The First Lady of Osun State, Erelu Ngozi Adeleke, has appealed to the federal government to build an airport in Osogbo, for the speedy social and economic development of the state.
She made the plea when she met with the minister of aviation and aerospace, Festus Keyamo, on the sidelines of the 78th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York on Friday.
According to her, she was in New York on an investment drive for the state and had been fortunate to meet critical stakeholders and institutions who have promised to do business with Osun State, particularly on issues that concern women and children.
Mrs. Adeleke said she told the aviation minister that “siting an airport in Oshogbo will not be a very bad idea since we don’t have an airport. And he too has promised.”
Speaking about the potential investors, she said that she had established a good rapport with potential investors and on the one had and between them and the governor, Ademola Adeleke
“I have established contact with them. I believe it will help my state along way because I intend to create good relationships even between me and them and between them and my husband as well,” she said, adding: “And then, all other investors from other African countries and even New York that were there, I appealed to their emotions about my states to have come and do business and invest in my state, Osun.”
She noted that as a former bank marketer, she was able to sell Osun State to the investors who have expressed the desire to follow up on their discussions, saying that beyond the foreign investors, she also pressed other ministers at this year’s UNGA to look towards Osun State in terms of establishing federal projects.
Speaking on the areas that investors can immediately focus on in the state, she affirmed that there are limitless opportunities especially with the infrastructure already provided by her husband’s administration.
“You can do agriculture in Osun, you can do tourism in Osun, Osun is very huge in mining, education; we are there in infrastructure. So many things. It is not only one thing. There is nothing you cannot do in Osun. Osun is a fertile land waiting for investors to come and cultivate.
“Now, the government of my husband, Senator Jackson Nurudeen Adeleke, has had investors in his mind from day one. And what did he do in the very first six months of his administration? He fixed all the roads in and out of Osun so that any investor coming into Osun to invest will not find it difficult to operate in Osun.
“He fixed electricity. Right now, electricity is regular. He fixed water. All the 33 local governments in Osun State, he dug boreholes for them.
“Security wise, security in Osun State is now top notch such that you cannot come into Osun to invest and you will say your life is being threatened. It doesn’t happen.
“Security in Osun is something else. So, he had investors in his mind and needed all of this in order to make sure that any investor coming in will have an enabling environment to operate.”
According to her, “any investor coming into Osun State today has nothing to regret.”
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