By Isaac Olamikan
As part of efforts of the Edo State Government, to ensure sustainable growth and development and achieve economic prosperity for the state, is exploring investment opportunities across Edo’s 18 Local Government Areas (LGAs), so as to attract investments into the councils.
Managing Director, Edo Investment Promotion Office (ESIPO), Mr. Kelvin Uwaibi, disclosed this at the Validation of Areas Potential Survey Report, held in Benin City.
Uwaibi said the pilot survey for the project was conducted in three LGAs, including Etsako West, Esan Central and Oredo, and will be replicated in the entire 18 LGAs across the state.
He noted that the Governor Godwin Obaseki-led administration is committed to transforming the state economically, in order to create wealth and jobs for the people.
According to him, “the purpose of the survey is to have documented evidence of the investment opportunities in each local government with their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.”
He added that the state government is partnering with a German development agency, GIZ, to improve the business environment through data gathering, which is key to investors.
Uwaibi stated, “We are looking at how to develop the LGAs because when investors come, they are located in these LGAs. But we realized that over the years, the LGAs are neglected whereas they are very critical to the development of a state. Let us not dwell on the challenges because challenges are always there. We should dwell more on the potential. I am quite happy about the three LGAs selected for this pilot survey because in each, there are tertiary institutions, which also brings huge opportunities.
“In developing economies, it starts with research. So, the potentials in these tertiary institutions in the LGAs would be utilized optimally. We need to think about the kind of partnership with the tertiary institutions in terms of research and entrepreneurship.
“If you look at the Governor’s 2022 budget proposal, you will see that capital infrastructure is very huge, which is because of the government’s zeal to fix our state. It is time to make our LGAs attractive so that even the Diaspora can come and invest at home,” he added.
In her remarks, Edo State Coordinator for GIZ-SEDEN, Blessing Ajimoti, noted, “We want to get data and meet the stakeholders. We want to know what the investment opportunities that exist in the various local governments to positively impact on the state’s economy.”
