Appraising Gov Abiodun’s Tour of Egypt, Ethiopia
Femi Ogbonnikan
The last two and a half years have not been the best of times for Nigeria. The reasons for the challenges are already well known. The seismic up and downturns of the economy occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic almost threw the global system off guard.
Coincidentally, the present administration of Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State had barely settled down in the office when the dreaded disease cast a tragic pall over the nation. And now that the usual stock-taking session is effectively on, preparatory to the next general elections, one can only do an objective analysis of the performance of the administration vis-à-vis Abiodun’s avowed commitment to sustain the reputation of the state as an investment destination of choice based on this background.
Nonetheless the disruptive effects of the pandemic, Governor Abiodun has taken the challenge of governance in a dwindling economy in his own stride, remaining focused in his mission to take the state to the next level in its drive towards being an industrial hub, not only in Nigeria, but in the West Africa sub-region.
Owing to its combined advantages of proximity to Lagos and availability of readymade market, Ogun State currently houses perhaps the largest manufacturing companies in the sub-region. According to the 2021 second-quarter report of the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC), investment in Ogun stands at $500 million, representing 30 percent of the total figure for the country, while Lagos State, with $441.3 million worth of investment, represents 26 percent for the period under review.
Further statistics released by the World Bank also placed Ogun State in a prime position in the ease of doing business index, ranking 3rd among 37 states in its latest report. In a similar report compiled by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in 2021 on capital importation into the country, Ogun State equally emerged as the 5th top destination of capital investment in Nigeria, coming behind Lagos, Abuja, Abia, and Niger states respectively.
It, therefore, goes without saying that there are still enormous potentials to be harnessed for development. And, of course, the governor, as a proactive person with private sector background, has not been resting on his oars. Apart from his determined effort to sustain the tempo, he has also been making concerted efforts to break new grounds by building private/public partnerships for infrastructural development necessary for sustainable industrial growth. And he is doing so with zest and gusto.
Governor Abiodun, speaking against the background of his commitment to building an enduring environment for investment in the state, in his inaugural address, said: “Our state remains the best place for investors to open business. Besides our natural geographical location as Gateway State to Nigeria, we share borders with four other states and we share international borders with the Benin Republic, which is a window to the West African sub-region. My administration is providing focused and qualitative governance and creating the enabling environment for a public-private sector partnership, which we consider fundamental to the creation of enduring economic development and individual prosperity of the people of Ogun. We are very investor-friendly. We are putting reforms in place to ensure that we are even more investor-friendly. We are trying to ensure that we become number one in the ease of doing business in this country and it is incontrovertible that we house the largest number of industries in the country.”
He is already walking the talk. The evidence of that is his recent business tour of Egypt and Ethiopia aimed at attracting pan-African investors and partners to further boost the state’s revenue profile. While in Egypt, the governor met the Chief Business Development Officer of Áfríkà for Wadi Degla Holding, a Cairo-based multi-business conglomerate that is into real estate, telecoms, and sports services. With a special interest in creative arts, entertainment, and sports development, Wadi Degla Holding is exploring the African market and wants to invest especially in Nigeria. Abiodun believes that, as the Gateway State, Ogun should be accorded utmost consideration due to the existing ease of doing business and other socio-economic transformation ongoing in the state.
In his insatiable quest for investment opportunities, Governor Abiodun also had a meeting with Mr Gagan Gupta, a renowned entrepreneur, who is also co-founder, ARISE IIP, ARISE IS and ARISE P&L, as part of his effort to develop sustainable industrial, infrastructure, and logistics solutions. His motivation derives from the fact that the tripartite pan-African company has a record of developing sustainable industrial ecosystems, supported by infrastructure and logistics solutions in Gabon, Togo, and the Benin Republic.
To that effect, the Senior Minister of Economy and Finance in the Benin Republic, Romauld Wadagni was there to share his experience with the Governor in the Republic, which resulted in the successful implementation. The meeting centred on building a partnership in the area of Agro-Processing and Industrial Zone and the development of the Olokonla Port, a vital component of the administration’s integrated multimodal transport master plan.
In furtherance of his search for sustainable investment flow into the state, Abiodun also met with the management of Elsewedy Group, one of the largest conglomerates in Egypt with significant investment opportunities across Africa and Europe. In this context, the governor sought partnership with the group in the areas of healthcare, industrial park development, real estate, intelligent transport systems network and management, tolling systems, and the power sector.
According to the Governor, who spoke at the end of the meeting, the CEO of the company is expected to be in Ogun State to sign the necessary documents that would consummate the deal: “The group is the largest producer of prepaid meters in the world. After this meeting, the investment team would be hosted in Ogun State to further evaluate and structure these investment opportunities, after which the President & CEO of Elsewedy Group, Ahmed El Sewedy, who was on the ground to receive us, would come to Ogun State to sign a document in these areas and execute relevant definitive transaction agreements on these investments.”
