Obaseki announces plan to set up Export Processing Centres in Edo

THE governor of Edo State, Mr Godwin Obaseki, has announced plans by his administration to set up Export Processing Zones in the state.

He made the announcement Tuesday when members of the Edo State Exporters Cluster, paid him a courtesy visit at the Government House in Benin City.

Obaseki decried the dominance of import trade in the nation’s economy and said that considering the low prices of crude oil in the international market, more investments should be in the non-oil sector.

He said, “we promised to create 200,000 jobs and the jobs will come from the private sector. We are investing in infrastructure, especially electricity and we plan to locate industrial parks where business clusters would thrive. Our goal is to be an enabler for businesses to thrive and not invest in business ventures.”

The governor assured the group that his administration would give them land where products such as cassava and yam would be processed for export and commended the well packaged products made by the cluster members.

He added that the planned Edo Business Bureau would be situated close to the NEPC, and would provide business information as well as fast-track business transactions in the state.

Earlier, the Edo Sate coordinator of the group, Ms Josephine Peters, said their visit was to solicit the state government’s support in the promotion of export business.

Peters further said the association was established by the Benin Zonal Office of the Nigerian Export Promotion Council, in 2014, to identify and encourage value addition to products from the non-oil sector in the state for export purposes.