As part of efforts to ensure sustainable growth and development in Edo State, the state government on Tuesday said it is exploring investment opportunities across the18 local government areas to attract investments into the councils.
Kelvin Uwaibi, managing director, Edo Investment Promotion Office (ESIPO), said the pilot survey for the project was conducted in three councils namely Etsako West, Esan Central, and Oredo, and will be replicated in the entire 18 LGAs across the state.
He said the purpose of the survey is to have documented evidence of the investment opportunities in each local government with their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
“We are looking at how to develop the LGAs because when investors come, they are located in these LGAs. But we realized that over the years, the LGAs are neglected whereas they are very critical to the development of a state.
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“In developing economies, it starts with research. So, the potential in these tertiary institutions in the LGAs would be utilized optimally. We need to think about the kind of partnership with the tertiary institutions in terms of research and entrepreneurship.”
Continuing, he said: “If you look at the governor’s 2022 budget proposal, you will see that capital infrastructure is very huge, which is because of the government’s zeal to fix our state. It is time to make our LGAs attractive so that even the diaspora can come and invest at home.”
He added that the state government is partnering with a German development agency (GIZ) to improve the business environment through data gathering, which is key to investors.
Blessing Ajimoti, Edo State coordinator, GIZ-SEDEN, in her remarks, said “We want to get data and meet the stakeholders. We want to know the investment opportunities that exist in the various local governments to positively impact the state’s economy.”
