When business leaders, investors, technocrats and allied stakeholders meet next week in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, for the second edition of the state’s Investment and Economic Forum, the attention would be on critical perspectives on economic diversification and the burning quest for industrialization in the state. It is also an auspicious time for the state government to brief the august gathering on its score card since the maiden edition last year, particularly on the investments generated and future possibilities.
It has to be stated that the forum initiative is a commendable one which takes into account the nation’s vulnerable over-dependence on oil as its economic mainstay and the fact that the Bayelsa State government had been in the forefront of economic diversification before the current clamour for such idea as an inevitable course of action if Nigeria must survive now or in the future.
But the challenge we face in economic development drive over the years is not that of policy but a decisive action plan to practically demonstrate our resolve to walk the talk and actualize our dream of economic viability with serious interest in an inclusive industrialization which is critical to the existence of a productive economy and thus effectively tackling the problem of job creation.
This seems to be the fresh perspective which the Bayelsa State government is bringing into the mix of a calculated paradigm shift in addressing the inherent issues in economic development through an aggressive drive to woo serious investors to the state and ensuring a clement environment to do business with generous incentives.
At a dinner with business executives in Lagos last week, the state Commissioner for Trade, Industry and Investment, Kemela Okara, brought the various issues and dimensions to the fore by explaining the difference which his ministry is making in making the investment landscape attractive to investors and the mutual benefits accruable to all parties. He reviewed the progress made from the maiden outing which drew over 800 participants as an avenue to showcase the investment opportunities in the state and the encouraging responses by notable investors who have already signed MoUs with the government to begin business in the state while further intensifying the clarion call for many others to come on board.
However, in the second edition which holds from July 29 – 31, the focus, Okara said, would be to leverage on the success it had recorded by sensitizing investors to the major business areas where the state has comparative advantage like oil and gas, agriculture and power generation. The commissioner predicated the success of investment in these areas on the availability of raw materials and infrastructure, stating, for instance, that Bayelsa has the largest deposit of natural gas in the country and why power generation is being recommended to investors as a strategic move and great opportunity to add about 5,000 – 10,000 mw of power to the national grid, thereby adding fillip to the quest to transform the national economy. Okara also noted the huge potential in mechanized farming in the state with all the natural endowments as major incentives, especially in oil palm and rice processing, stressing that this is the reason why the government is bringing together large scale farmers to tap into the huge potentials which some investors are already exploiting as a lucrative business in the state.
Yet the cornerstone of the on-going economic diversification in the state will have so much to do with industrialization. Conscious of the challenges, the state government, Okara said, will be selling the idea of its Eco Industrial Park (EPI) to the would be investors at the business summit. The EPI, as conceived by the government, is fashioned as world class 21st century model that can realistically meet the basic inter-related manufacturing needs of industrial concerns with the targets in chemical and pharmaceuticals, domestic and industrial plastics, rubber, wood and wood products, electrical and electronics, non-metallic mineral products, pulp and paper products and other manufacturing activities. Of significant value would also be the urea fertilizer plant which is being developed by the state government which Okara said would benefit those core investors who could key into its major facets of development and a major component of the nation’s agricultural needs with huge market and quite a lucrative investment. Real estate is also not left out which will place emphasis on both residential and commercial. Interestingly, some clever investors seem to be appreciating the message of the economic progress and possibilities in the state by signing MoUs with the government for business take-off including the N20 billion Kesio Building Materials Market which has about 500 stalls to create a cluster for people in the real estate just as others are participating in power generation, pharmaceuticals, telecoms, agriculture and ICT.
This year’s edition of the business parley which has “Unfolding Bayelsa State’s Industrial Future”, Okara also informed the Lagos gathering, has attracted the participation of major private sector players like Shell Development Company, Okomu Oil Palm, PrescoPlc and Olam, among others.
Although wooing investors is a normal step many governments have taken in the past, the difference in the Bayelsa foray is what the drivers of the initiative regard as the practical demonstration of the will to excel and help prospective investors actualize their business ideas and models in the state. The inter-related issues in this regard were well addressed by Okara when business executives and investors engaged him at the Lagos pre-event dinner, asking pertinent questions not just about the availability of natural resources but also on the critical support they hope could get from the government.
These are very germane topics but which Okara answered by informing and assuring his audience that the Bayelsa State Government under the watch of Governor Seriake Dickson in the last three years had in addition to having invested massively in infrastructure, also worked tirelessly to create an enabling environment of stability, created institutional framework, legal structures and built relevant skills through manpower development. The major interest of government in the development of SMEs was also underscored by the disbursement of hundreds of millions of naira till date. Thus economic diversification and industrialization had all along been in the front-burner of government economic policy which among other incentives would also encourage serious investors in the state with tax holidays and attractive Public-Private Partnership models.
- Nnamdi wrote from Lagos.
