Day ‘Mr Gatwick’ called at Gateway Agro-Cargo Airport
Parroted as the man who owns Gatwick and former adviser to the United States President Donald Trump, an iconic investor was in town. His visit was fortuitous but nonetheless memorable. He had come to bury his equally well-decorated late father, Nigeria’s first professor of Medicine, Theophilus Oladipo Ogunlesi, who passed on a little shy of his centennial birthday. Our August visitor had just performed the ritual of dust-to-dust and decided to breeze into the complex housing Nigeria’s avant-garde international agro-cargo airport.
It was 6:07pm. On hand to receive him was the Governor of the State, Prince Dapo Abiodun and a retinue of his aides – Commissioners, Advisers, Senior Special Assistants and yours truly. From a sinecure Range Rover that snaked in through the Ilishan end of the road emerged the debonair lawyer and innovative investment banker. Welcome, Adebayo (better known as Bayo) Ogunlesi. In private employment, he was known to have brokered deals by arranging financing for $20 billion worth of industrial projects in a career that spanned over 20 years with Credit Suisse First Boston (CSFB).
He made other daring efforts at the bank. Many of his clients were governments and firms developing energy resources in emerging markets. In 2002 Ogunlesi became the head of CSFB’s global investment banking division with 1,200 bankers and $2.8 billion in assets under his supervision. But, he is by far more famous for his exploits as Chairman and Managing Partner of the private equity firm, Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), with multi-billion dollar global investments across sectors like transport, natural resource and power generation with company’s assets including seaports, freight, rail facilities, midstream natural resources and power generation businesses.
The icing on the cake and raison d’être for calling was his stake in the aviation industry. His company is the owner of five international airports in First World countries, including the London City Airport, Edinburgh Airport and Gatwick Airport. A proud Remo man and illustrious son of Ogun State, Bayo Ogunlesi accompanied by his brother, Folabi, a professor and Clinician-Scientist, were met by the state government team. As Governor Abiodun thrust his hands in greeting, the legendary financier enthused: “You mean this place was put together under two years? That is unbelievable. That is a rare feat in the history of aviation globally!” Going down memory lane, Prince Abiodun narrated the history behind the airport that was conceived 17 years ago but remained inchoate – what he calls PowerPoint project – until two years ago.
“It was becoming a pipedream but we are breathed life into it. We are actually transforming this space that was once a refuse dump site into an aerotropolis. This is unique and that explains the pace of project execution, and quality of delivery because we believe in public-private sector-driven investment initiatives and there are waiting markets to be served,” Governor Abiodun enthused. Abiodun added that already there is a Special Agro Processing Zone project that has been flagged off with commitment of a $400 million (out of $800million), sited at the Agro-Cargo Airport, to be executed by the state government in partnership with Arise Integrated Industrial Platforms. According to the governor, the project would be completed in another 12 months. “We are not just building an airport; we are building an aerotropolis – an airport city. Ours is an investment hub for businesses, besides cargo and passenger air transport. Already, a lot of agencies of government and private sectors are scrambling to be here. There will be an international agro-processing centre. We have established with the African Development Bank (AfDB), a world-class agro-testing centre in Sagamu, to stimulate the standardisation of farm produce export from Africa and there a large scale aircraft maintenance, repair and operations company that has approached us to commence business,” Abiodun further retorted.