The Local Organising Committee (LOC) of the 2016 Africa Beach Soccer Cup of Nations tournament has concluded plans to construct a 3,000 capacity seating Arena for the tournament.
The Beach Soccer Nations Cup, a championship of the Confederation of African Football (CAF), will hold in Lagos at the Eko Atlantic City from 13-18 December.
According to the Chairman, Sub Committee on Facilities for the competition, Mr Bolaji Yusuf said the organizers identified the Eko Atlantic City, which is closed to the Palace of Oniru on Victoria Island, as a situable site for the event, adding that for the convenience of players, officials and fans, a 3,000 seating Arena comprises 120 VVIP seats, 500 VIP seats and 1,400 regular seats with rooms for referee’s lounge, players, dressing room, medical points, doping control centre, CAF/LOC centre, media centre, training pitch and fans zone for entertainment will be constructed before the kick off date of the championship.
Yusuf, who is the Senior Special Assistant (SSA) on Sports Facilities to the Governor of Lagos State said: “Special security has been inculcated into the building plan to ensure adequate security for the tournament.
” The site has been cleared and floodlights are expected to arrive the country in the next couple of days as they had been pre-ordered.
“The Arena will be ready to host the eight nations and give residents and visitors an experience to savour for a very long time, ” he said.
Nigeria will face Egypt, Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire in Group A of the competition, while defending champions Madagascar will battle Libya, Morocco and Senegal in Group B.
The tournament will serves as Africa’s qualifying event for the 2017 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup taking place in The Bahamas.
Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode on Sunday carried out an extensive tour of the Eko Atlantic City Project, pledging his government’s full support to see the project through.
The governor also expressed confidence that the initiative will not only boost the economy of the State, but also increase its Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) when the City takes full flight in the next 18 months.
The governor, who was accompanied on the tour by members of his cabinet said, “I would like to express the total support of this government to this project because at the end of the day we need to grow the economy of Lagos and this obviously is going to have multiplier effect on our IGR.
“We promise that we are going to grow our IGR to N30bn by 2017 and N50bn by 2018 and this project is a sure outlet in achieving that goal,” he said.
He also expressed satisfaction on the infrastructure already put in place, saying that investors can now take advantage of the investment opportunities.
While commending the promoters of the EAC Project for their confidence in committing huge resources to the Nigerian economy, Governor Ambode said their investment was a positive sign that Nigeria remains the investment hub in Africa.
He said: “Notwithstanding the economic recession that has befallen the country right now, we have come to also show that outside the recession, there is a whole lot of progress going on in the investment climate in Lagos State.
“We are very happy that the signs are looking very good for investment in Lagos. We are also very happy that we are doing everything possible to encourage investors to come into the State and I like to assure that we are committed to make this project a big success,” he said.
Governor Ambode, who also inspected the 8.5km long shoreline wall, otherwise known as the ‘Great Wall of Lagos’, built to protect the EAC, said it was gratifying that the project will not only protect the new city, but also protect the whole of Victoria Island against any ocean surge, which was one of the primary reasons for the project.
He said: “This is a new and a bigger version of Victoria Island. We are going to have an Energy City here, a financial hub that is more or less going to run under a Free Trade Zone and so on.
So far, out of the over 10 million square meters of the project, about six million square meters have been reclaimed, while there are 15 bridges and two tunnels designed with the project.
Earlier, Chairman of Eko Atlantic City, Mr. Ronald Chagoury said one of the first two residential buildings in the new city will be completed by the end of August, while the second will be ready before the end of the year, adding that the first office block will be ready between September and October, 2016.
Chagoury described the project as an impressive financial district which upon completion, would compare with the financial district in Paris, France and the 5th Avenue in New York, United States.
He added that the Great of Lagos was scientifically designed to withstand any ocean surge and that it was built to last for 1, 000 years.
Reply Reply to All Forward More
Click to Reply, Reply all or Forward
Uwe Lauber, CEO of the German mechanical engineering company MAN Diesel & Turbo, talks about the energy situation and the company’s plans in Nigeria.
Mr. Lauber, you are visiting Nigeria as part of the delegation accompanying the German Federal President. What are your impressions so far?
First of all, let me say that it is a great honor for me to be able to visit Nigeria together with our Federal President and to be welcomed on such a high level. Nigeria is an impressive country with a buoyant and dynamically developing economy. That buoyancy is especially tangible in Lagos, a city that seems to be bursting with energy. Take for example the Eko Atlantic City project. The sheer dimension of it is nothing short of stunning. This is without any doubt one of the most ambitious land winning projects of our time.
