The Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Tuesday inaugurated the reactivated Edo Fertiliser Plant and Chemical Company Limited in Auchi, Etsako West Local Government, after 14 years of abandonment.
The plant, said to have the capacity to produce about 60,000 metric tonnes of fertilizer in a year, was revived through a public, private venture about 14 years after it was abandoned.
A statement issued from the Government House, Benin City, Edo State, said Mr. Osinbajo was accompanied to the ceremony in the state by the Ministers of Agriculture and Rural Development, Audu Ogbeh, and Industry, Trade and Investment, Okechukwu Enelamah.
Speaking at the ceremony, the vice president said that the Federal Government was committed to creating enabling environment for private investors to do business in the country.
Osinbajo emphasised the need to involve the private sector to ensure accelerated development of the country’s infrastructure and industries.
“The Buhari administration takes private enterprise very seriously; we believe that government resources cannot bring about the rapid roll-out we need especially in the area of infrastructure and industrial development.
“It is the private sector that can do so. We are, therefore, committed to making it easy for businessmen to invest anyway in Nigeria.”
He said that this was why the present administration set up the Presidential Enabling Business Council.
The vice president called for the involvement of state and local governments in ensuring that private businesses thrived in the country in order to create employment opportunities.
He commended the Edo government for partnering with the private sector to develop the state and for keying into the federal government’s economic diversification initiative.
“Let me again commend the Edo state government for this partnership with Walcot which is already well known for agro-processing,” he added.
Read More »
