Governor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State has said that many entrepreneurs have embraced the state’s free trade zone is because the state is prepared to “give them at cheap cost and to even some for free if they will offer us what we want for our development.”
The governor disclosed this while hosting a delegation from the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC), led by the Executive Secretary and Chief Executive Officer, Ms Yewande Sadiku.
According to him, the state’s human capital development is premised on sanctity of human dignity, as well as complete education that emphasizes excellence in character and learning.
The governor said that the administration’s industrialization drive was tailored towards the Asian Tigers’ economic policy, which, according to him, emphasizes utmost regard for human dignity, as against the European’s style of robotic technology. He said that the use of robots in place of humans derided human life.
Ajimobi said, “Our free trade zone and industrial park were targeted at China, because we believe that the Asians, especially the Chinese have value for human dignity and respect for labour.
“The growth of China’s economy is anchored upon the sanctity of human dignity. They are not like the Europeans who are today building their economy on robotic technology, which has no value for human dignity.
“We focus our own growth on complete education that exemplifies excellence in character, civic responsibility and learning. We supported our free trade zone with an industrial park and many entrepreneurs have embraced our initiative.
The governor said that the state would be willing to give the needed support to NIPC whenever requested, adding that the state had all that was required for it to become the center of business opportunities.
He cited the recent statistics from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), which ranked Oyo among the first five states in Nigeria on ease of doing business, which he said was a remarkable improvement from the earlier 24th position in 2014.
In her response, the CEO of NIPC said that the delegation was in the state to promote investment and express its support for the administration in its drive for investment promotion and industrialization.
She said her agency had the mandate to encourage and support Nigerians to invest in their own country, which according to her, had been made possible with the support given by state governors.
Sadiku announced that NIPC would be holding a summit in October in Abuja to bring together stakeholders in the country on the need to drive local businesses and make the people of the country to invest more in their own nation.
She said, “I want to inform Your Excellency that we have come to serve and we cannot achieve our objectives without closely working with the state governments. A broom sweeps better as a whole; since my resumption as the Executive Secretary, I have had closer working relationship with DAWN commission to look into how we can achieve our mandate.
“Our mandate is to promote investment locally and support whatever attempts being made at making Nigerians locate their investments in Nigeria, to drive job opportunities and maximize growth.”