We are guessing you are here for business? MAN Diesel & Turbo is engaged in various fields, ranging from power generation and turbo machinery for the oil & gas industry to marine propulsion. For which segment do you see the biggest opportunities in Nigeria?
Nigeria is already an important market for our turbomachinery business, where we are working together with the oil and gas and process industry on a number of projects. Some groundbreaking projects are being developed at the moment, e.g. the Dangote refinery, which will be of huge strategical value for the country and will turn Nigeria into an exporter of refined petroleum products instead of an importer. It is projects like this, where we see the most substantial growth potential. But Nigeria also has a developing shipbuilding industry, to which we are paying close attention. As one of the world’s leading providers of ship engines, we want to be well positioned by the time this market takes off. And then, of course, there is the energy sector, where we specialize in solutions for distributed energy generation. We already have over 60 engines for energy generation installed in the country.
As you know, the generation of and access to electricity is one of the biggest challenges this country is facing. What is your perspective on the situation?
The power sector is, without question, one of the key constraints on the country’s economic development. According to the World Bank, power cuts in Nigeria slow down annual growth by an average of 3-4 percent. That is very substantial. Nigeria is the biggest economy on the African continent and yet almost 50 percent of the population is without access to electricity. Imagine the untapped potential! Without a doubt, action is needed. But things are progressing, and in the past years, Nigeria has made remarkable efforts to address the situation in a systematical way: The 2013 privatization of the power sector created the foundation on which an electricity market based on rules, efficiency and reliability can develop. Going forward, it will be essential to generate the trust and incentives needed for independent power producers to further invest in and expand the generation capacities and distribution infrastructure.
What technical solutions do you recommend for the country’s energy challenge?
With regards to generation capacities, I think flexibility is key, which is why distributed energy solutions based on gas or dual-fuel engines are well-suited to Nigeria. They are very efficient and can feed into the grid or operate in captive mode. And this technology also works well with renewable energies, like solar or wind power, which offer a huge potential in Nigeria.
The Nigerian government intends to increase the share of electricity from renewables to 23% by 2025 and to 36% by 2030. Coming from a country that has already reached a +25% share – any advice?
It’s hard to compare the situations: In Germany, the main challenge was and still is to completely restructure an energy system that has evolved over decades in a short period of time. In Nigeria, it is about building up a new energy system, partly from scratch – a system that needs to supply twice as many people, in a country that is almost three times as big as Germany. Having said that, I think there are three lessons that we had to learn the hard way, which might be of general value: First, “Make a plan and share it!” – Get all the players to the table and let them know where the journey is going. Secondly, “Don’t forget about the grid!” – It needs to carry the load and takes a lot of time to build. And thirdly, if it is also climate protection we are talking about, “Renewables alone won’t cut it.” You need to choose the right back-up as well.
What would be the right back-up in your eyes?
In Germany, we have been facing the seemingly absurd situation of constantly rising shares of renewable energy generation and rising CO2 emissions at the same time. What had happened was that more and more subsidized renewable energy pushed into the market and led to a drastic erosion of wholesale prices for electricity. As most gas-fired power plants could not compete on that price level, the share of energy generated from coal increased. And that had a significant impact on the carbon footprint. What this has taught us: Renewables need a fossil back-up that is low in emissions, which is why natural gas is essential when it comes to reaching our climate goals.
Speaking of climate goals, what is your assessment of the recent climate agreement made at the COP21 in Paris?
The climate agreement has to be considered a historical breakthrough. Never before has the UN been able to get everybody to commit to a common climate goal. This is a unique result. But we have to be aware that the actual work is only starting now, as the agreement does not define any mandatory actions. So the next step will be just as decisive, which is for the countries of the world to hand in binding plans for their factual contribution to limit global warming.
You have opened a new office in Lagos at the end of last year. What are your further plans in Nigeria? Are you planning to open additional offices?
As a next step, we are considering opening up a local service workshop. Our market-leading service is an essential element of the MAN brand experience and, of course, a strong selling point for any new business we create in Nigeria. And since we already have a strong local base, this is worth looking into.
In 2014 you acquired a small engineering company in South Africa. Is M&A something you are also looking into for the Nigerian market?
