Obaseki assures investors of adequate security in Edo

Gov. Godwin Obaseki of Edo has reaffirmed his commitment in providing adequate security for foreign and local investors willing to invest in the state.

Obaseki gave the assurance on Thursday in Benin during the inauguration of an Autocare Centre and the exhibition of Made-in-Edo products at the Edo Production Centre.

He assured investors of adequate security that would promote businesses in the state.

”If there is no security, people will not come and invest, but as a government, our role is to provide security and an enabling environment for businesses to thrive.

“Yes, we have security challenges as a country and given the location of Edo, we can not be excluded from the current challenges. It is only us that can secure ourselves, federal agencies can only support us.

“In fairness, they are trying their best, but they can do better. Unfortunately, they are trying to politicise security in Nigeria today and we should all be very careful.

“Today, I got a call from the Chairman of the Northern Governors’ Forum, alerting me to the video that is being circulated on social media, purportedly showing how some Hausa/Fulani people are being killed in Edo.

“This is so as to arouse anger and annoyance against our people. He called me to say leaders should speak out, but because of this false information, Edo people are now being threatened in other parts of the North and this is what they want to achieve.

“We will do everything we can to protect lives and properties of our citizens and those living with us in Edo. A few days ago, I visited some parts of the state to see for myself these claims of killing and all the purported lies they are putting on the Internet.

“The citizens were there to tell us that most of the stories were not true and if there was anything, it is overexaggerated. We should not play politics with security, because at the end of the day, we are all going to suffer for it, God forbid,” Obaseki said.

The governor, shortly after the exhibition of the Edo production centre, said that the centre had not yet arrived where it ought to be, but that there had been a tremendous progress.

“Two years ago when we started building all these facilities, there was nothing, but today we have more than 40 small and medium sized businesses and all of them are doing very well,” he said.

Earlier, the Chairman of the Autocare Centre, Mr Greg Ogeifun, commended the governor for creating an enabling environment for businesses to thrive in the state.

Ogeifun called on other well-meaning Edo sons and daughters to bring their investments home.

“Those who have the means should come home and let’s replicate this all over the place, even if we have 10 of these in Edo, it is not enough.

“So, I want to use this opportunity to call on fellow entrepreneurs to come home and invest. Let us join hands in moving Edo forward,” he Ogeifun said.