Obaseki: Edo, Nigeria’s Best Kept Investment Secret, Pushes for More Investors

* State to partner World Medical Association on health sector reforms

Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki has described his state as Nigeria’s best kept investment secret, noting that the state was angling for more investors on the back of the successes of the existing investment in the state.
He stated that successful investors in the state rode on the back of the government’s ease of doing business reforms over the past six years across various sectors of the state’s economy.

The governor disclosed this at a business dinner organised by Alaghodaro Economic Summit Ltd/GTE to stimulate inflow of private capital to the state to tap from the state’s human, material and locational advantage to boost the economy.

Dignitaries at the Business Summit held recently at the Civic Centre, Lagos, included President of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote; Chairman of Heirs Holdings, Tony Elumelu; Chairman of Caverton Offshore Support Group Plc, Dr. Aderemi Makanjuola; Founder of Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc, Dr. Atedo Peterside, and Founder, Silverbird Group, Ben Murray-Bruce.

Others were: Founder of Persianas Nigeria Limited, Tayo Amusan and the Managing Director, Saro International, Dr. Rasheed Sarumi, among others.
Obaseki said the state decided to focus on developing its people; tapping its rich cultural heritage; exploring its unique ecology to drive agricultural development; focusing on exploiting technology and manufacturing; building on tourism and entertainment assets and leveraging its locational advantage to drive growth.

According to him, “We have moved our systems to an electronic platform. I will be the last governor to sign papers in Edo. I sign all approvals in the state on the Oracle platform. Minimum wage is N40,000 and we believe it is not enough.”

The goAvernor notead that on the back of education reforms under the Edo Basic Education Sector Transformation (EdoBEST) programme, the state is considered to have the single largest reform in education on the African continent.

He added: “We are creating more opportunities for technical education so that we can de-emphasise the culture of certificates. We also intend to train mid-level manpower in agriculture and would like to partner with the private sector to develop the curriculum for the institution.
“We are also building capacity in the healthcare sector. There is really no need to complain about other countries poaching our health workers. All we need to do is to train more.”

Chairman of Alaghodaro Ltd/GTE, Dr. Asue Ighodalo, in his welcome address, said that the event was organised to engage with and seek private investors’ partnership and participation in driving the state’s 30-year development plan.
Stressing that Edo State remains Nigeria’s best kept investment secret, he said the state government has created a conducive investment climate for investors by strengthening institutions and ensuring a reign of “peace, security and justice.”

“In Edo State, we will continue to demonstrate our commitment to lead the charge. We do it because we understand unequivocally the potential of states to create a groundswell of activity that can galvanize national economic renewal.

“It was this sort of thinking that grew the average GDP rate of our country to 8 percent between 1956 and 1963.
“In the last five years, Edo State has evolved dramatically. Governor Obaseki and his team have demonstrated by execution a clear and unwavering resolve to transform Edo State into Nigeria’s foremost investment destination with different signposts that include a technology village, a tourist hub and transformation of the state to Nigeria’s case study in human capacity development. This has been national and internationally recognised.”

Meanwhile, Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, has said his administration would partner with the World Medical Association (WMA) to improve the delivery of quality and affordable healthcare for Edo people.

The governor said this during a courtesy visit by the President of the World Medical Association, Dr. Osahon Enabulele, at the Government House in Benin City.
He was quoted in a statement to have said Edo State was honoured to have Dr. Enabulele as President of the WMA, noting, “It is a state honour for an Edo indigene to emerge as President of the World Medical Association. It is high time medical practice in Edo is upgraded and projected to the world scene. We were very clear when you got your nomination and we have no choice but to support you.

“This is not about you but God putting you in that position to help us address some fundamental global and domestic health issues. We are in the era of pandemics and brain drain which has never been higher than it is today. We are caught in between growing demand and need for health services and losing the resources we have to the rest of the world. This calls for a lot of work.”

Obaseki noted, “We have no choice but to strengthen our healthcare system particularly in Nigeria. We all know what we are going through and what we need to do at the national level. It is not insurmountable. It is not something we cannot accomplish within half a decade.
“The resources and the capacity already exist. We have seen the kind of resources that you have pushed in on the continent in another outbreak of Ebola in some part of the continent

“We will have to have a fresh rethink about human resourcing and personnel development for our state because the gap we need to fill is quite huge. We will continue to engage with you because we know we have only been able to touch the surface of what we need to do. We are so blessed with people like you and the rest of your community.
“If we cannot fix our healthcare system in this generation, I don’t know what will happen in the years to come so our doors will always be open to collaborate with you.