 I'm very pleased to be here to join you as you celebrate 70 years of Coca-Cola in Nigeria and I must say that you could not have chosen a better special guest of honor than myself even if I say so myself and the simple reason is my long history of personal and family Coke drinking and Coke drinking stories. I drank several bottles of Coke daily for many years as a matter of fact just to give you some statistics from 1975 to 2017 I drank at least two bottles of Coke a day at least two bottles a day. Now by my calculation even if you discount two years it means I must have had 29,200 bottles of Coke in my lifetime so far now I don't know what the world record is but I must be a contender no matter how you slice it but after I got married in 1989 my very dear wife said to me Yemi would you mind if I gave you a piece of advice since you drink Coke so much I'll suggest you buy some shares in this Coca-Cola company so at least you know that you're also making a bit of money from this Coke drinking thing so I took her advice and I bought a few shares of Coca-Cola sometime in 1995 well I'm not so it hasn't made me a millionaire of any kind but for every Coke that I've had since then it was good for my conscience that you guys at Coca-Cola were not the only ones making money so I was making a bit of money too. My father by the way of blessed memory also loved Coke and he drank Coke until his old age but he had a favorite Coke joke he said there was this tailor from our hometown who respected him a lot and anytime my father's dropped by at his shop he would often ask in Yoruba but my father-in-law is by far the worst of us all in this Coke drinking thing he loves Coke but for many years he will also add some sugar to his Coke so let me congratulate the board and management of the Coca-Cola company on this landmark celebration and our nation must celebrate with you especially as you've been a part and we've heard so much about that already of our socioeconomic story even before independence besides we're also part of your illustrious history as we've heard the Coca-Cola Hellenic bottling group first began operations in Nigeria and now has a geographic footprint spanning 29 countries and across three continents in these 70 years you have demonstrated your commitment to the Nigerian people and as we've heard also with repeated investments in the building of production facilities across the country in creating thousands of jobs but also in your active support of every aspect of our national life from health to education from women and youth empowerment to sports all done with a conscious respect for the environment I think it's fair to say that that commitment has been met with enthusiastic patronage of generations of Nigerians families also who have been supported by stable carriers of staff who have grown with the company through the years and we've seen how you have honored some of them today young people who have found successful careers in sports and entertainment inspired by your support consumers from Kano to Lagos rivers to plateau state linked by distributors in every region of the country who have also built enduring businesses getting Coca-Cola into the hands of millions of Nigerians and you've also developed a robust value chain that includes service providers and marketing agencies creators of the iconic coke adverts that are formed part of our individual and collective memories for so many years and speaking of coke adverts I think aside from making such a successful drink Coca-Cola must be commended for their memorable advertisements so how many people here I wonder how many people here would remember this particular adverts and I'll sing the song I love to teach the world to sing imperfect harmony I love to buy the world a coke and keep it company it's the real thing how many people remember that all of you guys let me tell you what you people are very old people because this this this particular but was 1971 so anyone who remembers it must be ah very advanced yes I saw that most of the young people here didn't even know what we're talking about so as a government our commitment to creating an environment that allows the private sector innovate and thrive remains active sincere despite the challenges and we'll continue to work with businesses across a broad spectrum of our dynamic economy to ensure that we do this with a clear view of opportunities and problems I salute again the entire board and management and staff of Coca-Cola and the diverse group of stakeholders present here today and scattered across the country for your hard work and dedication your ongoing investments in the country which you've said will be in the order of one billion one billion US dollars in the next five years testifies again to your faith in the possibilities of Nigeria and you can rely on the partnership of the Nigerian government and I dare say the Nigerian people too as you make these great strides so I wish you all a very happy 70th anniversary and I pray the coming years will be years of real magic for you all congratulations to all lovers of coke thank you