President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria says the Federal Government has concluded plans to build a new city that will be better than Abuja, saying that the city will be named Centenary City.
Jonathan disclosed this on Thursday at the dedication ceremony of the reclamation of five million square metres of land from the sea for the Eko Atlantic City in Lagos, southwest Nigeria.
“In addition to the Eko Atlantic city, the Federal Government is also coming up with plans to build other cities that will be modest. And they include the Centenary City. The idea is to get a better city than the present Abuja where people will not need to provide basic amenities by themselves. People will not need to sink boreholes themselves.
“This year, we intend to make our major airports have major towns which we call Aeropolies around the airport. It will begin in Lagos and Abuja and it will later extend to Kano, Port Harcourt and Kaduna.
“In the next three years, three similar cities will strike the skyline and Nigerians will be able to choose where they wish to live. I believe that Nigerians’ turning point is now,” Jonathan said.
On the Atlantic City, the president said he has been briefed that the construction of Atlantic City is benefiting from cutting-edge technology with special attention paid on climatic conditions, including the perennial threats of ocean surge that have posed serious challenge to human and property on the coast of Victoria Island.
“When completed, the Atlantic City will not only benefit the promoters of this project, but it will be an important addition to our nation’s strive to promote tourism and good living. The project is a great example of partnership, for it brings private individuals and companies who have the knowledge and requisite expertise to transform land lost to erosion into a delightful Ocean City.
“New cities are good, new cities are smart, new cities help to improve our thinking and our lives. We will encourage urban renewal, and where necessary build new cities to complement the old ones. It is in this regard that the Federal Government has given its full support to the construction of the Eko Atlantic City. I want to encourage every state government and other entrepreneurs to emulate this noble initiative,” he said.
The president also admitted that there are challenges in the housing and construction sector that cut across a number of areas, including property titling and high costs of building materials, among others.
He explained that to resolve these challenges, “I convened a presidential retreat with a view to consulting widely and extensively with various stakeholders to enable government take the right decision in the interest of our people. One of the outcomes of the retreat is that we have commenced work on establishing a Nigeria Mortgage Refinance Corporation (NMRC) to help in providing finance for the housing and construction sector.
“The NMRC, which will be private-sector led, will be established as a public-private partnership arrangement. The partners will include the Federal Government, Nigeria’s local banks and savings and loans institutions as well as the multilateral institutions, especially the World Bank which is providing concessional credits of $300 million. Subsequently, the NMRC would be able to access the capital markets to raise long-term funds via bond issues.”
Jonathan anticipated that the NMRC would provide more liquidity to the housing and construction sector, and that its operations would hopefully lead to reduced mortgage and construction finance interest rates.
According to him, the e-collection platform created by the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria, FMBN, for a more efficient collection and management of the National Housing Fund (NHF) and the broadening of its products to include provision of credit for informal sector workers are other complementary efforts to increase accessibility and affordability to mortgage finance.
“With the on-going efforts to deal with the low capital base of mortgage institutions through new policy measures, we are optimistic that more Nigerians will be provided the opportunity of having access to home ownership,” he stated.
Former United States President, Bill Clinton, also commended the Lagos State Government and the developer for building Eko Atlantic City.
He said that the reclamation of five million square metres of the land initially lost to the sea marked the beginning of “this amazing wall, they have kept their commitment and it will work to improve the economy of Nigeria and all over the world, it will bring enormous opportunities.
“I am convinced that within five years, people will be coming from over the world to see this wall. In the last nine years, I have been asked to work in the aftermath of natural disaster all over the world.”
Clinton stated that he had spent over two years as the United Nations ambassador after the horrible Tsunami and that he saw what happened in America and how Hurricane Katrina “went wild in the city where I spent my childhood with buildings buried in water because they were not prepared.
“Most recently, my state in New York was hit by sandy storm in which thousands of people lost their homes and many lives lost. These people will come to Nigeria. We’ve spent billions of dollars to protect the low line areas from rising sea levels.
“I’ve spent part of my life now trying to do a lot of work on climate change to help people deal with the consequences that are already under way. You have experienced it here in the recent past.” Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
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Why Kano & Kaduna (both in the NWZ) & P.H ? What about Enugu? For how long will the SEZ which mistakenly gave this ungrateful President the most votes at the last election continue to be marginalized? The promise of the second Niger Bridge at Onitsha is yet to materialize, he is already planning to build another city in Abuja and other places, while more important issues are not adressed. Somebody pls call this GEJ to order!
ReplyDeleteWhere is his 7 point agenda.
ReplyDeleteNo be lie talk ro this unfocuse manto the important things
ReplyDeleteJonathan is a confused president,nigerians dnt need him anymore
ReplyDeleteServes u guys right 4 voting GEJ in2 power; we 2old u so.
ReplyDeleteAnd he wonders y Nigerians have very poor confidence in him? Is dis really an urgent issue? Hmmn na wa o.
ReplyDeleteHmmmm dIs is a nice idea by d government, but wat I don't like is u trying to includek kano and Kaduna North should stay on their own, We are tired of being ONE NIGERIA
ReplyDeleteThe government has now finally gone insane. They have abandoned the most important and go for irrelevances. Somebody need to tell GEJ to focus on POWER,Road,Agriculture,and some other important need of the poor Nigerians, instead of building cities for the little rich men in the government cabals. GEJ think for better things.
ReplyDelete@anonymous 8.:08. U are a coward. Du u tink north culdn't survive wizout oil? Countries wiz oil are just at ur finger print! We live wen there was no oil,we shall survive wen the oil finish.why cant u eat ur oil. Idiot.
ReplyDeleteReally I don't understand how dis current administration think and plan. Building new city is not d best for now plzzzzzzzzzzzzz
ReplyDeleteI don't think this is an issue more over ,the city is to be built as PPP which can go on while other things are working,you see every country have corrupt rich men but the difference is that the rich invest the same money in their country but in Nigeria , the money is taken away to develop other nations,so if such projects will make them re invest the stolen wealth in the country, we shall be better off and the wealth will be redistributed,let us think before we talk,and don't throw away the baby with the bad water
ReplyDeleteIt is not a bad idea only its not a priority.Until you and I hold our leaders accountable, they will go on squandering the nation's treasury.
ReplyDeletePls come 2015 so that d common man would decides on d new city by their vote. Let's see whether GEJ and his croanies would finished their construction b4 2015 otherwise, it'll be another abandone project. God bless Nigeria.
ReplyDelete