From Bello Wakili
President Muhammadu Buhari has pledged support for massive investments in Lagos State to boost its economic potential as one of the world’s fastest growing megacities.
The President spoke in a video goodwill message to the Ehingbeti Lagos Economic Summit, under the theme, For a Greater Lagos: Setting the Tone for the Next Decade.
President Buhari says his administration recognises Lagos as central to the economic fortunes of Nigeria and has in the last few years demonstrated commitment to supporting it to unleash its full socio-economic potential.
He points out that the Presidential Infrastructure Development Fund, PIDF, is investing in the reconstruction of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, while the Apapa-Oshodi-Oworonshoki Expressway is a flagship project of the government’s Road Infrastructure Tax Credit Scheme, also known as Executive Order 7 of 2019.
President Buhari says It was his administration that granted approval to the Lagos State Government to rebuild the International Airport Road, a major road that links the busiest airport in Sub-Saharan Africa to the continent’s fifth largest economy.
He says the Federal Government is today completing the Standard Gauge Railway Line that will link Lagos to Ibadan in the first instance, and from there connect to Abuja and Kano, and bring ease and efficiency to what is Nigeria’s busiest transportation corridor.
On the investment plan to revamp the National Theatre, the President told the 8th Economic Summit that his government had granted approval for the temporary transfer of the iconic federal asset on the Lagos landscape, to the Bankers Committee, which will invest in upgrading it and developing it into a world-class creative hub.
President Buhari expressed confidence that enterprising young people in Lagos would be the biggest beneficiaries of the National Theatre, when fully upgraded into a world-class hub.
The President highlighted various other initiatives of the Federal Government being implemented in Lagos, including the National Social Investment Programme, the Energizing Economies Programme, the Economic Sustainability Plan, among others.
In a statement by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, the President enjoins participants of the summit to come up with a practical masterplan for achieving the Lagos dreams.