President Muhammadu Buhari has expressed
confidence that the Centenary City in Nigeria's capital
city, Abuja, will create more jobs and add immense
value to the overall development of the oil-rich
nation.
The President made the statement on Friday after
being briefed by the Chairman of the Centenary City
PLC on the progress of the project and the faith of
the original inhabitants of the site.
President Buhari praised the Centenary City's main
development partners from the United Arab
Emirates for having enough confidence in Nigeria to
agree to invest about $18.5 billion in the project.
He was optimistic that the skills, expertise and vast
experience that would be brought into Nigeria to
build the Centenary City on the Dubai model, would
also be of immense benefit to Nigeria.
"I looked forward to regular updates on the
Centenary City's development," he said.
Private Sector Driven
At the briefing, the Chairman of the company's
Board of Directors, General Abdulsalami Abubakar
and members of its management team told
President Buhari that the Centenary City would
create about 250,000 more direct jobs in the
Federal Capital Territory and about half a million
indirect jobs, an assertion that President Buhari
welcomed.
The team also told the President that all the original
inhabitants of the site had been fully compensated,
emphasising that the project would be totally
private sector driven.
The Vice President, Yemi Osibanjo, who was also
present at the briefing, said that the issue of the
rights of the original inhabitants of the site acquired
for the Centenary City had been of concern to the
present administration.
At the meeting, the Managing Director of the
Centenary City PLC., Mr Micheal Odenigwe and the
Director of Eagle Hills Limited, Jnel Shakel,
debunked allegations of fraud about the project.
The National Vice Chairman of the Peoples
Democratic Party for South-South, Dr. Cairo
Ojougboh, had written to the President, demanding
a probe of the role of the immediate former
Secretary of the Government of the Federation,
Senator Pius Anyim, in the Multi-Billion Dollar
project. The petition may have triggered the
briefing, which is believed to part of a process
aimed at assessing the project and the controversy
surrounding it.
The Centenary City Project was initiated in the
twilight of the past administration of former
President Goodluck Jonathan.
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