We are not on a shopping tour, but we follow a concept that we like to call “intelligent growth”. That means acquisitions are definitely part of our playbook, and Nigeria is no exception. However, it also means that we place very high demands on the commercial viability of any possible transaction. We look at M&A as a tool to help us open up new fields of technology, sales markets or supply chains. If that is the case, we may be interested. But we will always remain a lean and flexible player in the market. Our customer proximity and fast market response allow us to counteract the size difference to some of our competitors.
In the Marina District of Eko Atlantic City, a new world class development is evolving, aimed at giving luxury and urban lifestyle a new definition. It has been described as a premier residential destination, offering opportunities for living, working and leisure.
Known as Azuri Peninsula, the development is being promoted by Eko Development Nigeria Limited – a real estate development company. The project sits on a combined land area measuring 127, 507 square metres to be built and delivered in three phases.
The first phase, with a 36-month completion plan, has 13,000 square metres gross buildable area (GBA) and 130 square metres built up area where 120 luxury apartments, 12 super-luxury simplexes, two superb villas and seven town-house apartments would be nestled.
Chief Responsibility Officer, Eko Development, Ihiene Ogolo, said: “Azuri Peninsula offers a unique and luxury urban lifestyle by the delightful marina-front of the Marina District in the vibrant new Eko Atlantic City.”
According to Ogolo, Azuri combines the African word ‘Zuri’ meaning, beautiful, while Azure suggests a radiant sea. He said the location of the Peninsula in the Marina District, considered the most exclusive in Eko Atlantic City, explains the developer’s choice of a brand name that resonates uncommon luxury and lifestyle.
The Peninsula will be delivered as two and four-bedroom luxury apartments, six-bedroom duplexes and seven-bedroom villas, arranged across marina town-house apartments and three outstanding residential towers known as ‘Zuna’ (meaning abundance), ‘Orun’ (meaning heaven) and ‘Oban’ (meaning king), each rising 26 floors.
“This development is taking into consideration lifestyle and ambience. The lifestyle is created by its location. The location is between the Atlantic Ocean and the Lagos channel; we are also creating a marina and so you have three water bodies that create a lifestyle and ambience,” Ogolo said.
For the ultimate comfort of the prospective residents of this Peninsula, which has already recorded about 80 percent buyer-interest, there will be a five-star marina and yacht club with an attractive promenade, high-end shops, cafes and a wealth of amenities.
Eko Atlantic, a city frequently touted as Africa’s Dubai, is a layout of 10 districts of which the Marina is one and the Business District is another. Though Eko Peninsula is planned as a mix-use development that will be 92 per cent residential and eight per cent retail, its closeness to the Business District complements its concept as a live, work and play destination.
In line with the highest standards of contemporary living, all apartments in the Peninsula will be fully-fitted with state-of-the-art kitchens and luxury bathrooms, air conditioning and broadband terraces and balconies. The ‘Orun’ and ‘Oban’ Towers will promises to offer the ultimate in luxury living and these include a private gym and swimming pool as well as stunning, panoramic views of the environment.
The Peninsula also promises residents access to 24-hour concierge service, a gym, two squash courts, and a café. These come in addition to a relaxing sauna, games, screening rooms and a children’s playroom. Outside, residents will have access to a private outdoor swimming pool, children’s playground, garden-piazzas and valet parking.
In the Marina District, there will be high-end retail outlets, international standard restaurants and an abundant range of amenities, all of which will establish Azuri Peninsula as a premier residential destination.
Eko Atlantic’s high-standard infrastructure, which includes managed and maintained utilities, will guarantee an exceptionally comfortable lifestyle. A well-planned road system, up-to-date ferry service and helicopter service linking the city to Lagos, will ensure that Eko Atlantic is the best-connected city in West Africa.
Standing in the middle of the Eko Atlantic City seems little surreal. It is like miraculously standing on the Atlantic Ocean. Just a few years ago, this was the middle of the ocean. It is no longer so now.
White sand stretches out before the eyes far until it is interrupted by the skyline of buildings along Ahmadu Bello Way. Even then, Victoria Island looks like a nearby city.
Eko Atlantic City, a new Lagos mega city, is set to unfold.
In 2002, about twelve years ago, it was difficult to imagine that this ultra modern city would be a reality. It is a city meant to be a business area for the big players. It is also going to be a playground for the super rich. World- class leisure facilities that would make the city a top leisure destination would be available.
