African Diaspora Urban Developer Pitches New City Idea to Nigeria's Governor Uzodinma, Hopes To Find A Site For The New Development.

 

A group of Nigerian Urban planners, technologists and Imagineers in the Diaspora wants to build a new city in Nigeria in preparation for the fourth Industrial revolution and the kick off of the African Continental free trade area agreement.

Emmanuel Ezeoka, the founder of Subway Labs, an international urban innovation company, hopes to find a 3000 Acres and above site around the South-South, South East areas of Nigeria to create two new economic cities named Kings Landing and Asgard after fictional cities in the Game of Thrones movie series  and Marvin Pictures's Thor, respectively from scratch.  

Emmanuel proposed the over $3 Billion city development plans in separate correspondences to the Governors of Rivers and Imo State as he seeks for a favourable location to site these new economic cities.

Speaking on the plan for Kings Landing, Emmanuel said it would develop economic clusters capable of generating a combined annual revenue of over $1 Billion annual revenue for the state by 2030 and over 296,000 jobs for Nigerians. 

"Of six locations under consideration in Nigeria, the favourite is any site around Rivers, Imo and Delta States that are within striking distance from an international airport, and a seaport."

"We like to start our project with Nigeria," Emmanuel told Asiri Naija on Wednesday in Abuja. "A World Economic Forum's report reveals that 20% of Africa's estimated $6.5 trillion total consumer and business spending as a result of the implementation of the ACFTA agreement will be in Nigeria - That's a whopping $1.3 trillion by 2030, labour is cheap, the population is a plus". Overall we will like to start the the first phase of our Africa Industrialization drive in Nigeria."

An aide to the Imo State Governor who did not want to be named confirmed there had been ongoing plans to develop the state's economic potential but declined comment on the details of discussions between the state government and Subway Labs.

Emmanuel also said "cities are the foundation for economic development" insisting that "when these cities are not properly planned with the future in view and with efficient urban service delivery, businesses are at best hindered from growing and competing with global brands." "Africa's development problems have always been that of inefficient private sector and not the government."

"Over dependence on government for real development has hampered the overall development of the black continent and we have come back to change the narrative". He sighted an example saying, "The Nigeria Federal Government designed and developed a National Economic Recovery and Growth Plan for a National Industrial Revolution but where is the private sector's complimentary actions?" He also added that Subway Labs' public policy and research team has set up an special economic commission to look into Africa's urban future and implement far reaching decisions to alter Africa's Architectural designs, nurture the integration of sustainability, emerging technologies, green energy and environmental protection to create higher quality of life for Africans in our cities.

Emmanuel said he hoped to lead a delegation to meet with the Imo, Delta and Rivers state Governors later this year if pandemic restrictions ease, and to also meet local people and visit potential sites. 

Attractions includes Governor Uzodinma's maiden broadcast to Imo people for a 'new Imo', the Financial Times' organised Rivers State's government investment banquet in London which was monitored by our research team and the strategic location of Delta State as a potential economic corridor, Emmanuel said. He also added that Subway Labs' foreign infrastructure partners from Asia and the US were very optimistic about Africa's infrastructure investment returns.

Tonye Alali also known as Tzone_Al, a Diaspora media mogul during a conversation said Rivers state should host Asgard so as to re-engineer entertainment and movie production in it's organic base - Port Harcourt, which boasts of globally recognized musical and movie icons. 

''I will speak to my listening Governor, Wike," Tonye said, "to take advantage of this plan to boost job creation through entertainment." "Lagos' indifference to the development of Nigeria 's entertainment industry gives Rivers state the opportunity to lead African Arts."

Asiri Naija recalls that recent calls by leading African heads of state for Blacks around the world to come back to their roots may have prompted a recent surge in black owned investments in Africa. 

The Black Lives Matter agitation is also a factor to consider if Diaspora Africans should begin to think Africa. 

In the phone interview with Emmanuel, he ruled out the BLM campaigns as motivation for such new city development plans, asking whether Akon's city project in Senegal was also inspired by BLM. He  went further to say that Africa is the land of promise with milk and honey flowing in its streets. He added "the reason many Africans residing in Africa can't see what I am seeing is because there is no enabling environment, which is what Subway Labs' inspired Buy Africa Project intends to solve by first creating special economic cities across regions of Africa before rolling out other programs that will ultimately transform the continent from a place synonymous with poverty and death to an El Dorado of opportunities where there will be fair distributions of resources and shared responsibility for the whole human family and the environment."