Governor Seyi Makinde has said that Oyo State Government is delighted with the prospects and potential of the African Development Bank, AFDB special agro-processing zone project sited in the state.
The governor, who made this statement while receiving a team of the AfDB at the Governor’s Office, Secretariat, Agodi, Ibadan, noted that the state was already moving in the direction of agro-processing in line with its agenda to expand the state’s economy through agribusiness.
Governor Makinde said the state was already witnessing a boom in the cassava value chain and that the prospect of the special agro-processing zone project was exciting.
He said: “I want to use this opportunity to welcome one of our own, Professor Banji Oyelaran-Oyeyinka, back to Oyo State.
“The special agro-processing zone is very exciting to us here, and I am happy to let you know that we are already moving as a state as well.
“A few weeks back, we commissioned the second largest sorbitol plant in the world, owned by Psaltery International. That is one step further down in the cassava value chain, from cassava to fructose and then to Sorbitol.
“If you go to the neighbourhood of the plant in Ado-Awaye now, it is cassava all the way. In fact, once you get to Iseyin and move further, you will just see trucks carrying cassava all over the place and a few of the things they have asked us for, we are pushing.
“So, we are excited about the prospect of this project.”
Earlier, the team led by the Special Adviser on Industrialization to the AfDB president, Professor Oyelaran-Oyeyinka, stated that the process towards the building of the special agro-processing zone had been long, with Oyo State being one of the eight zones.
He expressed joy at being able to bring the project, which he said would be commissioned on October 24 and October 25, to fruition.
Professor Oyelaran equally commended the Oyo State Government for the support it gave the AfDB on the project, describing the governor as “an indefatigable champion of the project.”
He noted that apart from possessing the requirements to get into the programme, the state also had the best environmental laws and was one of only two states to have signed off with the Federal Government on the subsidiary loan agreement.
He said: “We have done quite a lot and it has been a long process. Oyo State has been one of the eight zones. By the way, we are in eighteen countries now, and I can tell you that the money budgeted for each of the zones is more than that of any other country. “And we have eight of such in Nigeria. So, it is for me a privilege to ensure that we bring it to fruition.
“I came here for us to make sure that the launching, which we have fixed for October 24th and 25th. Thank you so much for the support you have given us, as you have been an indefatigable champion of this project. As a matter of fact, when we first started, people were surprised we started from Oyo State.
“We have a criterion, which has about eight requirements.
Iyabo Adebisi
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