The city, when completed, will be in the mould of Downtown Dubai. In line with this vision, the Eko Atlantic City hosted the first beach polo tournament in Africa called Eko Atlantic Polo Tournament. Polo is regarded as a game for the kings. It is equally befitting that a city made for kings and high flyers should be the first to host such tournament in Africa.
A sandy polo field was carved out of the sandy land of Atlantic City. Healthy, agile horses were brought from different stables to the venue for the competition. For the four-day event, it was exclusive, taking in 1,000 enthusiasts each day.
The beach polo tournament, which was the first of its kind in Nigeria and West Africa, lived up to its billing by attracting net worth participants and offering them a four-day uninterrupted excitement provided by skilful players drawn from Nigeria and expatriate communities.
The tournament featured seven participating teams: Access Bank, Lagos Polo Club, Veuve Cliquot, Power Horse, Azuri Peninsula, Caverton and Subs. This allowed for a wide variety of opponents opposed to a knock out competition with four teams in the pools progressing to the final.
Cross section of the audience at the event
The opening ceremony on March 19 saw four teams slugging it out, while the audience cheered them on. The competition for laurels and cheers by the excited audience continued till Sunday, March 22, the final day when Lagos Polo Club clinched the grand prize and trophy for their exceptional skilful play.
The Lagos Polo Club outplayed the Team Power Horse with a 5-4 points margin to clinch victory at the tournament. The Team Power Horse automatically won the second place.The Team Caverton and Team Veuve Clicquot won the third and fourth places respectively.
Speaking on their victory, Habib Fashinro, captain, Lagos Polo Club, noted that all the participating teams did very well, but that the club’s discipline, training and commitment gave it an edge over others.
He commended the organisers, sponsors, supporters and spectators for making the maiden edition of the game a success.
Earlier, Baba Dangote of the Team Caverton won the first Most Valuable Player of the game, while Abdurahmn Isa of the Lagos Polo Club won the second Most Valuable Player of the tournament.
The audience appreciated the participating teams because beach polo is a little difficult game due to the sand which, in some cases, held on to the ball by the holes created by the horses, preventing the free flow of the game.
At the end, it was full of excitement and glamour, especially when a goal was scored.
The game lived up to its billing by attracting net worth participants and corporate sponsors such as Access Bank, Coscharis Motors, Veuve Clicquot, Power Horse, Qatar Airways, Eko Pearl Towers, Eko Energy Estate among others.
Speaking at the presentation of the trophy to the Lagos Polo Club, Roosevelt Ogbonna, Executive Director, Commercial Banking, Access Bank, noted that the bank was happy to identify with Eko Atlantic and extended its relationship with the sponsorship of the polo tournament because of its belief in viable projects which Eko Atlantic is brining to town.
Describing the beach polo as a prestigious game, David Frame, Managing Director, South Energyx Nigeria Limited, the developers of Eko Atlantic, noted that skill, form, courage and triumph are compelling attributes of the polo game which mirror those of Eko Atlantic, the world’s famous new city, providing vital real estate for people to live and work in the future economic capital of Africa.
Coscharis Motors turned the four-day event to an auto show with the parade of their top range luxury cars such as Lincoln, Jaguar, BMW, among others. They also offered the rich participants the opportunity to test-drive the super autos with the hope of making purchase afterwards.
Speaking on the highly successful event, President, Lagos Polo Club, Habeeb Fasinro, said the teams were carefully selected to give satisfaction to the guests.
He said the Lagos Polo Club was committed to promote the elitist sport. He said the tournament was part of the efforts to position the state for the next century.
It was a successful event, and Eko Atlantic and Lagos Polo Club have promised to build on its success.
EKO Atlantic and the Lagos Polo Club are to host the first beach polo tournament at Eko Atlantic. It will be another opportunity for both local and foreign tourists in Lagos to enjoy quality leisure time.
The event which began last Thursday, will end tomorrow. A number of Nigerian teams are participating in a round robin tournament. Every team is playing every other team in their pool once.
This allows for a wide variety of opponents and each team could be equally as involved, as opposed to a knock-out competition. Each of the four teams in the pool would progress to the final which would take place tomorrow.
Pool winners will compete for the main cup, while runners up would play for the plate. The third place will play for the bowl and the last place will play for the shield. This format will guarantee each team four matches as well as games on each of the three days of competition.
