From Tony Osauzo, Benin
Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, has rated his administration high on socio-economic and infrastructural growth of the state, stressing that his government has put the state on solid footing on those two parameters to compete with any State economy globally.
The Governor, who stated this during the 7th Alaghodaro Summit held in Benin City, disclosed that the process of shared opportunity that led Edo State into the future started seven years ago during his first Alaghodaro Summit.
He said: “In laying the foundation for the future, we identified seven areas which are, education, institutional reforms, economic, investment, agriculture, manufacturing and production. All the things we set for ourselves in our first summit have been achieved.
“We are lucky that we took this step seven years ago in our first Alaghodaro Summit. What the country is facing now means we must go back to redesign and re-engineer the country for growth. We have 200 million people yearning for goods and services every day, but we don’t have the Foreign Exchange earnings to support the level of imports that we have seen over the years. We are paying the price of not being able to hold the value of our local currency”, he added.
Governor Obaseki pointed out that the key to changing the narrative as a country or state “is to encourage production” disclosing that “70 percent of what we import into the country can be produced in Edo state.
“So, if the government is redesigned to work with the private sector to have more productions going on in the country, then we would reduce the pressure on the foreign exchange, whether in educational or health service among other services,” he said.
He explained that there was no reason paying two to three billion dollars annually on school fees abroad, revealing that it was for that reason he and his predecessor in collaboration with the private sector established an excellent university affiliated with schools in Europe and America, so that parents would not send their children out of the country for quality education.
“The future we see is to have the best educational institution where every child must have a skill, vocation by age 15 and a global source and destination for tech talents, health tourism among others. So, we just need as a state and country to focus on production, and the key to ensuring that we produce the things we need is to train our people, ensuring our educational system is right and people have skills because the raw materials already exist and it is not rocketing science”, Obaseki said, adding that in the last seven years, Edo State has shown that “it is possible that we can make Nigeria great again.”
Earlier, the Summit Chairman, Mr. Asue Ighodalo, said the summit was organised to showcase the progress recorded in transforming the state into an investment haven, explaining that the Alaghodaro Summit was a platform used to interact with business people to exchange ideas that can move the state forward.
Among dignitaries at the colourful Summit which was held at the New Festival Hall, Government House, was Mr. Patrick Iyamabo, Executive Director, Chief Financial Officer, First Bank of Nigeria Limited.
Some of the participants, who spoke to journalists, described Alaghodaro Summit’s partnership with First Bank, which is celebrating its 130 years of financial stability, as very rewarding.
One of the participants, Mr. Samson Aigbagbee said: “Imagine having to tap into the financial expertise of strong institutions like First Bank, with a long standing record of financial stability, would obviously galvanise the economic viability of Edo State to the desired next level.