…Obaseki woos investors to take advantage of opportunities in Edo
By Nosakhare Agbonogiarhuoyi
Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki has said that Edo State is the most digitally connected state in Nigeria, accelerating rapidly in the industrial space and taking lead in oil palm cultivation and production.
Obaseki made this assertion during the BusinessDay CEO Forum 2023, which had as its theme, “Charting a Course to Growth and Development,” held at the Ballroom, Eko Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos, on July 13 2023.
Obaseki who spoke alongside the President of the African Development Bank, Akinwunmi Adesina, and the Group President of MTN, Ralph Mupita, at this year’s edition of BusinessDay CEO Forum, on the topic, ‘Building Edo Into an Industrial, Commercial and Investment Hub’, intimated the audience on steps taken by his administration to aid commerce, industry and enterprise in the state.
Speaking on the digital revolution in the state, Obaseki stressed on his government’s efforts to connect all 18 local government areas of the state with fiber optics.
According to Obaseki, “We are very strong on Technology. Today, I believe Edo is the most connected state, digitally, in Nigeria. By October this year, we would have completed 1600km of fiber optic connections to all the local governments in the state, and by the 1st quarter next year, we expect to construct another 300km, linking all our secondary schools and our primary healthcare centres.”
The Governor further highlighted key industrial areas where the state has achieved significant milestones and attracted private sector partners.
Obaseki said: “In terms of industry today, the first phase of the Benin Enterprise Park has already been completed; about 50 hectares by the Nigerian Local Content Development Board, and we are working with other developers to see how we can expand interests and investments.
“We have also attracted investors in the area of modular refineries. We have two refineries in Edo state; one that we partner with the Chinese on, and another that the Local Content Board supported.
“The industrial scale ethanol plant, from cassava, is another interesting project with another partner, and it is going to be ready by the 4th quarter of this year. We gave the allocation for the cultivation of cassava, which is already done. We also provided land for the construction of a 400 metric tonnes per day cassava plant in Ologbo.”
Speaking on the Benin Port project, Obaseki said: “After almost 70 years of talking about rebuilding our ports, we finally were able to get a preferred bidder to come work with us, that is, Mota Engil Africa. Designs are being done, and we expect that we should commence construction before the first quarter of next year.”
Obaseki who also highlighted giant strides by his administration in agriculture, stated that Edo State currently has one of the biggest oil palm projects on the continent. According to him, “Our goal has been to de-risk Agriculture. For us as a government, our business is not business. It is not to compete with the private sector. It is to support the private sector.
“So, the way we have approached it is to help with land acquisition. Beyond helping you acquire land, we actually engaged the communities, using our political networks to make sure that you are able to have access to the land that has been allocated, and then support manpower training.
“We are building a College of Agriculture, in which our agricultural partners are members of the governing council of that school, so that they can help us define the programmes, the quality and type of manpower for their use.
“Our priority crops are oil palm. We have one of the biggest oil palm projects on the continent. We have allocated 62,000 hectares to about 7 companies. They are currently cultivating, and we are going to go through another lot this year for another 60,000 hectares.”
Obaseki identifying forestry as another major resource of the state, spoke on the state government’s efforts towards forest reclamation. He noted that though the state had suffered massive deforestation in the past, his administration is however working with some agencies to attract capital into reforestation.
Obaseki said: “I want to launch one of the most aggressive reforestation programmes on the continent. We are starting with about 10,000 hectares this year, and I am hoping that we should be able to recover another 200,000 hectares of forest in the next 5 years.”
Dignitaries present at the event include the wife of the Edo State Governor, Her Excellency, Mrs. Betsy Obaseki; Founder/Editor, Business Day, Frank Aigbogun; President, African Development Bank, Dr. Femi Adesina; Jigawa State Governor, His Excellency, Alhaji Umar Namadi; and a host of others.
