Ogun State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun has hinted of his administration’s plans to establish the biggest cotton and apparel industry in West Africa, with a capacity to employ up to 40,000 people when it becomes operational.
The governor gave the hint on Thursday when he received the Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment, Sen. John Owan Enoh, and his team, who paid him a courtesy visit in his office at Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta.
Abiodun said the ground-breaking foundation laying ceremony for the industry would be performed soon at the Special Agro-Processing Zone (SAPZ).
He said: “We are planning to house the biggest cotton and apparel industry, perhaps in West Africa, and the groundbreaking is scheduled to take place soon. That industry promises to employ about 40,000 people when it starts, and they are all in our Special Processing Zone.
“What we did is co-locate the Special Agro-Processing Zone with our airport, and we are just at the final stage of completing our Ogun State Agro-cargo and passenger airport. We call the entire place an aerotropolis where we have the airport, the Special Agro-Processing Zone, and the new and biggest customs facilities in Nigeria.
“That airport is an ecosystem of different things, and all centers around efficiency and production”, Abiodun added.
The governor said that on his assumption of office, his blueprint for the state’s economy was to create a conducive business environment based on public-private partnership, as well as enablers encapsulated in Infrastructure, Social Welfare and Wellbeing, Education, Youth Employment, and Agriculture (ISEYA) mantra.
To realize his administration’s vision, Governor Abiodun said efforts were geared towards road construction, provision of affordable housing and healthcare, building and renovation of schools, and youth empowerment, among others.
Abiodun maintained that the construction of three major roads—the Sagamu-Abeokuta, Ijebu-Ode-Epe, and the Agbara-Lusada-Atan roads—which were in deplorable states, was meant to open up the state for easy movement of investors and the people of the state.
The governor, while highlighting the potentials that exist in the state, said minerals like bitumen, limestone, silica, gold, and others were in abundance, adding that Ogun is one of the six states given approval to operate a Special Processing Zone, which he said would be a reference point in the country.
Abiodun maintained that Ogun State had been leveraging on its closeness to Lagos, the nation’s financial capital with the busiest air and sea ports, and working towards soon becoming an oil-producing state.
While briefing the minister on his experience during his recent visit to Morocco, Abiodun explained that Morocco encouraged investors through various incentives and now producing aircraft parts for aircraft manufacturing companies, a development which he said Nigeria could benefit from through collaboration.
He said his administration was working on generating power that would offer industries and companies in the state the cheapest source of energy, just as he informed his guests about efforts his administration has made to revive the Adire industry and its value chain.
Earlier in his remarks, Sen. Enoh said Ogun State represented Nigeria as the main belt of industrial base in terms of industrial activities.
The minister said: “I thank Ogun State for being such a good host to industries. I thank you for encouraging the growth of industry. I think that we, as a people and a country, believe this visit brings back to life and helps our industries understand the role they play.
“We appreciate the constraints our industries are facing as part of the general constraints in our country, but the advantages that lie in this country are enormous as well. So while the constraints are being grappled with, the good thing is that there are potentials that continue to exist, and I think that by working with industries and the private sector, we will be able to achieve the goals of this administration,” he added.
He explained that his delegation’s visit to Ogun State was on an “industry push” to see how the government could collaborate and partner with industries for the economic advancement of the country in line with the Federal Government’s eight-point agenda, with primary focus on the need for the nation’s economic diversification through industrialization, digitalization, innovations, and manufacturing.