On the same single trip, he also held a similar meeting with Orascom Construction Plc, a leading global engineering and construction company on how to bring about investments in infrastructure, commerce, and industry through public-private sector arrangements. When the agreement comes into fruition, it will enhance the enabling environment for businesses in Ogun State. The meeting had in attendance key stakeholders like Emad A. Boulos, Ahmed Elzoghby, and Ayman El Zoghby, among others.
With a determined effort to achieve meaningful collaboration with private sector players for the development of infrastructure, Abiodun went further to organise another meeting with Orascom Construction Plc also in Egypt. Orascom is a leading global engineering and construction firm with footprints spanning the Middle East, Africa, and the United States. The Orascom team views Ogun State as a worthy partner and has promised to spread its tentacles to Nigeria through the Gateway State.
Orascom operations consist of not only infrastructure engineering but also industrial and commercial sectors, among others.
Suffice to say that with the ongoing effort, Ogun State is poised to take the full benefits of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) to boost its trade and investment within the West Africa sub-region. Primarily, this concern was what led to the establishment of AfCFTA to accelerate intra-African trade relations and boost Africa’s trading position in the global market by strengthening Africa’s common voice and policy space in global trade negotiations. Prince Abiodun is already looking out for Ogun’s slice of the market presented by AfCFTA. This is evident in his meeting with the management of Cairo-based Wadi Degla Holding, which is planning an expansion into markets within Africa.
During his investment tour of Ethiopia, in the company of Nigeria’s Minister of Agriculture, Dr Mohammed Abubakar, the governor met with the Ethiopian Minister of Industry, Ato Melaku Alebal, in Addis Ababa, to explore areas of mutual benefits in the areas of trade, investment and collaboration between Ethiopia and Ogun (and by extension Nigeria).
Of particular interest is the area of the Special Agro-Processing Zones (SAPZs), being implemented by the African Development Bank (AfDB).
Prior to this, Ogun State government met with the AfDB in Abidjan, Cote D’Ivoire, towards the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the bank on the establishment of the SAPZs programme. When completed, SAPZ will be located at the Gateway Agro-Cargo Airport, Ilishan-Remo in Ikenne Local Government Area of the state.Already, the SAPZ project has been flagged off in Ethiopia. The trip was, therefore, an avenue to compare notes and observe, firsthand, the operation.
All this is without losing the focus of the administration on the importance of agriculture as one of the mainstays of the state’s economy. And on that note, Abiodun has used the opportunity of the moment to embark on an assessment tour of the UK manufacturing and agro-processing headquarters of Alvan Blanch, a company which specialises in the manufacturing and supply of machines used for the processing of agricultural produce and waste. When the initiative comes to fruition, it will change the narrative about the dwindling fortune of the agricultural sector in the state and beyond.
In addition to all these, the governor has also gone further to attract OCP Africa investment into the state. OCP Africa is a Moroccan-based multinational investing a total of N9 billion in fertilizer blending plants with a production capacity of over 600,000metric tons.
In the same vein, the Abiodun administration has again struck an investment deal with Terratiga Limited, an investor from The Netherlands investing in animal feeds with a production capacity of 100 tons per day and 1.2million tones per annum.
Knowing that his aggressive drive for investment in the state would only remain a dream pipe without the necessary enabling environment, Governor Abioudun has put in place a number of policy measures that could attract business investors. These include the establishment of the Business Environment Council, restructuring of the land acquisition process to remove all bottlenecks, upgrading of Geographic Information System (GIS) as well as the creation of the Ogun State Land Administration and Revenue Management Systems (OLARMS) to digitalise land acquisition for both ease and efficiency. And in line with its mandate, the Business Environment Council has been up and doing in coordinating the implementation of all these reforms with a view to achieving rapid industrial growth in the state.
To further complement the process of transformation of the state into an industrial hub, the administration is also working round the clock to create the necessary enabling environment through aggressive development of road network infrastructure. To this effect, there has been a sustained effort to provide road infrastructures across the state to enhance the easy movement of industrial and agro-allied goods to their destination markets.
While the cynics, who have been engaged in beer parlour punditry, may not see anything good in this endeavor, those with critical minds have been applauding the governor for his efforts. On a critical look, the importance of the Governor’s initiative in turning around the fortune of the state’s economy cannot be over-emphasised. Apart from the potential benefits of absorbing the teeming unemployed youths into productive ventures, it will also enhance the state’s capacity for Internally Revenue Generation (IGR). Also, by turning the state into an industrial hub, the advantage of its proximity to Lagos will come into full effect through a readymade market for goods and services. Above all, it will facilitate the diversification policy of the Federal Government, thus making the state less dependent on oil revenue and financially self-sustaining.
The whole essence is to convert the state’s unique advantage-peaceful and secure, enabling business environment, infrastructural transformation, highly-skilled human resources, natural endowment, and efficient regulatory framework-into tangible gains across key sectors of its economy.
Ogbonnikan wrote from Abeokuta, Ogun State.
