Thursday, March 17, 2022 / 8.00PM / NBCC / Header Image Credit: NBCC 

Scanning through for business and investment opportunities across the different states of the country, the Nigerian-British Chamber of Commerce on Thursday, March 17^th, 2022, hosted the Executive Governor of Edo State, His Excellency, Mr. Godwin Obaseki on "Meet the Governor Series".

This edition tagged 'Meet the Governor of Edo State: Business and Investment Opportunities' aimed at discussing relevant issues and discovering the business and investment opportunities available in the state, presenting them to the global investment community.

Welcoming guests and delegates to the event, Bisi Adeyemi, President and Chairman of Council reiterated the objective of the event, which was to showcase Edo State, "Today's event offers an opportunity for his Excellency to showcase Edo State to the global investment Community", the President noted.

She affirmed that the event was in line with the cardinal objectives of the Chamber, which is to promote trade and investment between Nigeria and other nations and in particular the United Kingdom.

The Governor in his presentation outlined the various investment opportunities in Edo state which include - Benin River Port, Edo Tech Park, Edo State Oil Palm Programme, The Cultural District, Real Estate, New Town Development, Tourism, Mining and Oil and Gas amongst others. He spoke on the importance of politics and its impact on the economy as against the earlier notion that economy comes first before politics. For him, the dream of his administration is to have a 65:35 allocation, 65% of internally generated revenues and 35% federal allocation.

During the discussion session led by Mr. Olufemi Awoyemi, mni, the Founder and Chairman of Proshare (Nigeria's Foremost Financial information hub), Governor Obaseki identified the need to grow sectors to see the opportunities to get more taxes.

Responding to the question of redirecting investments from hospitality to other sectors, he stated thus "because we are a hub, hospitality becomes very viral and veritable industry, that's why you have lots of hotels...". He further encouraged government to create an enabling environment that would attract partnerships from the private sector.

Closing out on the discussion session, he raised the need for a broader partnership between the Government of Edo State with the Nigerian-British Chamber of Commerce on food processing, reminding us that the world has left us at this point, we are on our own and with just one sector, 'The Nigeria Sector'.