Lekki Port critical to bridging maritime infrastructure gap – Ruogang

The delivery of Lekki Deep Seaport project would go a long way in helping the nation to bridge the infrastructure gap in its maritime sector in the shortest time possible, Du Ruogang, managing director, Lekki Port LFTZ Enterprise Limited, has said.

Ruogang made this known recently in Lagos during the just concluded Ehingbeti – Lagos Economic Summit organised by the Lagos State Government with the theme ‘For a Greater Lagos: Setting the Tone for the Next Decade’.

Ruogang, who spoke during one of the plenary sessions on Lagos as an ‘Industrial Hub’, said deepening of infrastructure footprints by Babajide Sanwo-olu led administration both within the environment where the port project is located and other axis of the State, is a strong pointer that the State Government is committed to the development of the port and its underlying socioeconomic potentials.

“We are very pleased with how well things are going with the construction despite the challenges being encountered all over the world with the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, which is also being felt in Lagos State, and all over the country,” he said.

He further expressed confidence that the delivery of Lekki Port project would be sooner.

“While Lagos is not immune from the economic challenges that are being tackled globally, the uniqueness of Lagos State is the willingness of the leadership to go the extra mile to live up to its characteristic of an investor friendly state,” he said.

Continuing, he said: “Lagos makes a significant contribution to the Nigerian economy. It contributes 30 percent to Nigeria’s GDP.

This is remarkable considering that Lagos is home to only 10 percent of the population of Nigeria. The majority of Nigeria’s manufacturing is based in Lagos as well as many service industries such as finance. All of these factors combine to encourage industry to locate in Lagos, and that is the reason we are here to look forward to the future possibilities.”

Stakeholders in faithbased organisations and education sector have endorsed the two new products recently introduced into the financial market by Ecobank Nigeria, saying they can provide solutions to their needs. The products Ecobank Stewardship Pack and the Ecobank School Bundle are targeted at religious and educational institutions at all levels respectively. The Ecobank School bundle is designed to help educational institutions manage their banking needs more effectively so they can concentrate on providing world-class education.

It comprised a bouquet of digital offerings that includes Omniplus/ Omnilite, Collegepay, Ecobankpay, Web collections Paydirect, Point of Sale Terminals (POS), NIBBS platforms, EBILLS PAY, Asset Finance and Ecobank School Loan. The Ecobank Stewardship Account on the other hand is designed to help religious organizations run their daily operations smoothly and earn interest at the same time. Also referred to as The Good Steward Pack, its features include: zero monthly maintenance charge and interest rate payable on average monthly balance amongst others.

Speaking at the virtual launch, Humphrey Adebayo, Vice Chancellor, Covenant University, Ota, commended Ecobank Nigeria for taking the initiative to create the innovative products, stressing that they would add value to the operations of the various target groups. He lauded Ecobank for rising to the challenges of covid 19 pandemic by providing services to the banking public through its various digital offerings, stating that the new products would further free time for them to focus on core roles.

According to him, “The pandemic has disrupted human activities, and changed the perspective of the world thereby increasing the need for more digital and innovative solutions to the problems it created, which will further facilitate the ease of doing of business. Education and religious institutions were highly affected by the lock down, creating a gap in the system. Digital solutions become extremely important for online learning and services with digital financial solutions being helpful with collection. This has helped in freeing these institutions to focus on their core activities.

The digital platform provided by Ecobank is efficient and guarantees a high level of security and allow for real time banking services and with minimal downtime. The new Ecobank products will undoubtedly add value to these institutions.”

Mohammed Balarabe, a seasoned banker and chief launcher at the event said the target group would find them useful as they embark on their conventional activities. According to him, “The new normal presents a lot of challenges in almost all aspects of our life in particular, the faith-based organizations and educational institutions because of their conventional way of carrying out activities.

In a bid to address these challenges, Ecobank introduced these targeted products that will help tackle them. I believe more will come our way from the Ecobank platform.”

At the launch which doubled as Ecobank Public Sector Stakeholder Engagement Webinar titled “Digital enablement of education and faith: Winning tools for new normal lifestyle”, the products also received endorsement from Olabimpe Aderiye, commissioner of education, Ekiti State, Chief ‘Yomi Otubela, National President, National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools (NAPPS) and host of others.