PARIS — President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has witnessed the formal signing of historic Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) between the Ogun State Government and global maritime logistics giant DP World to develop the $7 billion Gateway Deep Seaport and the Ogun State Blue Marine Special Economic Zone.
The agreements were executed on Thursday, September 24, 2026, in Paris, France, alongside Ogun State Governor Dapo Abiodun, Minister of Marine and Blue Economy Adegboyega Oyetola, and Director-General of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) Abubakar Dantsoho.
The high-value investment framework is designed to pull in an initial $7 billion in foreign direct investment and create over 50,000 direct jobs upon full completion, providing a major structural boost to Nigeria’s maritime economy and non-oil export capacity under the administration’s Renewed Hope Agenda.
According to project specifications, the Gateway Deep Seaport—located at Ogun Waterside—will feature a four-kilometre berth and an 18-metre draft. The deep draft will allow the facility to accommodate ultra-large ocean container vessels, effectively decongesting the crowded Lagos port corridor at Apapa and Tin Can Island while providing a competitive trade gateway across the West African sub-region and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
Integrated directly with the seaport is the proposed 10,000-hectare Ogun State Blue Marine Special Economic Zone, engineered as an industrial manufacturing, export-processing, and logistics hub. The zone will allow imported raw components to be processed into value-added export goods locally.
Speaking during the signing ceremony, President Tinubu emphasized that integrating heavy port infrastructure with a dedicated economic zone moves Nigeria beyond basic cargo movement toward genuine domestic industrialization. He assured global investors that the Federal Government will maintain regulatory clarity, policy stability, and administrative support, including rail, road, and power interconnections to the project site.
“A port moves cargo; a port integrated with a special economic zone helps to build an economy,” President Tinubu stated. “This is economic diversification made tangible. This is industrialisation made visible.”
The President highlighted that the strategic corridor will connect directly with the 28-kilometre Ogun section of the 700-kilometre Lagos–Calabar Coastal Highway—scheduled for completion before the end of the year—while forming part of a broader maritime and energy hub encompassing the proposed Nigerian Navy Operating Base and the Olokola Liquefied Natural Gas (OK LNG) project.
Governor Dapo Abiodun commended President Tinubu’s political leadership for reviving the long-standing coastal development vision that had remained stalled for three decades, noting that the partnership exemplifies effective cooperative federalism aimed at turning Ogun State into a premier trade gateway for West Africa.
