BENIN CITY – Governor Adams Oshiomhole has stressed the need for the private sector to continue to contribute to the economic development of the state through investments in productive ventures in different parts of the state, insisting that the state cannot develop if everything is located in the state capital.
Speaking while commissioning the VED JAFA Bread Bakery, a private initiative, at Irrua, Tuesday, Governor Oshiomhole said, “There are many lessons for our people here, particularly the younger people at this time. You are a lecturer in a federal polytechnic, and you could decide to spend more time selling ‘hand outs’ and doing what you shouldn’t be doing, and trying to make money from your students. You chose in addition to teaching and impacting knowledge in a well-established institution like the Auchi Polytechnic, you decided to veer into a business, not just to maximize your wealth, but to create jobs for our people, your own brothers and your own sisters.”
He continued, “Each day people consume the bread and the fact that the bread is made through their sweat, you cannot count the blessings. So, it just shows that all of us can get something done, and that manners will not drop from heaven. But difficult as it might be, if you have the will and the resourcefulness, you can become self-independent, self-employed and become an employer of labour.”
Oshiomhole said, “And I saw you as a responsible man who is not ready to join in lamenting that things are hard. As they say, when the going gets tough, that is when the tough get going. That is the statement that you have made practically by building this factory. And every support that you need that government can provide, even in this difficult time, I want to be able to use you as an example of a young Edo man who has that entrepreneurial spirit, creativity and hard work to make things happen right in your village. But our state cannot develop if everything is put in the capital. We must locate everything that is good in different parts of the state. One thing will lead to the other. You are producing water; you are producing polymer, and who knows? With the success of these three units for a man that is thinking, in a world that is changing, they might even find something else to add.”
He commended the youths for their unflinching support for Godwin Obaseki, “And I want to thank the young ones who have assured me again and again they will vote for Obaseki.
The reason is that we realize the next phase is to widen the scope and the frontiers of governance beyond creating infrastructure which we will continue to do. We have to build more roads; we have to do more boreholes and so on.
But we also need to create businesses that will create jobs for millions of young men and women.”
Earlier, the proprietor of VED JAFA Bread Bakery, Pastor (Dr) Edward Okoduwa who welcomed Governor Oshiomhole to the bakery said, “This factory was borne out of vision from above. God showed unto me jobless, hopeless, downtrodden, street boys and girls walking without direction. I was intensively touched, and God said to me, feed my people.
Then came bread and water; when I opened my eyes, it was a dream. After three weeks, I was told to buy a land at Irrua behind Onojie’s palace. I said to myself, this is the place of bread and water. Since then, it has been my desire to take people out of the streets. Today, God almighty has confirmed this.”
Okoduwa said, “The Jafa bakery commenced operation on 25th July, 2016 with fourteen workers. By August ending the workers had increased to eighteen, but today, our workers have come up to twenty one. The commissioning of this factory by our Comrade Governor, Adams Aliyu Oshiomhole is to increase our production capacity which will increase the labour force. The water factory, by God’s grace will commence operation by October next month. The water factory will absolve as many workers as possible.”
The highpoint was the commissioning of the bakery by Governor Adams Oshiomhole.
