The much-expected Rivers State Investment Promotion is born. This came from the red pens of Governor Sim Fubara to establish the agency.
The agency is mandated to coordinate what the governor called the barrage of enquiries and business interests expressed by investors who now consider the State as a destination of first choice.
Investors and business owners had clamoured for this kind of agency plus ease of land papers.
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The Governor explained that what he just did was to give force to one of the recommendations in the report submitted to him by the committee that handled the organisation of the Rivers State Economic and Investment Summit in May.
He said it is undisputed that the summit served as a veritable platform to open up the State for economic advancement, adding that the Investment Promotion Agency will be a one-stop-shop to handle all related activities seamlessly in the State.
“As a fall out of that summit, we all agreed that the windows and the big doors for economic advancement of the State have been opened. But, it will be very important for us to have a one-stop-shop.
“This will enable investors, when they come in; they won’t need to run around, and maybe, fall into wrong hands or associations that will want to reap them off their investment stakes.
“With this, they will have an agency that they could go to, liaise with and the agency will have the required answers to whatever it is that they will need to address concerns before it.”
Governor Fubara pointed to the fact that beyond organising the summit, his administration is showing that it can live up to fulfilling its promise of making Rivers State great again, economically.
This is why, he stated, he is not going to end with the signing of the Executive Order alone but will drive it to a conclusive end to achieve the desired fulfillment that Rivers people expect.
He said, “In a couple of days, the agency will be properly constituted. Now that we have the agency order signed, we are set to deliver to the good people of Rivers State and prospective investors; the other part of it will soon commence.”
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Fubara also said that: “We are looking forward to robust business deals that will be coming into our State, more especially in the area of healthcare and agriculture.”
The governor expressed understanding of what is happening concerning protests saying it was caused by economic hardship.
“To harness the gains of that Economic and Investment Summit, it is important that there be a vehicle to drive, promote, coordinate and create a conducive environment for investment development in Rivers State.”
This will be done, he said: “through Greenfield, Brownfield, Public-Private Partnership, Privatisation, Commercialisation of state-owned assets and concessions, enterprise development schemes, etc.
