As state signs deal on 100Km Ibadan circular road, Ibadan airport upgrade.
The Executive Governor of Oyo state attended the Intra-Africa Trade fair (IATF) held at Cairo , Egypt.
While granting a press interview with CNBC Africa’s Kenneth Igbomar, He stated that Oyo state is moving on an Eagles wing to develop her capacity in order to attract more foreign investment.
The Governor while speaking at Cairo ,Egypt captures some of the ongoing plans to revolutionize the state into becoming the economic destination for investors in Africa.
According to the Governor ,
“Oyo state has a land mass advantage over many other states in Nigeria with a land mass of over 28,000 thousand square kilometers which is bigger than a lot of other African countries as a whole ,atleast eleven or twelve of them”
“Oyo state has a big arable land and the state has placed a strong target on Agribusiness as a major focus of the government in order to drive massive development in the state”
“The current administration in the state has worked tirelessly to connect all the geopolitical zones in the state already with good road network in order to facilitate easy mobility of residents ,visitors and investors in the state for business and other purposes”
“We want to expand our economy having laid solid foundation for infrastructural connectivity, the state is now moving into focusing on building solid intra zonal roads and circular road is a key project of the state currently being constructed”
While speaking further, He expressed excitement that AFREXIM is engaging directly with sub-nationals, stating that Oyo State would take advantage of the opportunity by using its part of the loan to continue the 110km Ibadan Circular Road and the extension of the Ibadan Airport runway, which is part of its efforts to have the airport upgraded to an international standard.
“Circular road in Oyo state is 110Km, compared to Cairo’s circular road which is 150Km,this means Oyo state is not doing anything that has not been done anywhere before now and a deal is being signed with AFREXIM bank at this trade fair which shall provide money for us as a state to complete the ongoing circular road project”
He further stated that:
“Oyo state is blessed with solid minerals such as Lithium, Gemstone etc which ofcourse is useful for investors in the power and mining sector respectively and we also have a marble deposit at Igbeti area of the state”
On security , He stated that:
“Oyo state is one of the safest state in Nigeria having invested largely on security apparatus and human resources needed to deliver prompt security of lives and properties of the residents and investors”
On tourism, the Governor stated that the “Ilu tuntun (New city) central business city currently being built at Moniya, Ibadan can be compared with any tourism focused state all over the African sub-continent and it is still a work in progress as it can also be symbolic of what is being seen here at Cairo, Egypt”
“agro-processing is another top plan of the state and it’s already in top gear as we have already built Fashola farm estate at Oyo and we also constructed a good road network to link Oyo and Okeogun through Oyo -Iseyin road, Oyo is already approved as a special agro processing zone and there are other farm estates at Eruwa and another one is coming up at Ogbomosho area of the state”
“Currently, our circular road project is almost completed with the first phase which is about 32km already accessible by residents, visitors, and investors , the bridges and interchanges are there for anyone to verify and access, this means Oyo money is put where our mouth is”
While speaking further on plans to sustain his legacies in the state,
He stated that before his emergence as the state Governor, He already designed a document which he named “Road map for accelerated development of Oyo state” which has guided all the project deliveries and milestones being recorded.
“When I was re-elected as the Governor of Oyo state, We introduced the roadmap for sustainable development of Oyo state 2023-2027 in order to help us sustain our developmental strides and legacies, we are already working on another document which will take Oyo state infrastructural developmental goals beyond 2027”
