BENIN CITY-  Governor Godwin Obaseki has rolled out his one year achievement as his administration celebrate one year in office by organizing Edo State Investment Summit Alaghodaro 2017 with the theme “Envisioning the Future”.

Obaseki appreciating God for the success made so far, he thanked the people of the state for their support and prayers without wish the successes recorded so far in the past twelve months would not have been possible.

The governor said he has focused on Institutional reform because it is the key to development. “We have focused on Institutional reforms because key to development and reforms are Institutions because it is this Institution that drives reforms and development. We have embarked on process and processes that have made the civil service more efficient and productive to ensure smooth service delivery.

He said his administration is offering capacity building to the entire government workforce, hence a fully computerized training school has been build in government house and will commence world class training programmes in January 2018. “We are going to train every government worker on how to use the computer in service delivery”.

‘’I am glad to inform you that during this summit, the state will be signing an MoU with the United Nations Training Institute on our capacity training initiatives.

Obaseki said in the area of revenue reform, his administration has introduced technology in revenue collection in the state to ensure accountability and transparency. “We have insisted that government revenue must be collected and accounted for by government official in a transparent manner. By the introduction of technology, employing persuasion, education and enlightenment, we have increased local government revenue collection by 500 per cent in the last six months”.

He said in the area of infrastructure his administration has been very visible. “We are constructing and reconstructing over 500km of roads across the state”.

Obaseki said in fulfilling his electioneering promises of creating 200,000 job for the people of the state, his administration have commence the building of Benin Technical College to graduate qualified artisans and technicians who can employ themselves and also provide employment for others.

“In the area of Industrialization, our goal is to utilize our endowment particularly the available energy and logistic advantages to make the state an Industrial hub. The ground breaking ceremony of our multipurpose Benin Industrial Park at Ikpoba-Okha local government area of the state will take place tomorrow with the vice president of Nigeria Pro. Yemi Oshinbajo performing the ground breaking ceremony.”

Obaseki said that Edo had made investments in data information and security to guarantee ease of doing business as well as safety of business interests in the state.

President Muhammadu Buhari says the federal government is planning to host a direct Investment Summit in 2018 to showcase the economic potentials in all the states of the federation.

The President disclosed this while declaring open the maiden edition of the Edo State Investment Summit held in Benin yesterday.

Buhari said the Direct Investment summit scheduled to hold early next year would feature domestic and foreign Investors and give them the opportunity to harness the economic opportunities across the country.

The president who was represented by the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr. Okechukwu Enelamah appreciated Edo government for setting the tone in envisioning investment opportunities in the country.

He said that the federal government was doing a lot to boost both local and foreign investments in the country to ease the present economic hardship currently being experienced.

He advised Edo government to implement the outcome of the summit and focus on creating the right environment for people of the state to do business as there lies the strength of the state and not its abundant natural resources.

In a keynote address, Alhaji Aliko Dangote noted the theme was apt as Nigeria needed to look beyond oil as developed nations were doing and focus on agriculture which has greater potential to earn revenue.

Dangote advised Edo and other governments to employ a symbiotic partnership with private sector in terms of investment execution.

He also advised Edo to focus on the areas where it has comparative advantage especially in the areas of agriculture and agro-processing.

The two day summit has four plenary sections to showcase economic investment potentials of Edo.