Bayelsa safe for investment, Diri tells Nigerians in U.S.

Bayelsa State Governor, Senator Douye Diri, has said the state is ready and safe to attract Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) in different areas of business.

Diri, who led a team to the United States of America for both trade and cultural events in New York and New Jersey, said Bayelsa State is rich beyond oil and gas resources and that his government desires to tap the agriculture potential of the state.

The governor made the remarks while addressing Nigerians at a dinner hosted in his honour by Consul-General, Amb. Lot Egopija and Nigeria’s Permanent Representatives to the United Nations, Amb. Tijjani Muhammad-Bande, at the Nigerian Consulate, New York. He said Bayelsa International Airport, which has since commenced commercial operations to Lagos and Abuja, remained very strategic to the investment drive.

In a statement issued by the Director, New Media to the governor, Dr. Kola Oredipe, the governor informed the gathering the ‘Government of Prosperity’ under him had taken pragmatic steps to ensure safety and security of lives and investments in the state.

“We came here on a two-prong visit, to bring Bayelsa State to the US and to the world, as a state that is ready and prepared to attract Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) and as a state that is culturally very strong, bringing our culture to the world.

In the area of security, I assure you all the state is safe. We have set up a special security outfit, code-named Bayelsa State Community Safety Corps, headed by a retired Brigadier-General. The corps is engaging over 5,000 community youths to join statutory security personnel to keep everywhere secure.

“Bayelsa State has been known as hub for oil and gas. The world is now moving away from crude oil to cleaner energy. We have abundance gas resources and, in fact, we have more gas reserves than crude oil. So, investment opportunities abound in the State.”

In their separate remarks, Egopija and Muhammad-Bande commended Diri for his forthrightness in driving investments to his state.

They urged him to tap into existing bilateral and business relationship between US and Nigeria and leverage on Nigerian diaspora to attract investment into Bayelsa State.