THE Manufacturers Association of Nigeria says Ondo State has the potential to become an industrial hub in the nation since it serves as the gateway to the western, northern, and eastern region of the nation.
It added that the state could become a leader in the nation’s industrial sector. According to the association, the state is doing well in terms of creating an enabling environment for potential investors.
The Branch Chairman of MAN for Oyo, Osun, Ekiti and Ondo states, Mr Lanre Popoola, disclosed this in Akure, the Ondo State capital, during a visit of the members of the association to the Governor’s Office.
He said, “The state has potential to become an industrial hub as it is the gateway to the West, North and even to the East in Nigeria, so we want to explore all these potentials and see how we can key in into the vision of Mr Governor in industrialising this state
“We are here on a visit to our members to carry out some findings and assess our relationship with the state and we can promise you that with this visit we are going to raise the membership base within the next one year because there are a lot of opportunities here.
“We are ready to key into your policies and bring in more investors into the state. We have seen that the state is open to investors and we want to be part of it. We want you to put us as members in some of your technical boards, committees and agencies so that we can partake in driving the industrial growth of this state
“This state has a lot of potential; we have the seaports with the longest coastline in Nigeria and we want to actually explore all these facilities that are on ground. We also look at the Ore Industrial hub, we see that we could do a lot of things. Investors are coming.
“We also have a lot of potential for agro-allied industry here, for cocoa, and for the food industry and these are areas that we are going to work on in bringing in investors.”
According to the Governor of the state, Rotimi Akeredolu, the state is ready to partner with MAN, saying such collaboration will help to industrialise the state.
He added that there is a need for collaboration between governments and experts to solve economic challenges in light of current global challenges.
He said, “Port Ondo’s vision would soon become a reality to provide job not only for the people of the state but also to ease the burden of other ports in the country.”
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