Obaseki urges Ecobank to key into Edo’s developmental policies

Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State has called on Ecobank to key into the steps his administration is taking to develop the state.

“We see huge opportunities in Nigeria today. The recession has shown that oil is no longer going to play a major role in our economy and that we need to diversify. As a state, we are leveraging on the opportunities the recession has opened to us”, he said.

He added that the government was diversifying the state’s economy and that the aim was to take advantage of Edo’s strategic location to be a major player in the generation of electricity, agricultural production and human capital development.




He said that his administration was currently investing in the agricultural sector to boost value chain and create agricpreneurs.

“We have, so far, cleared 3000 hectares of land for maize cultivation, our target is 5000. We intend to expand it to soya beans and cassava production. We want to be the number one state in cassava production within the next 36 to 40 months. We want to produce and process the cassava for industrial starch and ethanol’’, he said.

In addition, the governor informed the financial institution of the state’s ongoing registration of unemployed people, which has so far captured over 70,000 people, assuring them that the state would offer its first sets of jobs to between 5000 and 7000 of those captured in the database before the end of next week.