Britain ready to invest in Kogi ―High Commissioner

The British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Mr Paul Arkwright, has expressed the readiness of British investors to invest in critical sectors of the economy of Kogi state.

He particularly said investors from his county would be encouraged to invest in road, agriculture, power generation and mining sectors in the state.

Arkwright stated this in Lokoja, the Kogi state capital during a visit to the state governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, at the Lugard House.

According to him, some of the British business community would soon lead a trade delegation to Kogi state to ascertain the possible areas where investment could be intensified.

The British envoy also said his country was ready to partner the state on youth empowerment programmes and job creation.

He explained that the state with a youth population of over 2million needed a well-articulated youth development programme capable of expanding the economic base of the state.

The state governor however told the visiting envoy that his administration had developed a blueprint codenamed “New Direction”, aimed at piloting the state to greatness.

He said government had commenced the implementation of the programme with the staff verification put in place to clean the payroll of the state and local government areas.

According to Bello, about 20,000 names of ghost workers and unintended beneficiaries had been discovered and removed from the payroll.

He added that the billions of naira being wrongly paid to the people would be channelled towards the development of the state.

He therefore charged the British High Commissioner to further assist the state in it efforts at repositioning its economy and become a viable commercial hub.