NIPC lauds Oyetola’s commitment to development, investment promotion
Abimbola Abatta, Osogbo
The Nigeria Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC) has lauded the Administration of Governor Adegboyega Oyetola for its commitment to the advancement of the State’s economy.
NIPC also commended the Administration for being resilient and relentless to socioeconomic, business and investment promotion since the inception.
This is even as the government reaffirmed its vision to rescuing and stimulating the economy, and changing the narrative of Osun from a civil service State to an investment, commerce and industry-driven economy.
The head of the NIPC Southwest Zonal Office, Ibadan, Mr. Hassan Lawal, stated the above on Wednesday at the Stakeholders’ Forum organised by the Osun Investment Promotion Agency (OSIPA) in collaboration with the Nigeria Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC) tagged “Year 2021 Investment Recertification Exercise and Stakeholders Engagement Forum,” held at Osun Civil Service Development Centre, Abere, Osogbo.
The Stakeholders’ Forum is aimed at drawing a workable investment roadmap and business strategy to further attract potential investors to invest massively in Osun.
Addressing journalists shortly after the Stakeholders’ Forum, Lawal said “What we are doing here today has been done in many of the States of the Federation and our attention is focused on Osun State as part of efforts to take the State out of its seeming ‘Civil Service Status’ and make it a business and investor driven economy, and this is the process to get there.
“Our target is to make State to better project their opportunities. We have gotten to a stage to profile Osun economy. Osun is very wealthy, Osun is a very rich State as we have many mineral resources, arable land, and her people are very resourceful. Osun has all it takes to be a leading investment State in Nigeria that is why we have commenced the assessment; and our target is to strengthen the capacity of the State in this regard.”
Speaking, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Osun Investment Promotion Agency (OSIPA), Mr. Femi Adeniran, said the State was resolute to turn Osun to an investment and business destination.
Adeniran who doubles as the Chief Executive Officer of the agency noted that efforts had reached top gear to take the State from its present status of four stars to five stars of the maximum investment rating.
Adeniran said: “Basically, there is this process that is called the Investment Certification for States, and this Investment Certification has criteria which Nigeria Investment Promotion Commission will use in assessing our readiness for investment and investors, and they are graded from one star to five stars.
“The last exercise that was conducted was done in 2016 and Osun was rated four stars certification and what that means was that we have not got there. But with what we have put in, we have taken a lesson from the last exercise, we have worked on them, we have developed on them and we have presented them back to NIPC and I am optimistic that we will get maximum point of five stars.
“We have taken the learning from that of the last one and we have jerked up the efforts to show that we are fully ready to work towards the five stars. And once we have the five stars, it is like having an emblem to show to investors that we have been rated by the Nigeria Investment Promotion Commission.
“The advantage of this is to further show that our State is an investment destination,” he added.
