Prince Dapo Abiodun, the governor of Ogun State, has disclosed how hard his administration fought to make the state an inviting place for more people to come live, work, and play.
Speaking during a weeklong interview with a group of journalists in Abeokuta, the state capital, Abiodun claimed that Ogun state is currently a popular destination for Nigerian investments. He covered a variety of other topics as well.
A sample.
Since you were elected governor, Ogun State has been discussed a lot as the new location for investment. To what extent does Ogun welcome investments and investors?
We take great care to provide an atmosphere that makes it easy for people to come and work, live, invest, and have fun. Thus, we chose to establish ISEYA, which we consider to be our implementation pillar. Infrastructure stands for I, Social Welfare and Security for S, Education for E, Youth Empowerment and Job Creation for Y, and Agriculture for A. With the help of these developing pillars, we have started to carry out our plan. Consider the infrastructure sector. We have built more than 400 km of roadways thus far after seeing the need of maximising our closeness to Lagos. We also give priority to the 400 km of highways that link us to our surrounding states, especially Lagos. It takes less than an hour to drive between Lagos and Ogun states today, four years and a few months into our mandate. It would likely take you two, three, or even more hours when we assumed office. As a result of our accessibility, more individuals are now choosing to live, work, attend conferences, and have fun in Ogun State.
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What would you say is your biggest accomplishment to date as the governor of Ogun State, taking into account your vision and goal for the state?
Undoubtedly, Ogun State has emerged as a top investment destination in Nigeria today, and our innovative approach to capitalising on the natural benefit of our location as Lagos State’s sole neighbour has made this possible.
The economy of Lagos State is the fifth largest in Africa. We are what I would refer to as the New Jersey of Nigeria since we are the sole neighbours of Lagos State and it continues to be the financial hub and economic capital of Nigeria. Ogun State is to Lagos State what New Jersey is to New York. Thus, we stand for Lagos’ overflow. Ogun State occupies an area of 16,000 square kilometres. We have a large land area; we are roughly four times larger than Lagos State. Furthermore, you cannot travel by land, sea, or air to any other region of the nation without first passing through Ogun State. Thus, our comparative advantage over other states is represented by that alone.
By way of the Republic of Benin, we are also neighbours with the sub-African region. You would learn now that Ogun State is home to numerous businesses, manufactures, and industries that have been there for a long time. And the main cause of that is because Lagos State is home to the busiest seaport and airport. They can transport their raw materials from Lagos to Ogun State, process them, and then either distribute to the hinterlands or return to Lagos with the finished product. In addition, we benefit from a network of interconnected natural gas pipes. Because of the availability of natural gas, enterprises have settled here in addition to the convenience of being near the busiest seaport and the financial centre. Upon taking office, the government considered all of these variables and made the decision to take advantage of them. Our mission encompasses a targeted and high-quality government while fostering Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs), which are essential to the state’s economic development and the prosperity of each and every one of our citizens.
The transport industry is essential to any development goals. What has been done thus far to match your plans for Ogun with this sector?
As soon as we took government, we determined that a transport master plan was essential as we saw transit as a vital component that allowed our many businesses to prosper. We currently possess a multimodal master plan. The relationship between air, train, and road transport was outlined in this master plan. We started the installation four years and few months ago. In Ogun State, we have constructed a world-class airport. The history of this airport began in 2006 when it received its licence to operate as an airport. It remained what we refer to as a power-point airport when it was permitted for state use. But after developing our master plan, we felt that we needed to know for sure where the airport should be. Based on what we could find, the airport was situated somewhere in the Ikenne Local Government, between Ilishan and Iperu, which is where it was first authorised.
What factors influenced the location choice?
This is due to a very straightforward reason. The airport’s location serves as a symbol of Ogun State’s core. It is simple to get to. The Lagos-Ibadan Motorway and the Sagamu-Benin Motorway connect it. It is restricted to our largest plantations. It shares space with us in our designated Agro-Processing zone. We therefore refer to the area surrounding the airport as our “Aerotropolis.” Within two years, that airport was constructed. Sometime last year, the first flight touched down. The airport is scheduled to open for business before the year is out. Although it is an international airport, it was constructed with both a cargo and passenger airport. In keeping with international best practises, it is designed to be a genuinely international airport. It is the airport in Nigeria with the longest runway. Naturally, the entire concept of this airport’s co-location is based on the special agro-processing zone, which is designed to house all of the value chains associated with agricultural products that would take place there. Raw materials for these products come from various plantations in Ogun State, including those that process and air-freight cassava, cashew, oil palm, rubber, cotton, and a plethora of other products that arrive to be processed there.
As they say, “building an airport takes you from one location to the rest of the world, but building a road takes you from one location to the other.” Ogun State is now accessible to the entire globe as the industrial hub of Nigeria because to the world-class international airport we built there.
We also sit on a wealth of natural resources, in addition to the already mentioned. We have uranium, calcium carbonate, limestone, and several types of clay that are useful for a wide range of products. That explains why Ogun State is home to the biggest cement mills in Nigeria. We make the most tonnes of cement in Ogun State. The biggest cement plants in Africa and Nigeria are located in Ogun State. In addition to Dangote and Lafarge, there are other companies that are starting to emerge. Apart from that, though, there are all the multinationals. The list of companies we have includes Nestle, Cadbury, Unilever, May & Baker, International Breweries, Olams, Flour Mills, and many more. Actually, I often say, “You are not in Nigeria yet if you are not in Ogun State.”
This is the success tale of your international airport, Your Excellency sir. It’s fascinating to hear you discuss this airport. However, how feasible is it financially?
