Diaspora Institute, Developer Plan $2.5bn City In Bonny For American Returnees
African Diaspora Development Institute (ADDI) and International Property Investment and Development (IPIAD), a Nigeria based tourism development firm have resolved to build a $2.5 billion five-star mixed-use business, leisure and historical destination resort in Bonny, Rivers state.
The aim is to bring back to Nigeria, African descendants, who were sold into slavery all over the world.
The project being championed by IPIAD, ADDI and other foreign partners, is aimed at attracting back African-Americans, who want to relocate to Nigeria or re-discover their ancestral roots, families, kingdoms and villages in Nigeria.
The President of IPIAD, Kalada William-Jumbo, noted that the first phase of the proposed TUSONDEL City project was estimated to cost $2.5 billion for construction that will cover 10 years and is expected to attract investments of around $10 billion.
William-Jumbo noted that African Diaspora Development Institute recently concluded a successful groundbreaking of a similar project referred to as “Wakanda City of return” in Cape Coast, Ghana which attracted a lot of Africans in the diaspora to come back home to Ghana/Africa.
On the choice of Rivers state as the location, William-Jumbo who is also a member of the ADDI advisory board said; “The Bonny Kingdom is one of the oldest, richest and most famous of all the Kingdoms in the region and like its land, its history is also very rich and old, but not without controversy and pain.
“Historically, Bonny Kingdom was a major strategic trading and economic hub hundreds of years ago. A centre for learning, commerce and trade, and still is till this day. At the peak of Bonny Kingdom’s reign, between the 19th to early 20th century, the people of Bonny and the extended Niger Delta Kingdoms in general also participated in the dreadful but at that time, very lucrative business of slave trading. When slavery was finally abolished by the British, Bonny Kingdom and other slave trading Kingdoms began a journey of decline and eventually fell. The majority of the slaves who were sold and shipped off to North America especially the USA were sold and shipped off from the Bonny Kingdom.
“The first phase of our planned TUSONDEL City project is estimated to cost $2.5 Billion and over a period of 10 years is expected to attract investments of around $10 Billion. When completed, the TUSONDEL City project will boost economic and business activities around and beyond the ‘Armpit of Africa’, create thousands of new jobs and businesses, promote tourism, economic and leisure activities in Finima, the Bonny Kingdom area, the extended Niger Delta area and Nigeria in general for both Nigerians and foreigners alike.
“Nigeria and Nigerians stand to gain enormously from the wealth of experience of African brothers, sisters and children in the Diaspora. They really want to come back home to visit at least once, so as to enable them to decide on relocation plans, to trace their ancestral homes and families, obtain a second citizenship, start a new life, invest in Africa, train their fellow Africans and create lots of jobs and business opportunities.”
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