Oyo State governor, Engr Seyi Makinde, has assured that his administration will protect the interest of investors such that change of government will not impair their investments in the state.
Governor Makinde gave this assurance in Ibadan, the state capital while playing host to the Secretary General of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), Wamkele Mene.
“I know that political risk is something that most investors don’t want to deal with. While I am here, I believe we have the opportunity to lock things up for the next 25 to 30 years and back it up by law.
“We have a legislative arm that is on the same page with the executive in terms of how to develop our state,” the governor said.
Speaking on the comparative advantage of the state, Governor Makinde said, “Oyo State is central in the geography of Nigeria and that of West Africa. We share a common border with the Republic of Benin, which means we have access to the West African sub-region in terms of developing the market.
“We are upgrading our airport in Ibadan to international standard. Why we took that decision is not far-fetched. In Africa, you have three major airlines that go everywhere.
“The largest is Ethiopian Airline, followed by Kenyan Airline and the Rwandan Air. Oyo State is bigger than Rwanda but they have an airline that goes everywhere. Nigeria is in the centre geographically. So, how come we are connecting through Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda or Morocco? Wherever you are going, you first go Far West or Far East and then you try to connect elsewhere.
“We felt because of the geography and in terms of how much is spent on fuel and trying to connect, if we develop a Kigali-type of airport here in Ibadan, we may be able to attract people who don’t have too much time to waste connecting.
“The air side will be ready in September; the terminal itself will be ready in the second quarter of next year,” Makinde said.
He added that the state has a land that is arable which can literally grow anything. “In terms of agribusiness, we have a competitive advantage. We also have competitive advantage in terms of solid minerals. This is a major lithium belt. We believe that we can also develop that quickly.”
The governor also said that the state plans to turn the Rasidi Ladoja Circular Road axis into a world-class environment, a city that would be planned to international standards right from the outset.
He said, “We just set up a new authority in Oyo State through which we are trying to have new towns and cities developed to international standards, a first world environment.
“The Circular Road is a 110-km road round the city of Ibadan and we have another 4,000 hectares into a new city, which we believe will be up to international standards. We have the opportunity to plan it right from the scratch.
“The first segment of the Circular Road will be ready before the end of the year. It will be ready for concessioning as well with all the real estate around it.”
The AfCFTA Secretary General, who was accompanied by his executive members as well as some investors, lauded Governor Makinde for growing the economy by over 4 per cent, saying the performance bested that of the average country on the continent.
“We see the average growth rate across the continent being 3 or 3.5 per cent. To scale up above that is a testament to your leadership. I think it helps that you came from the private sector, you have a sense of getting things done”, he said.
Speaking on the essence of the visit, Mene said, “We discussed this visit a few months ago when the governor and his team visited the secretariat. It was the first time that we hosted a governor.
“The purpose of us coming here is first to consolidate the collaboration between the AfCFTA and Oyo State. Second, it is for us to be aware of what investment opportunities are available in the state.
“It is very important for us to be aware. Just last week or the week before, we were in South Korea. We have a Memorandum of Collaboration with Korean International Trade Agency and all of the large Korean corporations are members.
“We meet about twice a year and the question they always ask us is where should we invest? There are big companies that have no presence anywhere in Africa. What we have been telling them is that they have to invest in Africa.
“So, this is a very important visit because it gives us a very strong investment case to make when we meet with those that are seeking to invest.
“Another reason this meeting is important is that yesterday, we had to give a report to President William Ruto on African Union climate change and we mobilised all of our development finance institutions.”
He added that the President tasked him to bring them to the table to jointly identify opportunities to invest in green infrastructure, agro-processing, among others.
“We came out of that meeting with a long list of bankable projects and investment portfolio that will be spread across the continent,” he said.
Earlier, Special Adviser to Oyo State Governor on International Trade and the AfCFTA, Ms Neo Tlhaselo, said Oyo State was ready to optimise the opportunities available in AfCFTA.
She added, “The success of AfCFTA will not be defined by declarations but by deliverables. Oyo State is known for being a pacesetter. We are privileged to be working with a governor who is such a visionary and who is an implementer. So, we operate at the sub-national level where good governance is applied and production is encouraged.
“We are bold and confident that Oyo State is investing, reforming and innovating because we believe that the ease of trade in Africa begins at the sub-national level. I really want to thank His Excellency Mene, who said to us when we were in Accra that ‘I am taking this seriously.”
Tlhaselo assured that the state will continue to create an enabling environment for the economic players and the private sector to trade and export with ease. “We will create an enabling environment that will appetize strategic partners and investors.”
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