EDO UNDER ALAGHODARO ECONOMY

Under the Alaghodaro economy, Asue Ighodaro as Chief Economic Adviser to Governor Obaseki attracted to Edo State De United Food Limited (Dufil), Flour Mills Nigeria Plc and eight other companies to boost oil palm development in the country with the establishment of farm estates across the state. Edo State’s investments in the state’s oil palm sector have risen to $660m, with new projects proposed by Canada-based Sunora Foods worth over $100m. The development was coming following the $560m investment in the Edo State Oil Palm Programme by Fast Moving Consumer Goods companies and other private investors.

The Alaghodaro Summit Series (Edo State Investment Summit) is an initiative of Governor Godwin Obaseki- led administration, which opens up the government reform agenda that have created opportunities for prosperity, driven by Edo people and the state’s increasing investors, to public and private engagements with government, non-governmental and none state actors in ways that demonstrate the awareness of the Obaseki administration to the all-inclusive nature of governance in the 21st century

Since the maiden edition of the Alaghodaro Summit Series in 2017, which marked the first-year anniversary of the Obaseki-led government, it has become an annual event, and it gives the opportunity to interrogate and challenge conventions that impede progress of the reforms, with a view to correcting them.

In 2019, this initiative, (Edo State Investment Summit) was incorporated with the Corporate Affairs Commission as “Alaghodaro Economic Summit LTD/GTE” in order for more private sector engagement and support while implementing the articulated recommendations from the summits in a sustainable manner.

The maiden edition (Alaghodaro 2017) themed “Envisioning the Future” brought together top Nigerian and international business leaders, investors, bankers, industry experts, policymakers and the academia to set the agenda for development in a bid to re-engineer the economy of Edo State towards a better future for its citizens.

The 2017 Summit also explored opportunities for local and foreign direct investments in Edo State by highlighting the state’s competitive advantage across various sectors for sustainable economic growth, as well as facilitate job-creating business investment into the state.

In agriculture, Asue Ighodaro as economic adviser, Edo was able to attract more than $600 million investment into palm oil cultivation having allocated the first phase of 60,000 hectares of land under the Edo State Oil Palm Production Programme (ESOPP). As part of Edo State government’s expansion of oil palm revolution, Fayus Nigeria Limited has commenced the development of a 3,000-hectare plantation in Ugbeturu Community, Owan West Local Council, with a target of creating 5,000 jobs in the community at full capacity.

Inwalomhe Donald, inwalomhe.donald@yahoo.com