Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, has decried the country’s inability to produce goods to meet its rising domestic demands, reiterating the need for urgent steps to move the nation from consumption to production.
The governor said this while addressing project partners of the Benin Enterprise Park during a three-day opportunity framing workshop, in Benin City, the Edo State capital.
He said, “Nigeria is unable to satisfy its increasing domestic demand due to lack of production. We can only meet our increasing domestic demand for goods when there is power and energy.
“The key driver to manufacture goods is energy and power and Edo already has energy, power, and the conducive environment that will attract investors and manufacturers into the State.”
Obaseki continued: “We have the largest flagship glass company in West Africa located here in Benin City and the Chinese have built 30 hectares of industrial estate as they tapped into the pipelines that run behind them to generate their power.
“The largest manufacturing plant in West Africa is also located here where they produce ceramic, tiles, doors, and roofing sheets but not at the scale we want. We acquired a piece of land of about 800 to 900 hectares, with the road network and energy sources available and the human capacity will be built over time.
“For production to occur, the key requirement is energy and we found a location close to an energy source in the Oredo field that has capped gas wells. We have started working on this project with quite a lot of design work. The project is expected to transform the well-being of society and the economy through various means.
“We have the population, market, human capacity, and energy sources, the market for production and other things are what stakeholders in this workshop will put together.”
The governor further noted, “Next month, we will be signing an MoU with Antwerp Port in Belgium on the development of Benin River Port and access should not be a problem.”
One of the partners and Project Manager of Odukpani Industrial Park, Cross Rivers State and a member of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, Zuwairat Asekome, reassured the commitment of the partners to ensure the realization of the Benin Enterprise Park project.
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