The Eko Atlantic Beach Polo Tournament Arena will sit on approximately 42,000 square metres of land located directly off Eko Boulevard, a paved eight-lane thoroughfare that is over a mile long and is the spine of the Business District. This selection will provide a spacious location with the paved road access that will also be used by guests parking throughout the event.
Furthermore, this area is the first to have street lighting installed which will improve security as well as mobility for guests at the end of festivities each day.
Entrance to the Eko Atlantic Beach Polo Tournament is strictly by invitation. There is an invitation card for each day of play to ensure guest numbers are controlled and avoid overcrowding with a maximum of 1,000 invitees being distributed for each day of play. Polo is known around the world as “the sport of kings” and in Nigeria, this is also the case.
EKO Atlantic and the Lagos Polo Club are to host the first beach polo tournament at Eko Atlantic. It will be another opportunity for both local and foreign tourists in Lagos to enjoy quality leisure time.
The event will be held over three days, from next week’s Thursday, March 19 to Sunday, March 22. A number of Nigerian teams will participate in a round robin tournament. Every team will play every other team in their pool once.
This allows for a wide variety of opponents and each team can be equally as involved as opposed to a knock-out competition. Each of the four teams in the pool would progress to the final which would take place on the final day.
Pool winners will compete for the main cup, while runners up would play for the plate. The third place will play for the bowl and the last place will play for the shield. This format will guarantee each team four matches as well as games on each of the three days of competition.
The Eko Atlantic Beach Polo Tournament Arena will sit on approximately 42,000 square metres of land located directly off Eko Boulevard, a paved eight-lane thoroughfare that is over a mile long and is the spine of the Business District. This selection will provide a spacious location with the paved road access that will also be used by guests parking throughout the event.
Furthermore, this area is the first to have street lighting installed which will improve security as well as mobility for guests at the end of festivities each day.
Entrance to the Eko Atlantic Beach Polo Tournament will be strictly by invitation. An invitation will be printed for each day of play to ensure guest numbers are controlled and avoid overcrowding with a maximum of 1,000 invitees being distributed for each day of play. Polo is known around the world as “the sport of kings” and in Nigeria, this is also the case.
At the event, you can expect to meet business tycoons, company executives and directors from multi-national companies as well as indigenous ones. These companies range from oil and gas, manufacturing, agriculture, real estate, banking and finance, telecommunications and many other notable industries.
Access Bank, Eko Energy Estate and Eko Pearl Nigeria Ltd are headline sponsors of the event. Moet and Hennessey, Samsung and Coscharis are also supporters of the event.
To help celebrate this momentous occasion, Access Bank is offering new account openers a chance to win tickets to the prestigious polo tournament at Eko Atlantic. Also up for grabs is a weekend stay for 10 couples in Eko Hotel and a week-long holiday in either Dubai or London for two couples, courtesy of Qatar Airways. Lagos Polo Club have teamed up to create and host the first polo tournament at Eko Atlantic.
Developers of the Eko Atlantic City have launched a mobile app to facilitate a tour of the emerging global city in Lagos.
The Eko Atlantic Director of Communications, Brent Sadler, said the app is interactive with the new Eko Atlantic Milestones newsletter.
With this innovation, he said new generation smart phones and tablets can be deployed for monitoring of housing construction in the country.
“The physical reality of Eko Atlantic is clear to see off the shore of Victoria Island. But now the virtual reality of the project is being brought to life.
“Without doubt, the smartest feature on the app is Augmented Reality (AR) – a cutting edge technology that displays a digitally enhanced view of objects or locations.
“Using the camera and sensors in a smart phone or tablet, AR adds layers of digital information – videos, photos, sounds, graphics or GPS data – directly on top of items in the real world.”
When erosion ravaged a good part of Victoria Island about 11 years ago it resulted in sleepless nights for residents then. The problem became a nightmare and it was very serious threat to Ahmadu Bello Way, whose border had partially collapsed into the sea. Concerned about this development, the state governor at the time, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, sought the help of experts with a view to stemming the tide of erosion which was threatening to swallow up the whole of Victoria Island.
Investigations revealed that if a wall was constructed on the original coastline, it would effectively check the course of the erosion. That interestingly is the origin of the Eko Atlantic City project.When completed, the new city would be home to 250,000 people and a workplace of 150,000 others as it is planned as a mix of business and residential developments. The city is to have different districts with different offerings.
