France, Lagos partner on €410m Deal to Boost Waterways Transportation
• Both countries are at the forefront of creative and cultural industries.
France’s Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Mr Jean-Noël Barrot, has announced a €410 million deal with Lagos state for the enhancement of water transportation, which will see an additional 100,000 Lagosians use the state’s waterways as against road and rail transport.
Speaking with Arise Television, Barrot also backed Africa’s quest for a permanent seat in the United Nations, noting that aside from that, President Emmanuel Macron was also interested in exploring other areas of cooperation with Nigeria.
He stated that the “Omi Eko” Project in Lagos will see the deployment of 75 electric boats and open 15 new waterways across 140 kilometres in Lagos, providing decarbonised water transport, reduced carbon emissions, and adaptation to rising sea levels.
“Now, implementation will be key, and it will be in the hands of the Nigerian authorities. But what’s very important is to see what the outcome will look like. Seventy five electric boats serving 15 new routes, 140 kilometers, allowing people that live remotely, that live far away from the centre of Lagos, to have access to public transportation.
“This will remove, if I may say, 100,000 people from road transportation or rail transportation onto waterways transportation. For the city of aquatic splendor, it is in some way very natural to see the water and the lagoon as an asset to make the life of Lagosians better.
“So this is a question that needs to be addressed to the agency in charge of the implementation of the project. But what’s for sure is that we’ve achieved a major step by securing the final deal for this to become a reality. Now, of course, implementation is key, but it was long due,” he stated, while answering a question on the commencement and completion of the project.
Having just returned from the Omi-Eko event, he stated that the inauguration of the major project will help in decarbonation of transport on waterways in Lagos and lower the transportation times for citizens and make the city more resilient in the face of rising sea level.
As the largest country in Africa, Barrot noted that Nigeria remains a key partner on the continent, highlighting the nation’s role in global affairs.
As a follow-up to last year’s meeting between President Bola Tinubu and Macron, the French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, stated that France has a clear position on what its relationship with Nigeria should look like.
“France has a very clear position. France is a permanent member of the Security Council, and France calls for the creation of two seats of permanent members going to African countries with all associated prerogatives.
“In this effort, leading to the reform of the Security Council to allow the two African countries to become permanent members, we see Nigeria as playing a dominant role. In practice, what is needed to reform the Security Council is that the General Assembly of the United Nations adopts a resolution expressing the details, the parameters of the reform, and then for the Security Council itself, and for the permanent members in particular, not to oppose such a resolution.
“And we have spearheaded efforts bringing together countries that, like France, support the reform of the Security Council to make 2026 the year of this reform, because it is long due and it is necessary to rebalance our international institutions, to allow Africa to play the role that it should play in order for these institutions to be more legitimate, more robust and more resilient,” he stated.
In terms of cooperation at the cultural and creative levels, he mentioned the Fela Kuti exhibition, describing it as the largest ever exhibition organised on the late musician, who he said is loved back in France.
On why the collaboration is necessary, he said: It’s very simple. France is at the forefront of creative and cultural industries in Europe. And Nigeria is at the forefront of cultural and creative industries in Africa.
“So it is very natural that we would co-organise this second edition of the Forum Création Africa. It is the largest forum, business forum, dedicated to creative and cultural industries on the continent, bringing together a thousand participants from 42 African countries, of which 80 are Nigerian participants.
“These people are excelling in video games, webtoons, cinema, fashion, digital design, and will connect and find an opportunity to accelerate their projects and to scale them up, basically. This is what we agreed with the Nigerian authority. This is what President Macron promised President Tinubu,” he added.
