 Just before I go on to my speech, I think I should just clear a few matters. If you recall, the president of the NIA mentioned that there was a photograph in which he and I, you know, the photograph is right there. There he is laughing. I was just saying to him that both of us tell the story, the long and short of the matter. But as for that, Mr. Vosfello, the emcee who, as you can see, how he's laughing. I was just reminding him, you know, he had said to me that he wanted a loan and there's nothing that annoys an Ijebu man more than that. So that's why I'm not entirely happy, as you can see. It's my pleasure to be here today at the Inaugural Integrated. It's my pleasure to be here today at the Inaugural Integrated Infrastructure for Development Conference. And the theme, creating sustainable world-class cities in Nigeria, is both apt and timely. We are currently the seventh most populous nation in the world with an estimated population of over 206 million people. And this population is projected to rise to 264 million by 2030 and will cross the 300 million mark by 2036. And it is projected that by 2050 we'll have the third highest population in the world. And the majority of this population will live in cities and concurrently increase the size of our towns in an ever-expanding dimension of urban sprawl. It's estimated for Lagos, for instance, that Lagos will be the ninth most populous city in the world, just by 2030. So in many respects, we're dealing with the rate of population growth and urbanization that is probably unparalleled in history. Compared to the population of the UK in 1960, there were just 52 million people. Now the UK has a population of only 68 million people. So in 1960, there were 52 million. Now there are 68 million. But Nigeria's population in 1960 was 45 million. And now we have 206 million people in 2022. So you can see that we're dealing with some of the highest rates of growth anywhere in the world. In the lifetimes of many of us, we have seen Abuja grow from its creation in 1976 with a population of 85,000 to become a sprawling city of somewhere in excess of 3.6 million people now. So these are the sorts of dramatic changes which will challenge our capacity for urban planning and social organization. How do we ensure sustainable urban planning that transforms our cities and growing urban clusters into truly habitable spaces that are hubs of sustainable growth but also guarantee a high quality of life and enhance prospects of self-actualization for our people? Sustainable urban planning must involve planning for the clean energy needs of large numbers of people from renewable energy for homes and workspaces to providing infrastructure for clean cooking. And we must ask what will the greater use of electric vehicles in the coming years and the decommissioning of combustion engine vehicles mean for road and related infrastructure planning in another decade or so? Many of us are probably aware that a lot of the countries that produce combustion engine vehicles which are the vehicles that we all use are looking at decommissioning those vehicles in another 10 to 15 years which would mean that we must begin to plan for a new type of vehicles otherwise we would have to produce all our own vehicles ourselves. We must avoid a scenario of anarchic organization in which urban centers are no more than densely populated and decrepit incubators of destitution and crime and the only real way to do so is innovative planning. So the case for sustainable cities is obvious. They can invigorate regional economies and catalyze growth on a regional scale and the positive influence and the positive multiply effects are inestimable and the benefits are not just economic. New frontiers of opportunity for social engineering with a view to strengthening social cohesion are opened up as we plan sustainable cities. Indeed the opportunity to shape the living spaces of millions of people from diverse backgrounds that are clustering in new cosmopolitan precincts is a very exciting one. It is a task that we must embrace with a good measure of strategic intentionality and imagination. A city cannot be considered world class if it lacks a vibrant economy driven by qualitative infrastructure, functional social services and efficient urban governance that optimally delivers public goods. In building our cities we must deliberately ensure that the benefits of becoming world class cities accrue not only to wealthy individuals but to all members of society, all members of society across classes, across income groups. This administration's investment in social housing and other welfare programs demonstrates our consciousness of the inadequacies that cities across the world face. It's important that you all as professionals keep the underprivileged members of society in mind as you plan the country's infrastructure. Indeed, I'll go so far as to urge you to see infrastructure planning as an opportunity to create physical environments that are conducive for social mobility. The federal government has, and we've heard quite a bit of this, invested significantly in infrastructure. Over the past seven years we have been sure that capital expenditure for infrastructure is prioritized in the budget. We've embarked upon new projects as well as overseeing the completion of ongoing projects. Our investments in rails, in highways, in fiber optics, in digital penetration, energy pipelines, electricity transmission and distribution and renewable energy are not just about meeting today's demands. They are the infrastructural arteries that will link tomorrow's cities and give them the capacity for sustainable growth. The government also launched the 15 trillion infrastructure cooperation, infra call, last year, even as the president signed Executive Order 7, which has informed the right policy framework and created additional opportunities for public-private partnerships and infrastructure development. So towards this end, we launched in 2022 the revised National Integrated Infrastructure Master Plan, which I'll just call the Master Plan for short. And that's the 2043 Master Plan and the National Development Plan 2021 to 2025. The Master Plan is the government's strategic document initially developed in 2012 to guide Nigeria's infrastructure investment and value and also to add value to the national economy and enhance private sector participation in infrastructure development. So the goal of the plan is to raise Nigeria's infrastructure stock to at least 70% by the year 2043. In the first five years of the reviewed Master Plan, investments in energy, transport, social infrastructure and housing will be prioritized because these are crucial enablers for practically all other sectors. The reviewed Master Plan and the National Development Plan also estimate the current nation's infrastructure stock at between 30 and 35% of GDP in 2020 against 20% of GDP recorded in 2015. This is still a very far cry from the 70% of GDP, which is global best practice. But I'm optimistic about that innovation that this conference will ignite will greatly assist in thinking through how we can come closer to what is global best practice. I'm pleased that your discussions will focus on cities and this is as it should be. It is in fact the states of the Federation that fully control planning and development even with respect to federal land in the states. Our courts have already said that it is the states of the Federation that control development of planning and all planning issues are really state issues. So these conversations that we're having must have the states of the Federation as the focus participants at the core of all of these discussions. Earlier in this year in the month of June, I received a courtesy visit from the leadership of the Nigerian State of Architects. Today I'm gratified to see that they have taken up the challenge which I posed to them to use their convening power to bring together professional bodies in the built environment to partner with the government in the deployment of infrastructure across the country. I strongly believe that if there is synergy between the professionals in this sector we will see even greater returns on our collective investments in the sector. And it's refreshing also to see this collaboration between all professional associations in the built environment and the pledge to take ownership of the National Integrated Infrastructure Development Master Plan and the National Development Plan. This is what partnership is about. The government creates an enabling environment through policy and the private sector operationalizes the policy through its investments. I congratulate the Nigerian Institute of Architects for taking the leadership role and coordinating the joint efforts of all stakeholders and for hosting such a very well-planned conference. Thank you very much for listening. And God bless the federal recovery of Nigeria.