It is being conceived and developed to be better than Manhattan in New York City and Dubai in United Arab Emirate when it is fully completed. The project represents a peep into the future of Lagos as it offers a world-class infrastructure to facilitate the development of a new African city. With Lagos’ growing population and its attendant implications, Eko Atlantic City will help, in no small way, to widen the options available for socio-economic interaction in the state.
In essence, part of the objective for bringing the city on board is to relieve the pressure on the ever enlarging population of the state. The 10 square kilometer city will have waterfront areas, tree-lined streets, efficient transport systems and mixed-use plots that combine residential areas with leisure facilities, offices and shops.
Lagos is not alone in this unending struggle between man and the forces of nature. Similar process had taken place in the Netherlands, large parts of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, parts of Dublin, Ireland, parts of New Orleans (which is partially built on land that was once swamp), much of the urbanised area adjacent to San Francisco Bay, including most of San Francisco’s waterfront and financial district, Mexico City (which is situated at the former site of Lake Texco), large parts of Monaco, 25% of Hong Kong Island, Mumbai, India and loads of individual islands, one of which the Burj al Arab Hotel in Dubai lies on.
President Goodluck Jonathan, Former United States President, Bill Clinton and the Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN) on Thursday said the development of Eko Atlantic City will help drive the tourism potential of the country.
They spoke at the dedication of the 5,000,000 square metres reclaimed land for the development of the City designed to provide infrastructures that will house 250,000 people and provide employment for about 150,000 residents in the state.
The over one billion dollar city cost one thousand dollars per square metre with an average plot averaging 1,000 square metres.
The event attracted eminent personalities, including the National Leaders of the Action Congress of Nigeria,(ACN) Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, who initiated the project under a Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement during his tenure as the governor of the state.
Other guests included the Speaker of the House of Representatives Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal, Industrialists, Aliko Dangote, Ogun State Governor, Ibikunle Amosu, former Governors of Lagos State, Alhaji Lateef Jakande and Rear Admiral Ndubuisi Kanu, Chairman Of Honeywell group, Oba Otudeko.
President Jonathan commended the initiative for the project saying that the city when completed will serve as additional support to drive the nation’s tourism potentials.
According to him, “we cannot be hearing negative story always. It took the country 19 years to win the AFCON and today Nigerians can move from Lagos to Kano easily through train, and this happened after 19 years. This project is one of the good news that we will continue to tell in this country.”
“The coordination between well planned development and good quality of life, as a standard for higher of productivity and sustainability cannot be over -emphasized.
The president said the housing sector all over the world creates employment for its citizens, adding that it is in this regard that the Federal government has accorded the housing and urban development sector priority attention.
Clinton in his remark said the city on completion will not only create a tourist delight for people all over the world but will contribute to the development of Nigeria’s economy.
“I want to thank the government and the developer for building this city. They have reclaimed five million square metres of the land initially lost to the sea. That marks the beginning of this amazing wall, the Great Wall of Lagos. 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 over the world to see this wall.
Describing the city as an ingenious engineering feat, Clinton said the City could also be home to people around the world especially for over 10,000 residents who lost their houses to Hurricane Sandy which occurred in New York in 2012.
“I spent more than two years as UN special envoy working on the repair of some of the cities affected by disaster. I saw what happen when America Hurricane Katharina went wild in the city where I spent my child hold. High rise buildings got buried in water because they were not prepared and most recently my state in New York was hit by Hurricane sandy in which thousands of people lost their homes and many lives loss”.
“This people will come to Nigeria, people want to live near the water where they can have a feel of nature. You have provided a beautify option to brand the city, the state and the nation. The shape of the stones of the Great Wall shows the understanding of how the water reacts; people will come from all over the world to study the wall.” he added.
Elated Governor Babatunde Fashola said the presence of President Jonathan and Mr. Clinton at the dedication represents the power of common commitment to the survival of human race on the planet.
“While many may see only civil work and engineering project and the sign of an emerging city of Eko Atlantic City Project, I see much more than that. I see the symbol of man’s undying spirit in Lagos to conquer nature. This is because the ability of human civilization to survive and prosper on this planet has been a story of constant battle against nature.
“Many times over, the human spirit has triumphed. The symbols of that triumph are many across our planet. The airplane is one of them. The Panama Canal is yet another. The European tunnel is another. The pyramid of Egypt remains an intriguing model of global edifice that stands as brand testimony of the indefatigable depth of human capacity for survival” he said.
