March 30, 2018

President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday expressed appreciation to foreign and local investors that agreed to commit their investment into Nigeria, aimed at boosting the country’s economy.

Buhari, who unveiled a plaque to commemorate his visit to the Eko Atlantic City project, expressed his appreciation to investors after being shown round the project by Gov. Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State.

He said that their investment had helped to provide employment for Nigerians, reducing the rate of unemployment in the country.

“I am extremely grateful to those that agreed to invest so much in our country.

“I have just gone round to see the Eko Atlantic City. I am extremely impressed with the potentiality of this project and the amount of jobs and its effect on the economy and what it is capable of bringing,’’ Buhari said.

The President, while expressing his satisfaction with the ocean reclamation embarked upon by the state government and its partners, said that the investment had impacted on the country’s economy.

Earlier, Gov. Akinwunmi Ambode said that the project was an example of what the private sector could do to the nation’s economy.

Ambode, who said the project was initiated by the Bola Tinubu administration, noted that it had actually saved the whole of Victoria Island from potential danger.

He said that the project, which would spread over 750 square kilometres, upon completion, would eventually be bigger than Victoria Island.

In an interview with newsmen, Tinubu, who accompanied the President on the tour, described the Eko Atlantic City project as a solution to a potentially dangerous liability.

According to Tinubu, the ocean surge at the Ahmadu Bello end could have wiped out the whole of Lagos Island.

He, however, advised the Federal Government to replicate the project on the nation’s coastline.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the inspection marked the end of Buhari’s two-day visit to the state.