Ekiti: Repackaging To Attract Investors - 2008-06-16

Ekiti State Governor, Engr Segun Oni (middle), Chairman, Ekiti Economic Development Council, Mr. Ayo. Ajajyi and Sir. Remi Omotosho, a member of the Council during the Council's briefing on the forthcoming Economic Summit to the Governor and other executive members at the exco chambers, Governor Office, Ado  Ekiti on Thursday, June 12, 2008

The brand Ekiti is emerging from the drudgery of the past, it has now assumed a status that has so many qualities, which have continued to attract investors from both within and outside the country.

Ekiti, which some three years back was regarded as a 'pariah state' due to the violence and political brigandage that pervaded the land, has become a haven of peace and tranquillity, which is necessary for survival of business and commerce.

Giving this new reign of peace, ushered in by the present dispensation of Governor Segun Oni, things are beginning to look up once more for Ekiti. Known for its agrarian nature and bent for academic attainment, the state is imploring seasoned businessmen and women to come and invest in the emerging brand. The Ekiti State Economic Council is set to organise an economic summit, which aims at showcasing the economic potentials of the state both to internal and foreign investors.

The second Ekiti State Economic Summit, which will hold between June 25 to June 27, 2008, at the Trade Fair Complex, Ado Ekiti, the state capital, will attract huge potential investors to the state, and this goes a long way to boost both the emerging brand Ekiti, and the new positive image it throws at the outside world.

The Summit, with the theme:  Positioning Ekiti State for Accelerated Economic Development is a veritable brand platform which paints a brighter and enduring legacy for the state, which in a short while, will rub off on the constituents of the state.

The first Ekiti State Economic Summit was held in October 2000 at Ikogosi, a serene town, which boasts of a natural spring, in which both hot and cold water formed a convergence.  The huge success recorded at that summit encouraged the organisers to have a repeat performance. Unfortunately, because of some logistics and political issues, there has been a gap since the first edition. However, the present administration of Engineer Segun Oni is resolved to ensure that the summit will continue to hold on annual basis.

The summit is planned as a three-pronged programme -an Investment Forum with plenary debates and technical breakout sessions, International Standard Exhibition of investment opportunities, goods and services, Networking Meetings and a platform for direct access to the highest authorities of the Ekiti State Government. 

The objective of the Summit is to showcase the state's great potentials and its package to attract investment through carefully designed Public Private Partnerships (3Ps). In light of this, investors are encouraged to take advantage of the ample investment opportunities that would be created at the Summit.

In a chat with newsmen at the pre summit press briefing, Mr. Ayo Ajayi, Chairman of the Ekiti State Economic Council, and Mr Femi Boyede, the coordinator of the Economic Summit who is also Director General of the Ekiti State Enterprise Development Agency (EEDA), bared their minds on the benefits inherent in the summit. 

To boost the investment potentials of the state, the government has put a lot of incentives in place to ensure that participants and investors have the most conducive environment for business to thrive. According to Prof. Fakiyesi, the state government has concluded plans to attract and retain investors to the state, assuring that investors would have high returns on their investment, as arrangements have been made to make the state an investor's haven.

According to Mr. Ayo “One thing we must realise is that Ekiti State is able to put together a package of its services in an enabling environment such that they will be able to attract investors from within and outside the shores of the country; creating environment that makes it possible for resource mobilisation into Ekiti. And of course, we take cognisance of the fact that we are competing with other states. But as long as we can put good set of packages and incentives together and we have a secured and friendly population and improve accessibility to Ekiti, investment in Ekiti will surely be very attractive. Therefore, for their money, they will get returns that are substantial and that will make their long term interest in the state secured.”

The state government has, in the last one year of Governor Oni's administration, fulfilled the promise of fighting against poverty and accelerated economic development of the state. In that light, certain basic facilities have been put in place to redirect the state to the path of rapid sustainable growth.

As at June last year, only about 12% of Ekiti State indigenes had access to potable water. Taps had dried up in many areas of the state for upward of 15 to 20 years as past administrations concentrated on boreholes and water tankers despite the presence of huge surface water resources and four large dams in the state. Today, water flows in over 40 communities across the Local Government Areas of the state, including places that never had pipe-borne water supply. Right now, over 60% of Ekiti people have access to potable water.

Another remarkable sector where the government has made tremendous progress is in the area of road construction and rehabilitation. Before the current administration came into being, roads in Ekiti State were in a sorry state. As soon as Governor Oni assumed leadership, he launched the Ekiti Road Revolution designed to confront headlong the paucity of good roads in the state. Contracts for the rehabilitation and construction of 25 roads, covering over 330km, were awarded using a very transparent process that conformed fully to due process. This figure is more than the total number of kilometres of roads constructed or rehabilitated by previous regimes since the creation of the state.

The present administration has also recorded striking achievements in the agricultural sector. In its efforts to reposition the state from a Federation Allocation driven economy, tap the abundant economic potential of agriculture in the State, and increase the Gross Domestic Output and thereby create wealth among its citizenry, the administration adopted a policy of upgrading agriculture from subsistence level to a commercially viable and profitable business. This singular effort has made food available in abundance in Ekiti State today and the agricultural map put in place has made it possible to spot where a particular food product can be found.

So far, over 500 hectares of cassava has been cultivated with 277 farmers benefiting directly from the programme. The construction of modern fish hatchery is nearly completed and will soon commence operation. All these and many other achievements of the present administration are there for anybody to see. A visit to Ekiti State would confirm all these.

Boyede said the successes recorded by the Oni administration has served as an impetus to the hosting of 2nd Economic Summit. According to him, the organisers of the summit are looking at a full variety of programmes. He explained that the Summit is not a platform to showcase an end to a success. Rather, it is a platform to showcase the available opportunities. His words: “Whatever looks like a deficiency, we want to put it on the table as investment opportunities because obviously when you look at infrastructure deficiency, people complained, “the roads are bad, the roads are bad.” That's an opportunity for road contractors who are interested, who have the business acumen to gauge the traffic that is passing through Ekiti State now and say, okay I want to partner with the state, I want to build a good home, build a good estate, and so on.”

Boyede maintained that since there is so much talk about water; the summit will provide the state with a platform to talk about the water revolution. He added: “This will obviously also highlight the investment opportunities therein, because what the summit is stressing really is economic opportunities and that is why we are focusing on economic problems. So we are going to treat a lot of things such as infrastructure, food, water, road, health, child delivery and everything that affects the average life of an Ekiti person. Looking at the efforts the government of the day is making, the summit is a veritable avenue for these myriads of problems to be discussed.”