Oyo State governor, Seyi Makinde, has said that his administration will continue to recover and extract value from all moribund government assets and abandoned projects in the state.
A statement signed by the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Mr. Taiwo Adisa, quoted the governor as saying this at the official flag-off of the Agribusiness Industrial Hub at Fashola in Oyo town.
According to him, his administration is determined to expand the state’s economy, stressing that “our decision was based on the available data and a little bit of common sense.”
He also stated that Oyo State has the arable land size and the climatic condition to support all types of agribusiness endeavors, adding that with the state’s comparative advantage in agriculture, he is ready to open it up to the business world.
He said: “We knew that if we signal to the investing community through our policies and policy implementation that we are open for business, they will come to us.
“When we came into government, we were determined to rebuild the economy of Oyo State. We chose to use our areas of comparative advantage and competitive advantage to drive the growth and this is what dictated our choice of agribusiness as one of the drivers.
“On our way here, I saw the old houses that were refurbished around 2009 or 2010, during former Governor Akala’s administration. From the available records to me, it was the Paris Club refund that was spent on the building and it was a lot of money in billions but it did not deliver the desired result.
“The houses are there though little out of them were refurbished. Is there electricity? How about the road from Oyo to Iseyin? And who are the people that are living in the building today? No records. So, we set up and gave life to a new agency, the Oyo State Agribusiness Development Agency (OYSADA).”
The governor promised to push for the flag off of Iseyin-Oyo road within the next eight weeks, adding that he had hoped to fast-track the process but for the huge bill submitted by the contractor. He said that the contract was already thrown open for competitive bidding adding that the process would soon be completed and the contract awarded.