The year was 2003. Lagos State Governor at the time, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu saw into the future and luckily, had the future sitting next to him. He conceived the idea of Free Trade Zone in Ibeju Lekki and told the future at the time.
Current Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu was the future. When Tinubu birthed the idea of a Free Zone, it was in its infancy, and almost two decades since that day, that dream is on the verge of being realised.
“The idea around having a Free Zone in the Ibeju Lekki Area was conceived by our leader Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. I was with him in 2003, 2004 when we took a trip to China & we were trying to conceive a Free Zone” Sanwo-Olu said at the Commissioning of the Dangote Fertiliser Plant.
Tinubu after signing the agreement for Lekki Free Trade Zone in 2006
The Lekki Free Trade Zone in Ibeju-Lekki is also home to the largest single refinery in the world, owned by Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote.
Tinubu, at the time was on his second term as Lagos State Governor and had an open clash of ideologies with Nigeria’s President at the time, Olusegun Obasanjo.
Obasanjo however hailed the idea and tagged it brilliant in 2006, when a contract establishing the Free Trade Zone was signed with the Chinese government. The final bidding and approval came in 2007. Obasanjo described Tinubu as a “brilliant governor with brilliant ideas” at the time.
Obasanjo agreed with Tinubu on the conception of the Lekki Free Trade Zone
The 90 hectares of land about to be commissioned as Lekki Port was a part of the 220 hectares of land which Tinubu’s government set aside and issued Certificate of Occupancy for as the Lekki Free Trade Zone.
In what was the Lekki Master Plan many years ago, the Lekki Port and Airport were also conceived as constituent parts of the project.
