Badagry to Get $50m Diaspora Palace, Resort

Founder of Bridge Leader Network (BLN), a diversity consulting firm, David Anderson, is set to build a multimillion dollar diasporan royal palace and resort in Badagry.
The project which will be erected in Gberefu Island also known as the Point of No Return is estimated to cost $30m to $50m.
This was made known by Anderson, an African-American, who also holds the title “the Jogbe” (Returner) of Badagry at the Third Diaspora Festival and Door of Return Ceremony.
Anderson noted that the Royal palace would serve as unification and attraction to all the people in Diaspora with African descent.
The diaspora festival was organized by the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM) and no fewer than 15 African-Americans as well as Jamaicans had visited to have a sense of their roots and heritage.
Seven of these visitors were re-christened with different names by the Akran of Badagry, De Whenu Ahole Menu.
They include Pastor Angel Cartagena; David Dimas, Bishop Marcus Johnson, Marian Edmonds Allen, Janise Fonseca, Cecily Cooper, Linda Lindquist, Dr. George Miller, Mike Perez and Chief Melvin Russell who is Acting Deputy Commissioner of Police in The Baltimore Police Department.
The participants with the help of tour guides re-enacted the slave trade experience taking a long walk through the routes taken by the captured slaves to join a waiting ship in the Atlantic Ocean.
The emotional Chairman/CEO of NIDCOM, Abike Dabiri-Erewa decried the inhuman treatment meted out to the forefathers of Nigeria and other African countries.
Dabiri-Erewa said it was a challenge for Africa to strive for greatness to compensate for the agony, torture and inhumanity experienced by the ancestors of Africa who were victims of the dark days of slave trade.
She said the Federal Government would partner with relevant stakeholders especially the people in the Diaspora to grow and strengthen the festival to attract more people in Diaspora to come home and develop the land.
Anderson who had already been allocated with land to build the Diasporan Palace said no fewer than two Multinational Hotel Firms had indicated interest in supporting the Palace and Resort.
He also explained that the Resort would turn the hitherto ‘Point of No Return’ to a Point of Unification of people in the Diaspora with African descent.
Earlier, the Akran of Badagry urged the people in the Diaspora to tap on the vast opportunities in the land to invest and contribute to the socioeconomic development of Badagry in particular and Nigeria at large.
The Permanent Secretary, Lagos Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Babatunde Olaide-Mesewaku said the state government had marshalled out plans to turn around Badagry as a foremost tourist destination not only in the state but the country at large.
In a chat with the Daily Trust correspondent, Secretary of Gberefu Community, Samson Hungbe said the absence of infrastructure and long neglect of the community had reduced the visibility of the community as a foremost tourist destination.