Oyo To Drive Economy Through Agriculture
Oyo State governor, Seyi Makinde has reiterated the readiness of its administration to drive the economy of the state through agriculture and agric value chain to actualize accelerated development in all the nooks and crannies of the state.
Speaking during an inspection tour to Ajila Value Adding Venture Limited, Awe, Oyo State, the governor said he is ready to partner with any private sector to drive the economy of the state in order to bring desired benefits and developments to the people of the state.
“I believe from what we have seen here, this is actually a world class facilities and it is intention of this government to encourage them, just like we said in our manifesto that we will drive economy of the state through Agriculture and Agric value chain.
“We will encourage them; some of them may have security challenges, we will look at the challenges and work on them, even we may give them incentive to expand their operation and employ more of our youths”, he said.
According to him, the state government will encourage many of the private sectors by providing security and making incentives available for them to expand their businesses, so as to create more job opportunities for our teeming Youths in the state.
While reacting over the situation of the Silos in Awe, the governor expressed displeasure about the level of the project, noting that the state had invested a lot of money on the project but no value has been gotten from it.
“I am not satisfied with the project, the project should have been completed within ten months. They have had court cases over it and we intend to solve it because the state have expended a lot of money on it and not getting any value from it. So if we need to spend a little more to make sure will derive from it, we will do it”, he said.
Speaking on the issue of court case between contractor and past administration, the governor enjoined the contractor to seek out of courts settlement with the present government in order to complete the project on time for the usage of the people of the State.
“They are in arbitration right now, I will encourage the contractor to come and sit with us and have out of court settlement. We are not proud and arrogant about it, all what we want to achieve is to make the project complete and bring value to our farmers in the state,” Makinde said.
Earlier, the chairman Ajila Value Adding Limited, Mr. Tayo Phillips stated that the Ajila limited came into being in 2013 by the individuals who believe and committed to the economy of Oyo State and Nigeria as a whole.
He said: “Our business is focused on agricultural value chains and backward integration providing direct and indirect employments for youths, growing numerous other business concerns as the hub to ensure sustainable development and other indirect employments for our youths vendors, suppliers and contractors.”
He, however added that the company was ready to partner with the state Government to boost agricultural development in the state.
