February 20, 2018

Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State on Tuesday reiterated the commitment of his administration to industrialise the state.

Akeredolu said this while inaugurating some projects in Ondo South Senatorial District to commemorate his first year in office.

He said his administration was also committed to the rapid transformation of the state, hence, the building of the eco-friendly industrial park at Ore in Odigbo Local Government Area.

The governor further said that his administration would continue to partner with those prepared to develop the state.

“The only way forward is to have private investments, which is a step in the right direction.”

Earlier, Mr Opeyemi Bademosi, Chairman, Hessmac Industry Limited, the company handling the project, said that the construction of the industrial park would cost about 500 million dollars.

“The site is about 1,000 hectares of land and this project will generate 80,000 direct jobs in 24 months.

“This is a milestone in the history of Ondo State. It is the beginning of industrialisation. In another two months, we will be on site,” he said.

Also, Prof. Sunday Roberts, the Vice-Chancellor, Ondo State University of Science and Technology (OSUSTECH), said efforts were ongoing to establish the Department of Marine Engineering.

Roberts expressed the belief that this would reinforce teaching and research capabilities to accelerate the emergence of the district as the industrial base of the state, especially in the area of oil and gas.

“The university will save the nation enormous foreign exchange expended on overseas training of professionals in the aforementioned fields.”

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that projects commissioned included the proposed flyover interchange across Lagos/Benin/Ore Expressway, Ore Industrial Park and the proposed Igbokoda-Okitipupa 18.1km by-pass road.

Others are 2.4 kms dual carriage road network and engineering workshop at OSUSTECH.