Korede Abdullah 
President Bola Tinubu
OGUN, Nigeria – President Bola Tinubu has unveiled an investment package of more than $7 billion for the proposed Gateway Deep Seaport and Ogun State Blue Marine Special Economic Zone, as Nigeria seeks to expand maritime trade, industrial production and logistics capacity.
The investment framework was announced in Paris, France, where the Ogun State Government and DP World, a global ports and logistics operator, signed Memoranda of Understanding for the development of the two projects.
The proposed Gateway Deep Seaport at Ogun Waterside is planned to have a four-kilometre berth and an 18-metre draft, which Tinubu said would enable it to accommodate larger vessels and help ease pressure on the Lagos port corridor, including the Apapa and Tin Can Island ports.
The 10,000-hectare Blue Marine Special Economic Zone is expected to be integrated with the port to support manufacturing, processing, exports and logistics.
Speaking at the signing ceremony, Tinubu said the agreements combined capital, expertise and execution capacity, while assuring investors of regulatory clarity, policy stability and a predictable business environment.
He said the Federal Government would facilitate road, rail and power connections to the projects and remove unnecessary bureaucratic obstacles to investment. “ A port moves cargo; a port integrated with a special economic zone helps to build an economy. Each reinforces the other,” Tinubu said.
The President also linked the projects to the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, saying the 28-kilometre Ogun section of the planned 700-kilometre highway would provide an important transport connection to the emerging port and industrial corridor.
Tinubu said the Ogun section was scheduled for completion before the end of the year.
He said the projects were intended to address longstanding constraints affecting Nigeria’s maritime economy, including port congestion, inadequate draft capacity and logistics bottlenecks that raise the cost of doing business.
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Oluwatobi Adu 
