The Edo State government in collaboration with the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ)- Pro-Poor Promotion Growth and Employment in Nigeria’s SEDIN programme has commenced the review and compilation of all available incentives with a view to attracting investors into the state.
Speaking at a validation workshop on the compendium of Edo State’s investment and business incentives in Benin City, Kevin Uwaibi, Managing Director, Edo State Investment Promotion Office (ESIPO), said the Governor Obaseki-led government is keen to creating a business-friendly environment and ensuring Edo becomes the most preferred state for investment.
In a bid to make Edo attractive to potential investors, Uwaibi said they are collaborating with the different Ministries, Departments and Agencies in the state to categorise the incentives for businesses and make it available to the public domain so that they can easily be accessed by businesses.
“For us in Edo State, we want to be the most preferred state for investment. In doing so, we have agreed to come up with certain offerings that will make our location attractive.
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“There are certain MDAs that are key drivers to ensure that we have a prosperous economy and all of us will play our part. We are having these conversations with MDAs so that we can be able to harmonize our incentives. Yes, we do have incentives but what we are doing now is to ensure they are properly documented and that is why we are having this workshop.
“More importantly, we have seen that Edo State is attracting investors and we want to be able to categorise these incentives to ensure that once they come in, it will be plug-and-play. And, they may not go from one MDA to another, there will be a one-stop shop to attend to investors.
“ESIPO is with the mandate to support investors with incentives and so by the time all of this process is done, they will be able to apply for these incentives. We will classify these incentives and it will be in the public domain,” Uwaibi said.
Blessing Ajimoti, Edo Coordinator, German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ)- Pro-Poor Promotion Growth and Employment in Nigeria SEDIN programme, on her part, said incentives would help to attract private sector investment to the state.
“The need to drive economic growth, competitiveness and job creation in states has made it imperative to attract private sector investments through incentives.
“The increase in the investment drive is premised on its potential to create employment and increase income at both the micro and macro levels.
“To this end, the Edo Government, with support from GIZ’s SEDIN programme, has been mapping, collating, and reviewing all available incentives to harmonise them. And also to potentially develop new ones where necessary, harmonize them, and consolidate all the incentives into one document, Ajimoti said.
