Odu’a partners S’West states on power generation, begins oil exploration

Bimbo Ashiru, chairman of Odu’a Investment Company said plans are underway to partner the governments of the six South-West states on power generation and distribution to improve power generation and distribution in the region.

Ashiru also said the group would soon begin oil exploration and production as part of efforts to boost the potential of the group, reposition it and as well sustain the legacies of the founding fathers.

The Odu’a boss, who spoke in Ado Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital, during a visit to Governor Biodun Oyebanji, also assured that the board and management were working round the clock to revive the group’s investments and establishments which had been abandoned.

He said that the decision to partner with the South-West governments on power followed President Bola Tinubu’s signing of the Electricity Law, which authorised states, companies and individuals to generate, transmit and distribute electricity.

This, he said, was to “boost electricity supply to the South-West and by extension enhance the commercial activities in the region”.

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Ashiru said, “Odu’a won the marginal field OML 95 on Ondo State. That is one of the things we are working on,” adding that the group had entered into a partnership with an oil company for deeper and marginal exploration and production of oil with the aim of boosting fuel supply in the country.

“We have taken all the complaints made by the governor. We are going to work on them. In the next few years, Odu’a presence will be felt here in Ekiti State,” he said.

Oyebanji, in his remarks, expressed displeasure about the way Ekiti was being treated like a “second-class citizen” among Odu’a Group member states, saying all member states, as shareholders, must be treated equally in the scheme of things.

The governor lamented the neglect of Odu’a Textile premises in Ado Ekiti, which he said had been abandoned for criminals to live in, adding, “If you don’t need it, we need the place.

He said Odu’a businesses and establishments were cited in certain parts, saying, “I will not agree that businesses can’t thrive here in Ekiti if that is the reason we are being excluded”.