Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State, says President Bola Tinubu is excited about the proposed Lagos International Financial Centre (LIFC).
This is contained in a statement signed by Gboyega Akosile, Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the governor on Monday.
Sanwo-Olu made the disclosure on Sunday evening during a welcome dinner in honour of delegates attending the Nigeria Foreign Direct Investment Training Programme at the Moller Institute, University of Cambridge, England.
The training, organised by TheCityUK and funded by the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office, is being held at the behest of the Lagos International Financial Centre.
In his remarks, Sanwo-Olu, who co-chairs the LIFC Council, said stakeholders should be proud that the President is fully in support of the initiative aimed at positioning Nigeria as a global financial hub.
“President Tinubu is aware of this meeting and our activity. He was very excited when I spoke with him for almost one hour yesterday.
” He is really expecting a memo from us on this, a high-level paper to ventilate his thought process,” the governor said.
According to him, the President has indicated his readiness to take leadership and ownership of the initiative.
“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.
“Under his leadership, we 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,” he said.
Sanwo-Olu stressed that the LIFC project was not about any individual or region but about positioning Nigeria competitively in the global financial space.
“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,” he said.
The governor commended the commitment of major stakeholders in the LIFC project, including international organisations, top officials of the Federal and Lagos State governments, members of the National Assembly, regulatory agencies and EnterpriseNGR.
Also speaking, the Co-Chairman of the LIFC Council, Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, expressed confidence in the establishment of the centre, citing the calibre and unity of stakeholders behind the initiative.
“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,” Aig-Imoukhuede said.
Participants at the high-level training included some Senators, Tokunboh Abiru, Adamu Aliero and Sadiq Umar Abubakar; Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Dr Emomotimi Agama.
Other were the Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission, Ms Aisha Rimi; representatives of the Central Bank of Nigeria; and other senior government officials.
