Oyo State Governor, ‘Seyi Makinde, on Monday reiterated the commitment of his administration to deploying modern technologies to improve and transform agricultural practices across the state.
Makinde, who spoke through his Deputy, Abdulraheem Bayo Lawal, stated this while receiving on a courtesy visit Chinese investors from the China Overseas Engineering Group Co. Limited at the Governor’s Office, Secretariat, Ibadan.
He noted that investments in agricultural development and value chains were central to the vision of his administration to expand the economy of the state and attract more investors.
The Governor stressed that Oyo had a comparative advantage in agriculture and had already invested in enablers such as infrastructure and security. He therefore urged the Chinese investors to partner with the state government to guarantee food security, boost agricultural productivity, and make the state a hub for agro-industrial processing, which, he said, would generate thousands of jobs and improve revenue.
He assured the delegation that the government would provide a conducive environment to support their investment vision.
Lawal, speaking on the Governor’s behalf, said:
“On behalf of His Excellency, the Governor of Oyo State, let me formally welcome you to Oyo State. I was really excited that you are coming to Oyo State with the sole purpose of partnering with us and with the view to lifting our economy.
“The DG OYSIPA hinted that your core competence is in agriculture. When I also interacted with the DG OYSADA to validate the statement made, he also confirmed that your core competence is in agriculture.
“And really, when you made your presentation this afternoon, I found out that you are here to make some workable progress in areas of agriculture, be it crop, poultry, animal husbandry, and so on.
“So, you are highly welcome to Oyo State. As a State Government, it means that we can do business together. The infrastructural development that we have in place, settlements that can attract further agricultural development, and even our hospitable people around here, all of those are available to our investors.
“Any race or country that ignores the production of food to feed its citizens is in peril. So, that is why your coming and the area of competencies that you seem to be giving to us are very attractive.
“You are bringing technology to improve the value chain. We may be giving land, security, infrastructure as our contribution, if you so choose. It all depends on the model that you put on the table that will be mutually beneficial to the two parties. But what is important, what you are priding, what you are selling, is agric-technology.
“What we have in Oyo State, as I have said, is land. So, if you are looking for land in order for you to bring about the technology that you are bringing from China, we have it in large quantity in our State.”
He added:“The size of Oyo State is equal to the size of five states in the south-eastern part of Nigeria. In other words, if you do business with our state, it is like you are doing business with five states in Nigeria in terms of land mass.
“Fortunately, in our state, we have rainforest vegetation like we have in Ibadan around here. You have almost Sahel vegetation up north of our state. And, in between, you have another vegetation that can support all kinds of agricultural practices.
“So, it is not just cassava or rice. You can look at other opportunities that can support the kind of vegetation that we have in our state.
“Let me also say that the Governor of Oyo State, if he travels out looking for investors, I think 90 per cent out of his journeys target investments in agribusiness and agriculture value chains.
“So, we stand ready in Oyo State to embrace whatever technology to improve our system, particularly the agric system that we practise in our state, to lift us from primary subsistence agricultural practices to industrial and commercial agric enterprises.
“Currently, we are establishing Agribusiness Hubs around the state. The first one is Fasola and I hope you will be there very shortly. Eruwa, if time permits, you will be there. And then recently, we have Ijaye.
“Actually, less than a month or about a month ago now, the President of the African Development Bank was here in Oyo State to flag off the Ijaye Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zone. That’s just about 30 kilometres away from this spot. So, all of these are geared towards a strong commitment to agricultural development in Oyo State.”
Also speaking, the Director-General of the Oyo State Agribusiness Development Agency (OYSADA), Dr Debo Akande, commended the Chinese team’s vision, which he said aligned with the state’s agricultural strategies.
He noted that rural transformation, building industrial hubs and developing agro-processing zones in the state were geared towards harnessing Oyo’s comparative advantage in agribusiness to expand the economy.
Akande added:“Your vision, plans and your mission are well understood and we are clear about them. Your vision aligns with the direction that we are going already as a state. Why did I say this? In the last close to seven years, the key area that the state has focused on under the leadership of His Excellency, the Governor of the State, has primarily been on how to take advantage of our comparative advantage in the state, which, as everybody probably knows, is agriculture and agribusiness.”
Earlier, the team lead, who is also the Director of Strategic Services at the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission, Abuja, Alhaji Abubakar Yerima, commended Makinde for transforming Oyo through infrastructural projects and agribusiness investments.
Similarly, the leader of the Chinese delegation, Ms Dong Gwping, said the partnership was expected to revolutionise the state’s agricultural landscape by stimulating socio-economic growth and development across the entire value chain with the provision of Chinese technologies and expertise.
Kemi Olaitan
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