Ambode receives German President

Governor Ambode, who spoke yesterday, at Lagos House
in Ikeja while playing host to the President of Germany,
Mr. Joachim Gauck, said he was also favourably
disposed to a sister-city relationship between Lagos, the
economic capital of Nigeria and Frankfurt, the
commercial hub in Germany, especially in the area of
financial service sector.
He said Lagos, being a commercial hub and the fourth
largest economy in Africa with a GDP that is bigger than
those of 41 countries in the continent combined, and
Frankfurt, a major economic hub in Europe should
explore a working relationship in terms of massive
financial service that would be mutually beneficial to the
two cities.
While stating that the parameters for high return on
investment abound in Lagos, Governor Ambode said ever
since assuming office, he has deliberately put in place
measures to encourage foreign investment, adding that
he had also invested massively in ensuring the safety of
lives and property both of Nigerians in Lagos and
foreigners.
“One of the things I have tried to do quickly is to uphold
the situation that there must be sanctity of law and there
must be rule of law. We are strongly committed to the
security and judicial sector reforms and we believe that is
the only way we can encourage investors to come and do
business in Lagos,” the Governor said.
He added: “I must recognize quickly the volume of
German investments that we have in Lagos and I must
quickly recognize what it means to us because ultimately
it is about creation of jobs for our people and where we
see a situation where we have willing partners and by the
demonstration of the number and quality of businessmen
that you have brought in this delegation, I am assured
that we would have so much to do together as we
proceed.
“I will like to let you know that the key areas that we are
deeply interested in are power, technology and transport.
We believe that we need to change the state of our
transportation system in Lagos and that is why we are
quietly talking to some German companies that we want
a situation where we can actually phase out some of the
buses that we are using for the quality buses that come
from Germany and we are talking about buses to the
volume of 10, 000 to 20, 000.
“Beyond that, we must also start to think about creating
assembling plants and also workshop plants in Lagos to
grow the economy of Germany and at the same time
grow the economy of Nigeria,” Governor Ambode said.
Earlier in his remarks, President Gauck said he was
delighted to be in Lagos which he described as the centre
of business, political development, creativity and intellect
in the art of West Africa.
President Gauck, who spoke through an interpreter, said
he was particularly delighted to be in Lagos first on his
visit to Nigeria, adding that he would be willing to learn
and hear more about the successes of Nigeria and the
problems which the country has had to tackle.
“My visit is meant to underline the friendly close ties
existing between Germany and Nigeria.
“We have great interest in the area of trade and we in
Germany are ready to share our experiences in those
areas where you think they might prove helpful or
necessary and we are happy to share the experiences we
have acquired in fostering security and fostering social
security. We are happy to share the knowledge we have
acquired in the field of science and technology and
cooperate with you,” President Gauck said.
The German President, who was accompanied by his wife
and top government functionaries as well as strong
delegation from the business community, said he would
like to explore partnership with Nigeria in areas of
providing vocational training assistance and
strengthening cooperation between private institutions
and government institutions, as well as partner on
transfer of entrepreneurial skills.
President Gauck, who is billed to meet with President
Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday, further pledged the
readiness of his country to assist Nigeria with technical
know-how to successfully fight terrorism.
He added: “We ought to stay in touch, we ought to be
talking about coming together to further the investment
climate and look at how we can invest here.
“All in all Mr. Governor, I’m delighted to be here. I’m
delighted about the opportunity to meet you in person and
to get to know this fascinating part of Africa; to see its
development, to see some of its cultural diversity and the
lively energy that dominate this part of the world.”