Oyo State governor, ‘Seyi Makinde, has reiterated his administration’s commitment to exploring modern technologies to improve and transform agricultural practices in the state.
Governor Makinde, who spoke through the Deputy Governor, Barr. Abdulraheem Bayo Lawal, stated this on Monday, while receiving, on a courtesy visit, Chinese investors from China Overseas Engineering Group Co. Limited at the Governor’s Office, Secretariat, Ibadan.
He noted that investments in agriculture development and value chain are part of the visions of the present administration to expand the economy of the state and attract more investors.
The governor added that the state has a comparative advantage in agriculture and has also invested in enablers such as infrastructure and security, calling on 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 noted, would generate thousands of employment opportunities and improve revenue drive.
He assured that the government would provide an enabling environment to support the investors’ vision of partnering with the state.
Barrister Lawal 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 also I 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 agriculture 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.
“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 rain forest 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 agric 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 chain.
“So, we stand ready in Oyo State to embrace whatever technology to improve our system, particularly 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 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 in his remarks, the Director General, Oyo State Agribusiness Development Agency, Dr Debo Akande, appreciated the Chinese team’s vision and mission, which he noted, aligned with the state’s agriculture strategies.
He noted that rural transformation, building industrial hubs and development of agro-processing zones in the state are geared towards taking comparative advantages of the state in agribusiness to expand the economy.
He called for a mutual relationship that would benefit all partners, saying: “Your vision, plans and your mission are well understood and we are clear about them.”
He added, “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.
“We have a strategy that we developed that speaks to the agribusiness development of our state. And one of the critical components for us is that we understand that there is nothing like agricultural transformation without rural infrastructural transformation.
“So, we have been working on that. But even added to that, under the leadership of Governor Makinde as well, we are expanding rural roads beyond what we currently have. We have 1,200 kilometres of rural road under the RAAMP project that need to be done.
“You will even possibly see the construction ongoing at the Ikere Gorge Dam that you are going tomorrow.”
Earlier, the team lead, who is also the Director, Strategic Services, Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission, Abuja, Alhaji Abubakar Yerima, commended Governor Makinde for transforming the state through laudable infrastructural projects and investment in agribusiness.
Also speaking, the leader of the Chinese team, Ms Dong Gwping, stressed that the team’s intervention is expected to revolutionise the agricultural landscape by stimulating socio-economic growth and development in the state for complete value chain with the provision of Chinese technologies and expertise for partnership.
