The Edo State Government has entered into an agreement with Persianas Group, a co-investor of Ketron Investment Limited, for the development and construction of a modern shopping centre in Benin City, the Edo State capital.
The mall, which is set to include a state-of-the-art Shoprite outlet, is being developed after 12 years of discussions.
According to the Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, the advancement in talks is a welcome development for the State. “Our struggle to bring Shoprite or a major mall experience to Edo State has been on for more than a decade. There have been several attempts and one of the promises I made during my electioneering was that before leaving office, I was going to make Edo like modern cities in the world, making Edo people experience a retail shopping mall in the state,” he said.
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In addition to the mall being a public-private partnership, the governor has also noted that the Edo State Government will eventually sell its shares to the people once the mall is completed: “For our administration, it’s all about partnerships. This is what we call a classic public-private partnership between the government and the private sector. We are very pleased and happy with our partners, Persianas. We thank the chairman, whose company built the first mall to house the first Shoprite store in Nigeria.”
“We don’t intend to keep any interest. Once the mall is built, the government intends to sell its own interests to Edo people who are interested in being part-owners. Our role is to ensure and enable transactions like this to take place in the state,” he said.
