By Demilade Adeniyi
The Governor of Osun State Ademola Adeleke has intensified his drive for enhanced partnership with local and multinational companies for direct investment in the state economy.
Governor Adeleke was on a working visit to Lagos state since Monday.
For the past two working days, the Governor has laid out the vision of his government for a public-private partnership relationship with a view to address the huge Infrastructure deficit in his state and jump start the state economy that is weighed down by heavy debt.
In several meetings with captains of industry and chieftains of multilateral institutions and organizations, Governor Adeleke specifically solicited investment on roads, agriculture, education, health, sports and information technology,
From Monday to Wednesday, the Governor met over 14 chief executives of various organisations, securing commitment from them to work on investment packages for Osun state.
At the launching of a subsidiary of Dangote Holdings in Lagos, the Governor had expanded interactive sessions with top federal ministers, critical heads of federal agencies and managing directors of leading private companies across the sectors.
Speaking about his experience so far, Governor Adeleke reiterated his resolve to jumpstart the state economy despite the paucity of funds, explaining his strategies as ” PPP arrangement mixed with personal networking with business leaders locally and internationally.
“Our administration is being very innovative. Our five point agenda are being implemented through PPP partnership. So I have laid out a state plan to most industry leaders I met and they are eager to support Osun state.
“I have met several important business and government leaders on this Lagos trip. It has been very tight-meetings back to back. And the good thing is that we are recording successes. I will update our people very soon on the positive outcomes we are achieving.
“I intend to visit Abuja to continue the consultation and follow up. I will use that opportunity to visit ambassadors of the G20 nations and the United Nations agencies in Nigeria. Like I said, our administration is being very innovative to meet the yearnings of our people”, Governor Adeleke noted.