white shirt, a dark blue blazer with a matching dark blue fez cap, and of course, a white KN95 face mask (a sure reminder that the covid pandemic is still here), the Governor went straight into business after exchanging pleasantries with the organisers, the royalty, stakeholders, distinguished guests and ordinary citizens.Ī short while later, the Chairman, Abiodun Dabiri, welcomed ‘Mr Governor’ (as Sanwo-Olu prefers to be addressed) formally, to the Zone and expressed his gratitude to him and the Lagos State team for setting time aside for the visit in order to get gain first hand knowledge of project activities, and witnessing various milestones being recorded.

It was a radical break from the habitual pattern of public officials (nationwide) arriving hours late for public events, which Nigerians have had to live annoyingly with, over the years.Īs the saying goes, ‘the proof of the pudding is in the eating’. To underscore the premium the Lagos State Chief Executive places on the Zone, he and his crew got to the Lagos Free Zone premises right on cue, at 11am – the time set by the hosts for their arrival.

Doom 2 industrial zone blue key