- By Halimah Olamide
- …describes it as Tenth wonder of the world
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has commended business man, Aliko Dangote on the successful completion of the 37-kilometer road, Apapa-Oworonshoki Expressway.
Tinubu, who described the project as the Tenth Wonder of the World, urged other investors to emulate Dangote and give their all to their country, Nigeria.
“We depend on you to continue to invest so that others can emulate and copy your example, thank you Aliko.
“Lagos is home to all, I thank Mr. Dangote for coming up with this initiative, and in partnership with HiTch, they have delivered the Tenth Wonder of The World.”
Speaking on the “extremely poor” condition of the road before December 2018, Dangote stressed that the road “severely hampered the evacuation of goods and restricted access to the markets, paralyzing the shipping and manufacturing industries and disrupting supply chains across the entire economic landscape.
“Before the completion of this road, it used to take two weeks before, we got to the port, and in about 18 months, we 1%st over N60bn in demurrage.
The successful completion of this project is an example of the positive impact that can be achieved when the public sector collaborates with the private sector,” he said.
Dangote added that the Group was privileged to partner the Federal Government in the transformative efforts, reaffirming its commitment to national development and prosperity.
He also stated that the scheme, Tax Credit Scheme, must be revisited to make it more viable for the private sector participants.
“In this case, we have so far recovered only 40 per cent of our investments and the balance is not due until 2027; we consider this project merely as Corporate Social Responsibility. We believe that a more commercial interest rate recovery should be allowed because of the high cost of capital in the Nigerian fiscal environment,” he said.