Ogun in aggressive infrastructure devt to open up state for investors

Determined to become the most preferred investment destination in Nigeria and the most thriving industrial hub in Africa, the Ogun State government has embarked on aggressive development of infrastructure aimed to open up the state for more investors.
The state in the last five years has attracted billions of naira investment from both local and foreign investors who see its environment enabling enough for them to settle for business. Authorities of the state estimate that 35 percent of all the foreign direct investment into Nigeria in the last two years found their way into the state.
They attribute the investment inflow to the government’s decision and commitment to providing an enabling environment. Ronke Sokenu, the state’s commissioner for regional and urban planning, reveals to BusinessDay in an interview in Abeokuta that the aim of the Ibikunle Amosu administration is to ensure that development comes into the state.
“That is why at Shagamu interchange you see a lot of industries springing up. There you see Flour Mill, Olam, Nestle, Honeywell, CDK, which is the second largest sanitary ware products manufacturers in the world; we are taking advantage of our nearness to Lagos, knowing that Lagos is landlocked. More and more investors are coming in,” she says.
Lagos as the largest city in West Africa is already saturated and bursting at its seams. A number of companies, for reasons of either expansion or congestion, are relocating to Ogun and, according to the commissioner, “Lagos is landlocked which makes us a natural fit in. When it comes to the issue of where people go next for citing industries, we are the number one choice.”
To further encourage more investors to come in, the state government is focusing aggressively on statewide roads construction. Sokenu faulted the thinking in some quarters that government’s efforts at infrastructure development are concentrated in Abeokuta, the state capital.
She cited a six-lane road being constricted in Ayeitoro in Yewa North local government area of the state and the bridge built in Ijebu Ode across Benin- Ore Expressway. Inside Ijebu Ode township, two more bridges have been constructed to control traffic.
As the state capital, she said, Abeokuta will naturally enjoy more attention, pointing out that, even at that, there is a 32-kilometre road the state is building which runs all the way from Sango Otta to Akute, near Ojodu Berger. Five bridges are being constructed on that road right now. This is besides another bridge that is being completed in Ijebu Igbo plus another one being done in Otta.
“Similarly, contract has been awarded for the reconstruction of the Agbara-Igbesa-Otta Road. “A lot of demolition has taken place there to give way for the reconstruction of the road. Contractors have mobilised to site. I can assure you that in the next six months, work must have gone far on that road,” the commissioner assures.
These developments are part of efforts the state government is making that have produced positive impacts. Apart from improving its World Bank ease of doing business ranking from 35th in 2011 to 5th as 2014 as against Lagos 36th, the state has also grown its internally generated revenue (IGR) from below N1 billion per annum in 2011 to over N80 billion annually in 2017.
The state is also upgrading and upscaling its land administration processes to enable investors and home seekers to acquire land in a convenient, affordable and easy way. Sokenu assures that in the next couple of months a website would be up and running and people will be able to get information and make payments online.
Lagos is, however, not waiting to be upstaged as it is seen adopting measures not only to promote the ease of doing business, but also to retain its position as Nigeria’s commercial nerve centre.
Asides the N25 billion Employment Trust Fund (ETF) which aims to encourage upstarting enterprises by advancing loans to them at single digit interest rate, the state government is also bullish in the area of law and order, exemplified in the anti-land grabbing law signed by Governor Akinwunmi Ambode to discourage the practice of forcefully takeover of lands from investors by land grabbers.
There is also massive investment in safety and security as well as a deliberate effort to ease off traffic gridlock and loss of man-hours in different parts of the state metropolis through the construction of laybys and installation of streetlights.
Ademola Abass, special adviser to Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, on Overseas Affairs and Investment, said the creation of the office, was a deliberate step with the main to promote the ease of doing business in the state.
Nigeria is generally characterised by infrastructural deficit, irregular electricity, bureaucratic bottlenecks in the form of multiple agencies and taxes, long, legal paper work and access to land largely frustrate investors seeking to do business in the state.
According to Abass, before the present administration came on board, different ministries, departments and agencies of government handled various aspects of request by the would-be investors in Lagos.
But the creation of the Office of Overseas Affairs and Investment has ensured that all issues relating to investment are warehoused in one basket. This, according to Abass, allows investors to get answers to all their enquiries under one roof thereby saving time and the resources that could have expended moving in and out of departments and agencies to ministries. “This is a huge value for any investor coming into Lagos,” says Abass.
“Our purpose is to drive investment to Lagos State. As a government, we have no business in doing business but we must make the state viable for businesses to thrive. Lagos ranks first in the ease of doing business index in Nigeria; next is Kano State. Lagos is the fifth largest economy in Africa. So, it’s high time we began to take steps to let people know what we are doing to instigate citizens to buy into our programmes, our activities, and to let people know that we have an office that is driving our businesses.”