Ondo State Governor Lucky Orimisan Aiyedatiwa has declared Ondo State a frontier for global industrial partnership, marking his administration’s first anniversary with the signing of multi-billion dollar agreements aimed at shifting the state’s economy from consumption to production.
The declarations were made on Monday during the opening of the Ondo State Investment Summit 2026, held at the International Centre for Culture and Events (The Dome) in Akure.
The summit’s high point was the formalization of two landmark Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs).
The first secures a partnership for the Ondo Deep Sea Port, a project where the state government will retain a 12.5 percent equity stake, with private partners holding the remaining 87.5 percent.
The second agreement, signed with Resident Fertilizer, clears the path for a $4 billion petrochemical fertilizer plant to be situated in the state’s southern senatorial district.
Governor Aiyedatiwa emphasized that his “OUR EASE” agenda is designed to move the state beyond its traditional civil service identity into a private sector-led industrial powerhouse.
He presented the state’s 75-kilometer coastline, the world’s largest bitumen deposits, and its vast agricultural strengths in cocoa and oil palm as tangible advantages rather than mere potential.
The Governor assured investors that every commitment made at the summit would be tracked for implementation by 2027, stressing that investors go where there is structure, certainty, and political will.
The summit drew high-level support from the federal government and the private sector. Senate President Godswill Akpabio, represented by Senator Jimoh Ibrahim, urged the Governor to maintain his focus on strategic legacy projects despite political criticism.
Similarly, the Chairman of Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM), Abike Dabiri-Erewa, challenged the Diaspora to move beyond remittances and view Ondo as a land ripe for industrial ventures.
The industrial vision centerpieces, the Deep Sea Port and the 2,771-hectare Sunshine Industrial City, are conceived as an integrated ecosystem.
With a natural draft of up to 18 meters, the port is expected to accommodate large commercial vessels, positioning Ondo as a strategic maritime gateway for West Africa.
Stakeholders at the summit concluded that the state’s prosperity will be driven by its ability to mobilize capital and utilize its proximity to the Niger Delta energy belt for gas-based industrialization.
