Ondo State Attracts $350m FDI in 3 Years — Official

Chief Alex Ajipe, Manager of state-owned Ondo-Linyi Industrial Hub, Ore, says over $350 million of foreign direct investment was attracted to boost the economy of the state in the past three years.
Ajipe made the disclosure while speaking with members of the Correspondents Chapel of the Nigeria Unions of Journalists (NUJ) on Thursday in Akure.
The manager explained that the achievement was in fulfilment of Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu’s promise to change the narrative of the state from being a civil servant state to an industrial one.
Ajipe said almost all the MoU signed under the Akeredolu-led administration had been implemented.
He noted that industries such as Oluwa Glass, Ifon Ceramic and Ile-Oluji Cocoa Plantation had all disappeared due to mismanagement and loss of focus, thus depriving the state from being an industrial hub.
“As at last count, we have over $350 million of foreign direct investment that has been imported into the state, apart from the one converted to structure, as confirmed by the Ministry of Trade and Investment. We actually have 15 different companies that are coming into the Phase One of Ondo-Linyi Industrial Hub at the moment but seven companies have commenced operations; so, we still have eight more to go. Some of the companies are truck assembly plant, textile industry producing thread used to produce lace fabric and now we are installing machines to produce Ankara fabric. Also, we have MDF Factory which is the first and only of its type in Nigeria and we have an ethanol factory. We are still going to see battery, plastic, cooler, polythene factories and others coming to the state which will help create employment and empowerment to the people of the state. You can now see why investors can take Ondo State very seriously in the area of trying to exploit the potentials we have”.
According to him, no viable economy can grow without looking at the private sector.
“All the developing countries we know, and even developed nations, they thrive by depending on the private sector”.
Ajipe, who noted that Ondo State was gradually becoming an industrial hub, said all necessary arrangements had been concluded to commence operation of  a 1,000 tonnes cement factory in the state.
“Ninety-three per cent pure limestone has been lying fallow at Okeluse since God created Ondo State and nobody had looked at it and this is what Governor Akeredolu is doing. I can assure you, if not for COVID 19, by now the investor should be exploiting because the application for license is sitting at the Ministry of Mines for approval”.
On afforestation, Ajipe said the state government had planted over six million trees to secure wood-based industry in the state for the past three years.