What more could a state, which at a point in the manufacturing sector attracted 75 per cent of Foreign Direct Investment in the country (according to MAN), ask for? This surely is no mean achievement.
Why will the helmsman of such a state not be proud of his achievements? This does not, by any stretch of the imagination, suggest that the state can now rest on its oars.
It only proves that when a government devotes its time to doing the right thing, it must get the right results. And Amosun is still consumed with passion for industrial development of Ogun State.
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The phenomenonal rise in the number of industries that established their presence in Ogun State in recent years can only be attributed to the enabling environment created by the current government.
The latest addition (International Breweries Plc) to the stream of industries flowing into the state will only spur the government to continue to strive to ensure the state is the very first choice for local and foreign investors.
As it stands today in Nigeria, it is easier to list the number of companies yet to be in Ogun State than attempting to count the number of multi-billion naira industries that berthed in the state in the last seven years of the Ibikunle Amosun administration.
The gargantuan investments by the current government in security, road, power and ‘Ease of Doing Business,’ which earned the state a recognition by the World Bank, have clearly yielded salutary results.
Last Tuesday in Ogun State, the biggest and most modern brewery in Nigeria was unveiled. It is the largest plant in West Africa, constructed at a cost of N90 billion.
IBL Plc is the sixth largest industry listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange with market capitalisation of about N275 billion.
The establishment of this plant by a company that until now bought over 30,000 of cereals yearly, coming at a period the Amosun government scaled up the agricultural activities in the state, opens up new vistas for socio-econmic advancement of the state.
More maize farmers now have a wider and bigger market for their produce and more profit for their labour. This will galvanise more youths to embrace farming, curb unemployment and generally raise the standard of living in the state.
The governor of Ogun State, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, deserves all the plaudits for creating the ambience conducive to business investment in the state.
In the coming months, he can look back and say, “I left the state far better than I met it.”
- Opeyemi writes in from Abeokuta, Ogun State.
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