The Rivers Economic and Investment Summit which took place in May 2024 seems to bear its biggest fruit with the signing of an order setting up the State’s investment promotion agency to stimulate economic growth and development.
The order, creating Rivers State’s Investment Promotion Agency, was signed on Monday by Governor Sim Fubara, who said, he was bent on making Rivers State an investment hub in the South-South.
BusinessDay reports that the executive order 002 of 2024 is to give impetus to the establishment of an investment agency that would coordinate the barrage of enquiries and business interests, making Rivers State an investment destination of first choice.
The governor explained that, what he had just done 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 was undisputed that the summit served as a veritable platform to open up the State for economic advancement, adding that the State’s Investment Promotion Agency would be a one-stop-shop to handle all related activities seamlessly in the State.
The governor said, “As a fall out of that summit, we all agreed that the windows and the big doors for economic advancement of the State has 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 was showing that it could 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.”
Governor 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.”
He said if the Country could reduce cost of living, over 70% of the crisis would be eliminated.
Presenting the Executive Order, Dagogo Israel, the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Dagogo Iboroma (SAN), explained that the agency would be a bold step towards harvesting the gains of the Economic and Investment Summit held between 22-23 May, 2024.
He said the economy of the State would be boosted through Greenfield, Brownfield, Public-Private Partnership, Privatisation, Commercialisation of State-owned assets and concessions, enterprise development schemes, etc.
