For the first time in six years, the Oba of Benin, Omo N’Oba N’Edo Uku Akpolokpolo, Ewuare II, CFR attended the annual anniversary investment summit of Governor Godwin Obaseki popularly called alaghodaro where the governor set an Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) target of N60 billion for the state in 2023.
Although Oba Ewuare II did not make any speech for the about one hour he stayed at the event, he superintended over the traditional breaking of kolanut during the opening session of the event which is to mark the 6th year anniversary of Obaseki as governor of the state.
The summit with the theme “Edo’s Transformation: Partnerships, Resilience, Impact,” had dignitaries in attendance including the Edo State Deputy Governor, Rt. Hon. Comrade Philip Shaibu; Secretary to Edo State Government, Osarodion Ogie Esq.; Speaker, Edo State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Marcus Onobun; Chief of Staff to the Governor, Osaigbovo Iyoha; Commissioner for Culture, Tourism and Diaspora Affairs, Hon. Olaitan Bamidele, Chief Imam of Benin Kingdom, Alhaji Fatai Enabulele, among others.
Obaseki, in his address, said the state’s growth will come from leveraging its comparative advantage and exploring opportunities in culture, forestry, manufacturing, agriculture and technology, among other sectors of the state’s economy, to drive development.
He said “We see growth ahead of us and this growth is going to come from certain endowments that we have which most people don’t have. Our culture – people must come and see us and admire what our forebears built. Our forestry assets – the world is talking about net zero carbon and we have something to contribute to the environment and environmental economy.
“Manufacturing is the way to go. Edo has the largest onshore gas reserve in Nigeria with most of our other gas in the swamps and the offshore. With that energy source, there’s no reason we cannot generate enough energy to attract investors to drive industrialization. Agriculture; that’s what we grew up with. Of our 19 million square kilometres of land, there’s practically no way we cannot grow something. For us, the future is technology, because the world is talking about technology and that is the new area of focus.”
Noting that the government hopes to raise over N60bn in 2023 from internally generated revenue, Obaseki said, “In the last six years, things have not been easy, but we have tried in our own little way. You can see that from 2016 when we got in, we tried to increase Internally Generated Revenue (IGR). Except for the COVID-19 year, we sustained an increase in our IGR and we hope to end the next year with over 60bn IGR.”
Earlier in his welcome address, chairman of the annual event, Asue Ighodalo, said the governor and his team have worked tirelessly to transform Edo State into “a land of plenty, where peace and justice reigns, where all her citizens are safe, secure and healthy.”
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