The Governor of Edo State, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, has taken his job creation and investment drive to Singapore, where arrangements are being fine tuned to attract a $50million worth of investment that will create 50, 000 jobs in the state.
The deals cover investments in agriculture, specifically, oil palm and cassava to feed the processing plants of a leading Singaporean company, Tolaram Group.
Other areas of the ongoing talks with Singaporean enterprises include infrastructure, digital services, real estate – the Edo New City Development project, amongst others.
Obaseki is accompanied on the business visit by the First Lady, Mrs. Betsy Obaseki, Commissioner for Wealth Creation, Cooperatives and Employment, Hon. Emmanuel Usoh, and the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Kadiri Bashiru.
The visit to Singapore is consolidating on an earlier visit to Indonesia, where the Governor sealed deals with the Indonesian Oil Palm Research Institute in Medan, to leverage on the institute’s research capacity in reinvigorating Edo State oil palm and allied industries.
According to Obaseki, economic diversification into areas where the state has competitive advantage, like agriculture, is the key to job and wealth creation on a sustainable basis.