The Ogun State Commissioner for Finance, Dapo Okubadejo, has said that the state government is reviewing the processes for land acquisition to ease the way of doing business for investment purposes.
He said this on Thursday in an interview with the Tribune Online in Abeokuta, that this became necessary to make land acquisition more efficient and faster.
The commissioner said the step would make investors more comfortable if they know that acquiring land titles for any developmental purposes in the state is much easier than they think.
He added that the state government had set up a Business Environment Council to improve processes and reduce bottlenecks in order to create a high level of efficiency, as part of measure to make it easier for people to do business in the state.
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” If you look at all the parameters in ease of doing business ranking such as land acquisition, processing titles, construction permits, business registration, so we think that if we do all of these things, there will be a lot of businesses in the state.
“We are reviewing the processes for land acquisition to make it faster and efficient. I believe the people will feel more comfortable if they know they can get their titles easier and they will feel more comfortable to pay for processing fees,” he said.
In the light of the above, the commissioner added that the State is setting up Ogun State Promotion Investment Agency, to encourage investors to site their businesses in the state.
Okubadejo said, ” Ogun State is a place we want people to live, work and play. As we are bringing in these companies to come and invest in the state, we are creating clusters and hubs for them to run their businesses.
“Those clusters will have the necessary infrastructures that will reduce the cost of doing business for these people. We will also ensure there is less stress on our infrastructure. Our cities and towns will no longer be satellite towns.
Speaking on how the state intends to address the shortfall from the federal allocation, that may likely happen as a result of the crash in crude oil price, Okubadejo, submitted that the State had already set up a Task Force to review its position and strategies.
He said the state will step up effort in the collection of revenue to boost its economy.
“Our strategies are in two different folds. The first, of course, is to sensitise our planning, do sensitivity analysis for the budget and also planning.
” In our budget originally, because it was a medium-term expenditure framework that we did, which is typically for three years. There are certain variables in the budget that are very sensitive, one of which is Crude Oil Price,” he added.
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