How are you doing?
We are counting down to the end of the year, and I am happy that we are ending this year on a strong investment note.
Under Omituntun 1.0, I talked about our plan to develop the Ikere Gorge Dam, but it did not work out. Permit me to report that yesterday, I spoke with investors who have indicated interest in completing the power plant at Ikere. All they have asked is that we work on the access road that leads to the dam, and we will make it happen in the shortest possible time.
We have investors interested in Ikere Gorge Dam, but this is not always the case with all the opportunities we put out in the State asking for
Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs). So, we sometimes have to make the tough decision regarding how best to use the available resources to meet the needs of our people, as we did in the case of Trans- Amusement Park. Let me again reassure you that we will go the extra mile to get a replacement for that legacy, which we had to let go.
And let me use this opportunity to say that in the course of our governance activities, we will make tough decisions that may not always sit well with everyone. But we will do our best to keep listening to our people, taking into cognisance the feedback they provide, and using these to make our decisions better.
As I have always maintained, we can only get out of these difficult economic times by thinking outside the box and turning our comparative advantage into competitive advantage. I am glad we are beginning to understand and accept that there is nothing wrong with taking loans to fund developmental projects. But beyond developing infrastructure, we should be able to attract private sector investment into our State. The private sector will only come when offered a conducive environment.
And to show that we are doing something right, we continue to attract businesses into the State. Just about a week ago, we received some German investors looking to explore agriculture opportunities available in the State, and they pledged five industries in the next year. I also received some investors from Spain. I must say that if we continue in this trajectory, our State will continue to be the better for it.
