The Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has disclosed that President Bola Tinubu is very excited about the establishment of the proposed Lagos International Financial Centre (LIFC).
Governor Sanwo-Olu made the disclosure on Sunday evening during the welcome dinner in honour of the delegates at the Nigeria Foreign Direct Investment Training Programme holding at the Moller Institute, University of Cambridge, England.
The training is at the behest of the Lagos International Financial Centre, organised by TheCityUK, and funded by the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office of the United Kingdom.
In his opening remarks, Governor Sanwo-Olu said the stakeholders should be proud that President Tinubu is in support of the establishment of the Lagos International Financial Centre.
Governor Sanwo-Olu, who is the Chairman of the Lagos International Financial Centre Council, said LIFC is not about any particular person or region but about the country to position Nigeria in global space.
He said: “President Tinubu is aware of this meeting and our activity. He was very excited when I spoke with him for almost one hour yesterday (Saturday). He is really expecting a memo from us on this, a high-level paper just to ventilate his thought process. He wants to take leadership and ownership of it, which we all can expect.
“We should be thankful that we have a President who can see very quickly and support what we are trying to build, the idea we are trying to conceive and the growth we are trying to give the country. So under his leadership, we all should be proud that if we get this, which we will by God’s grace given the calibre of the turnout, we will get to the final line.
“We have actually been changing the face of many things, and it is a starting point. I think in the next two days, we are going to further ventilate the idea. It is not about any particular person or region; it is about the country and the conversation on how big the country is that will need to use that platform to position the country in that global space where people can truly know that we are serious.”
Governor Sanwo-Olu commended the commitment of major stakeholders in the LIFC project, which included international organisations, top officials of the Federal Government and Lagos State Government, members of the National Assembly, regulatory agencies and the EnterpriseNGR.
Also speaking, the co-chairman of the LIFC Council, Mr. Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, expressed confidence about the establishment of the Lagos International Financial Centre based on the calibre of stakeholders behind the project.
Aig-Imoukhuede, who commended the unity and commitment of the key stakeholders to the LIFC project, reiterated the dedication of the private sector, saying, “Over the last few days, they have been getting us to see beyond what we are accepting to see and to think really big. It is very motivating to all of us in the private sector.”
The high level training is currently holding at the Moller Institute, University of Cambridge and participants include the Chairman of LIFC, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, his co-Chairman, Mr. Aigboje Aig-Imokhuede, Senators Tokunboh Abiru, Adamu Aliero and Sadiq Umar Abubakar, Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Dr. Emomotimi Agama, CEO of Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC), Ms Aisha Rimi, representatives of the Central Bank of Nigeria and other Senior Government officials.