As previously mentioned, our airport is a component of the multimodal transport master plan that we are implementing. It is an opportunity that presents itself to investors since it enables passengers to land in our state from any location in the world.
First and foremost, this means that those who are travelling by air may now reach our state. Previously, in order to reach the Lagos Airport from Ogun State, one had to fly to Lagos and navigate heavy traffic.
Now that the airport is open for business, all you have to do is drive from anywhere in Ogun State to the airport in 30 or 40 minutes, board your flight, and take off for wherever you’re going. That is one aspect of it; the other is that this airport in Ogun State has multiple impacts due to its colocation in an industrial zone.
After all is said and done, this industrial zone will employ thirty to fifty thousand people. The state government and private businesses have formed a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) to establish the industrial zone.
In this case, we have selected an economic centre that is growing every day and has ties with several countries in the subregion, like the Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Benin Republic, and so forth. We’ve completed this task effectively. The Africa Export-Import Bank is one of the many organisations that support us. In essence, the airport serves as a facilitator for both air traffic and the effective evacuation of fresh agricultural produce. As an illustration, investors from several nations have visited us with the goal of establishing vegetable farms in the designated agro-processing zone and regularly airlifting fresh vegetables from our airport. Due to their observation of our 84,000 square metre airport apron, cargo businesses have contacted us with the intention of moving their current delivery locations to Nigeria and into Nigeria itself. Compared to the biggest cargo airport in Nigeria, it is four or five times bigger. These cargo-based businesses have made the decision that, once the airport is operational, they will fly their cargoes intended for Nigeria to that location, and then they will transship the commodities from our airport to other locations in Nigeria and even West Africa. Imagine the economic effects and the quantity of jobs that will be generated when you consider everyone who will be involved in these cargo activities, as well as in the distribution and management of our airport from the agro-producing zone to the aeropolis.
What future impact do you anticipate this airport project to have?
The effects will be felt not only in this nation but throughout the entire African economy, not just in Ogun State.
Our airport is joining the African Free Continental Agreement at an auspicious moment, as the subregion is presently preparing to guarantee that trade obstacles do not exist between any two countries. This kind of airport can only help to make the AFTC Agreement possible.
Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) is involved with this airport. What are the functions of the Nigerian Air Force (NAF), Customs Service, and other security services in this context?
It is important to understand that the customs service of any nation has historically been responsible for verifying that commodities are being admitted into the country, that the appropriate tariffs and excise duties are being paid on those items, and that goods are being imported into the country. Regarding that, the Nigeria Customs Service has genuinely sought for and purchased 100 hectares of airport property.
In fact, they are building their village at the airport already. This merely serves to highlight the extent of the preparations already made, should the Nigeria Customs Service turn up and pay for 100 hectares of land. I understand that a large number of warehouses and more than 700 residential units will be built. So there’s already a lot of work to be done. They’ve been in the works. We have also had discussions regarding an air force base with the Nigerian Air Force (NAF). We are in discussions with additional individuals who wish to establish flying schools at the airport. Others have also arrived, stating their want to establish what they refer to as an FBO—a facility where aircraft are serviced, maintained, and parked domestically as opposed to being transported abroad.
The nation will avoid losing the necessary foreign exchange as a result. In the upcoming months, there will be an enormous and amazing quantity of activities at the airport. As a state administration, we will not sit back and wait for someone else to construct an airport on our behalf. Throughout our eight years in office, that would not have occurred. We therefore made the decision to make fresh investments. After reducing the project’s risk, we would go on to the next one.
That is precisely what has taken place. Many aviation investors who are serious about taking over the airport on a concession have sent us unsolicited offers today. We’re conversing with them. We were genuinely expecting this degree of attention, which is why we are so thrilled to see it.
Could you list a few unique aspects of this airport?
This airport was constructed to the highest standards possible. This airport, as I mentioned before, has Nigeria’s longest runway. Together with having the best built apron in Nigeria, it also boasts the best built runway.
The best terminals in Nigeria are ours. Since this was our goal and what we set out to do, our terminal and airport lounges will be the greatest in Nigeria. We are therefore thrilled about the prospects that have been offered to us.
Without a doubt, we have welcomed the entire globe to Ogun State, and in a similar spirit, we take pleasure in the rail line that runs northward from Lagos through Ogun State. We are particularly worried about shipments that arrive in Ogun State as finished commodities or raw materials; these shipments pass through Lagos, whether at the Apapa or Tin Can ports. We also know that there is an issue with the level of traffic congestion one must deal with in the ports in order to remove containers, in addition to the inefficiencies of these ports in previous years.
Our processors and manufacturers are impacted by this alone.
We then determined that in order to further guarantee that we consistently raise our ranking in the ease of doing business index, we needed to figure out a means of enabling our exporting manufacturers to effectively export their containers. Additionally, we’re about to start building our dry port. Furthermore, once the port at Kajola is built, shipping products to Ogun State from anywhere in the world won’t need to pass via Lagos any longer. It is easy to transport your goods through Kajola Dry Port, load them onto a train, and then go to Kajola.
When you decide to export your items in that order, you will stock the Kajola container, load it onto the train, and then place it on the vessel. The inefficiencies brought on by trucks entering and exiting Lagos ports as well as the threat of traffic gridlock won’t exist. Here are a some of the policies, projects, and changes this administration has put in place to help the more than 5,000 enterprises that have chosen to locate in Ogun State.
By doing this, we would be completely realising our goal, which is to foster an environment that encourages more people to come live, work, and play here, ultimately leading to the success of each and every one of our people.
