The Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, has assured that the state government is on course on the Benin River Port and the Edo Refinery projects, as part of initiatives to industrialise the state.
The governor said this during a visit by the Nigeria Governors
Forum (NGF) to the Dangote Refinery and Petrochemical plant in Lekki axis of
Lagos, at the weekend.
The governor was in the company of about 10 other governors, who took a comprehensive tour of the facility and described it as being pivotal to Nigeria’s quest for self-sustenance in refined petroleum products.
According to the governor, “We are quite excited about
this project. For us in Edo State, we are even more delighted because just
beside this project is the Lekki Deep See Port, which will be a sister port to
the Benin River Port. “We are making progress with the port project. It is to
be handled by China Harbour Engineering Company Limited (CHEC), which is also
the company handling the Lekki Deep Seaport project. We are also making
appreciable progress with the Edo Refinery and Petrochemical Limited which we
are supporting.”
He noted that the state government is pursuing a comprehensive
industrialization programme that would span across various produce and product
value chains, with the key agricultural outputs in the state as major targets.
Some of these include the oil palm, cassava, maize, and rice, as well as the
industrial clusters in Utesi, and other farm produce zones in the state.
The industrialisation
programme in the state is anchored on the Edo Production Center, Benin Science
and Technical College, the CCTEC- Ossiomo power plant and the Benin Enterprise
and Industrial Park, among others, which will benefit from the Benin River Port
project. (Vanguard)
