The Governor of Delta State, Senator Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa has urged wealthy Deltans in their different fields of endeavour to invest in the State.
Speaking at the Isoko Economic and Investment Summit held at Oleh, Delta
State, Governor Okowa stated that the call became necessary because, a lot of
Deltans have their industries and other investments outside the state,
disclosing that the state is peaceful and safe for investments to thrive.
That factory that we are putting
elsewhere, we can bring it home and if all Deltans who are doing well comes to
invest in the state, our state will be blessed the more and more of our youths
will get job,” Governor Okowa said, adding, “there is a lot of benefits
derivable in investing in Delta State, the environment is friendly and the
market is there for your products; we look forward to partnering with investors
coming into our state to ensure that they have quick returns on their
investments.”
While stating that plans are on to outlaw youths’ activities in the area
of multiple levies nicknamed “deve”, Governor Okowa lauded the Federal
Government’s initiatives towards encouraging investors in having Modular
Refineries in the country.
He however, appealed that the Federal Government will create a lot of
job opportunities if the Polytechnics and the Petroleum Training Institutes are
equipped to construct such refineries or be able to manage such when they come
on stream.
“We have made our technical colleges to be functional, as
parents, we must encourage our children to attend the colleges which will equip
them for the Polytechnics because, someone who moved from the technical
colleges to the Polytechnics will come out a better person; we want people who
can create jobs and be able to stand on their own,” Governor Okowa stated,
reiterating, “we must encourage the Petroleum Training Institute (PTI) and the
Polytechnics to understudy how to construct Modular Refineries so that
subsequently, we will not need expatriates to construct or fix such refineries
in the future.”
The Governor who commended the Chairmen of
Isoko North and South local government councils, Comrade Emmanuel Egbabor and
Sir Itiako Ikpokpo respectively for conceiving the summit, advised that the
outcome of the summit should not be put to waste, noting that his
administration was committed to encouraging speedy development of the state.
He assured Deltans that the Section C
of the Ughelli/Asaba dual carriage way (Asaba to Ozoro) has not been abandoned,
disclosing, “we are not abandoning the Asaba/Ughelli road project, we are
discussing with the contractor handling the project because, he is being owed a
lot of money, even before we came.”
Governor Okowa also, decried the low
patronage of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Anchor Borrowers programme and
called on Deltans to form cooperative societies to enable them have access to
the funds to enable them be involved in large-scale farming which he described
as “the greatest employer of labour.”
Earlier in an address, Hon. Egbabor had said,
“the Summit is driven by the need to diversify the economy of the Isoko nation,
improve human capital development, reduce the poverty index of the people of
the area, as well as explore new avenues of business developments,” adding,
“the theme of the summit is ‘Harnessing Isoko Economic Potentials and
Opportunities For Sustainable Development.”
Those who spoke at the occasion including Sir
Ayodele Othihiwa, Prof. Abednego Ekoko, Prof. Samuel Aghalino, Dr Christopher
Akpotu, among others, observed that Governor Okowa has stridently worked for an
investment friendly environment in the State and listed areas of investment,
especially in Isoko ethnic nationality.
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