Ekiti Seeks $500m Investment from Egypt to Boost Industrialisation

The Ekiti State Government is seeking to attract up to $500 million in industrial and trade investments from Egypt as part of efforts to accelerate industrialisation, strengthen local value chains and create jobs.

The state Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Security, Ebenezer Boluwade, disclosed this in a statement issued in Ado Ekiti on Sunday.

According to Boluwade, the Ekiti-Egypt Industrial Investment Mission, which took place in Egypt last month, generated a pipeline of investment opportunities with the potential to mobilise up to $500 million in industrial and trade investments for the state.

The five-day mission brought an Ekiti delegation into discussions with more than 40 Egyptian industrialists, manufacturers, processors, agribusiness operators, mining companies and investors.

The engagements reportedly produced eight Expressions of Interest, with further commercial discussions covering agriculture, agro-processing, commercial farming, seed production, textiles, manufacturing and solid minerals.

Boluwade said the state was particularly interested in developing agricultural value chains that would connect farmers with reliable markets while ensuring that more value generated from agricultural production remained within Ekiti.

“We want to build agricultural value chains where farmers have reliable markets, processors have access to the volumes and quality they require, and more of the value created from our agricultural resources remains within Ekiti,” he said.

He added that connecting agricultural production with industrial processing remained central to the state’s food security, employment and economic development agenda.

The Commissioner for Investment, Trade and Industry, Omotayo Adeola, said the government was now focused on converting the Expressions of Interest into actual investments.

“Our focus now is conversion, moving from Expressions of Interest to site visits, commercial agreements, capital deployment, factories and jobs,” Adeola said.

She added that Ekiti was open to serious industrialists and investors from Egypt and other parts of the world who were prepared to establish productive businesses in the state.

The Special Adviser to the Governor on Transformation and Service Delivery, Dr John Ekundayo, said the success of the investment mission would ultimately be measured by its impact on the state’s economy.

He identified employment generation, stronger businesses, increased productivity and new economic activities as some of the expected outcomes.

“Our responsibility is to ensure that credible investors can move efficiently from interest to implementation,” Ekundayo said.

The Founder of Welcome2Africa International, Bamidele Owoola, also said the mission demonstrated the level of international interest that could be mobilised around Ekiti’s industrial and economic opportunities.