Agriculture: Abiodun hosts Egypt’s biggest conglomerate

…As North African organization expresses interest in agric, allied products

The Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun, on Tuesday, held an economic bilateral meeting with the biggest conglomerate owned by the Egyptian Government, National Service Project Organization, with the North African organisation expressing its readiness to invest in the agricultural sector of the state.

Leading the organisation on a courtesy call to the governor in his office at Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta, General Walid Morsi, declared that that the organisation would focus on the cultivation of food and cash crops which would be exported to his home country and other parts of the world.

“We are trying to make Egypt a hub in the Mediterranean Region and we are partnering Nigeria in the area of agriculture where we can plant and process food and cash crops and send it to Egypt. This partnership would be of great benefit to Nigeria and Egypt,” Morsi pointed out.

Also speaking, Bashir Yusuf Ibrahim from EGTA Investment Limited, representative of National Service Project Organization’s representative in Nigeria, said the team was in Ogun to assess its viability especially in the agriculture sector where the company intended to focus on.

He added that the visit had provided the team with an opportunity to see one of the economic zones located at the  cargo airport, observing that the state has economic concepts that could not be found in other states in the country.

Ibrahim, however, lauded the state government for the cargo airport which would host the agro processing zone, expressing delight with the facilities on ground.

He assured that cultivation of farm produce would not be the only area the company would invest in, but in aqua and poultry farming.

Responding, Governor Abiodun informed the investors that Ogun with more than 12,000 arable land out of its more than 16,000, total land mass is suitable for planting of food and cash crops.

The Governor added that apart from availability of highly skilled manpower as the result of large number of educational institutions, Ogun is also blessed with abundant natural resources.

He explained further that his administration had embarked on the provision of infrastructure, security and the implementation of the multi-modal transport system, which the cargo airport is a part of, noting policy reforms to attract more investors and improve the economic base of the state for the betterment of the people were equally put in place.

“We appreciate the team for choosing our state for the project. We are investor-friendly. We are the agricultural capital that produces cassava, fish, eggs and what have you. We are blessed with abundant natural resources where two-third of our land sits on limestone.

“We have keyed into the Anchor Borrower’s Programme where we cleared land for our people and link them with off-takers to buy their produce. We see agriculture as a source of food security and employment generation as well as revenue generation,” Abiodun stated.

The Governor noted that Ogun has witnessed the influx of both local and foreign investors in the last four years, saying his administration is ready to welcome investors from Egypt who are interested in investing in agriculture as the sector serves as sources of food security, employment and revenue generation.

Abiodun emphasised his administration is finalising arrangements with other Egyptian companies on other opportunities that would strengthen relationships and benefit Ogun State and Nigeria as a whole.

The Chief Economic Adviser and Commissioner for Finance, Dapo Okubadejo, noted that the state has comparative advantage over other states in terms of strategic location, human and natural resources and closeness to the economic capital of the nation.