One year after Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa hosted his Bauchi State counterpart, Senator Bala Mohammed, during a high-profile ceremony heralding a $2.6 billion investment that was supposed to transform Ondo State’s economy, there is little to show for the much-celebrated deal beyond Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) and political speeches.

The investment, announced with enthusiasm on July 11, 2025, was expected to establish a fertiliser production and harmonial plant, alongside a petrochemical industry, within 12 months.

Executive Director of Residents Group Cement, Abbas Waziri, had publicly committed to the timeline, stating: “We are looking at investing $2.6 billion in the state, and within 12 months, it would be ready.”

However, with the deadline now expired, there is no construction activity at any designated site for the project in the state, as well as no factory erected and no jobs created.

For the people of the state, particularly the unemployed youths, the silence is deafening, with the government not speaking on what could be the delay.

It would be recalled that when Aiyedatiwa unveiled the investment alongside the Bauchi Governor at the Government House, Alagbaka, Akure, Ondo State capital, residents had hoped that it was the turning point and the moment the state would finally break free from its over-reliance on paychecks from Abuja and transition into an industrial economy.

The hope remains unfulfilled as the state’s civil service status, which successive administrations have pledged to overcome, persists unchanged.

Also, Special Adviser to the Governor on Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Summy Smart-Francis, had promised that the administration was taking deliberate steps to transform Ondo from a “civil service–dependent economy into a diversified and industrialised one.”

Meanwhile, the state’s Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Idowu Ajanaku, said: “The delay is the issue with the foreign partners because there are certain measures that have been introduced by the Federal Government for foreign investors as regards the number of Nigerians that will be directors in those companies.

“The modalities could be the reasons for the proceedings. Hopefully by October, the investor will be on-site to kickstart the project.”