A call has gone to Ekiti State indigenes to invest in the state and tap into the vast natural resources abound in all the sixteen councils in the state.

The Ewi of Ado Ekiti, Oba Rufus Adejugbe and the Founder of Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti (ABUAD) Aare Afe Babalola (SAN) who made the call said with the federal government decision to diversify the economy, the fertile land of the state, which they said is the best suitable for agriculture should attract Ekiti indigenes to return home and invest.

To them, such investments would not only better the lots of the people, government but also will solve the problem of youth unemployment and reduce crime rates in the state.

Oba Adejugbe and Aare Babalola spoke respectfully in the Ewi Palace and ABUAD in the state capital, while hosting industrialist and Chairman of Prosperous Group of Companies owners of Prosperous Hotels and Resorts, Ado Ekiti, Chief Abiodun Isinkaiye, who paid them calls.

They lauded the industrialist for his investments in Ekiti State, which they said had added value to the state and its people, saying his recorded success should encourage others.

The monarch hinged his call on Ekiti people to come home to invest on the need to harness the vast opportunities in the state for its development, saying: “Nobody will develop this place for us if we don’t. So our people have to come here to invest.

“There are lots of opportunities here that people should tap into. There are avenues for partnership with the state government. There are tourism potentials in the state. We have Ikogosi Warm Springs Resorts and the Iwaraja. Our land is fertile for agriculture and Ekiti can produce the food that can feed the nation”, he said

While lauding Isinkaiye for his contributions to the socio-economic development of the state, Babalola, who said investing in the state would bring about its transformation, urged other well-meaning Ekiti indigenes to heed the call to contribute to the growth of the state.

Babalola said that he established ABUAD, ABUAD Farms and the teaching hospital under construction in the state as part of his contributions to lift the state.

Isinkaiye said he derived his inspiration to establish the hotel and oil and gas outlets in the Ekiti State from the love that Afe Babalola has for the state, assuring that he would expand the scope of his investments in the state in the New Year.