The Governor of Edo State Godwin Obaseki has taken his job creation and investment drive to Singapore, where arrangements are being finetuned to attract a $50 million worth of investment to create 50, 000 jobs in the state.
The deals cover investments in agriculture, specifically, oil palm and cassava to feed the processing plants of a leading Singaporean company, Tolaram Group.
Other areas of talks with Singaporean enterprises include infrastructure, digital services, real estate – Edo New City Development project, among others.
Obaseki is accompanied on the business visit by his wife, Mrs. Betsy Obaseki, Commissioner for Wealth Creation, Cooperatives and Employment Emmanuel Usoh and the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources Kadiri Bashiru.
The visit to Singapore is consolidating on an earlier visit to Indonesia, where he sealed deals with the Indonesian Oil Palm Research Institute in Medan, to leverage on the institute’s research capacity in reinvigorating Edo State oil palm and allied industries.
According to Obaseki, economic diversification into areas where the state has competitive advantage, such as agriculture, is the key to job and wealth creation on a sustainable basis.