Oyo Governor Reiterates Commitment To Providing Conducive Business Environment

Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, has reiterated the determination and commitment of his administration to make the state conducive for business.

Makinde said this at the Courtesy Room of the Governor’s Office, while receiving the Deputy High Commissioner, Government of Canada, Teshome Nkurumah and Trade Commissioner Assistant, Ms Benedicta Emovuon, who came on a courtesy call.

The governor noted that the state would continue to collaborate with partners and stakeholders on agribusiness to develop the state’s economy, asserting that the state remained open for business and meaningful collaboration.

He expressed optimism that Oyo State had a lot of areas Canada could leverage for partnership, adding that the state had the biggest expanse of arable land in the South Western part of the country.

Makinde stated: “For us, we do not have oil in the state and agribusiness is our main focus to develop our economy. We do have a big expanse of arable land and the biggest in terms of land size in the South Western part of Nigeria. We have beautiful weather out there and vegetation. You can plant anything anywhere and it will grow very well.

“We have also seen pockets of solid minerals here and there across the state and we do know that we do have tourism potentials for the state to develop. I believe we have quite enough areas where we can collaborate with the government and businesses from Canada,” he affirmed.

The governor explained that Oyo State was open for business and had created a one-stop shop through the Oyo State Investment and Public Private Partnership Agency (OYSIPPA) and had incentives from the World Bank on ease-of-doing-business.

“So, it is not just that we are working really hard to make the business environment conducive here but we can also get some incentives from the World Bank for the result we are getting in that area,” he disclosed.

Areas of partnership

Earlier, in his speech, the Deputy High Commissioner, Government of Canada, Teshome Nkurumah, hinted that the team was coordinating an agricultural outreach and trade promotion in Oyo State to understand areas of prospects as well as opportunities to facilitate partnership for trade promotion with Nigeria.

Nkurumah said: “So, we are here to listen and learn. We have met with local farmers, IITA and the researchers, and today we have the opportunity to meet with you. And the whole goal is just to reconnect, get acquainted to understand what your priority is and how you are aiming to develop the agricultural sector within your state.”

He revealed that the team also wanted to see if there were opportunities where there could be an alignment between the Canadian priorities and priorities of the Oyo State Government and where the two could do business.

Emmanuel Ukoh