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Ogun State Governor, Ibikunle Amosun, has disclosed that the state has doubled its projected revenue despite the current economic challenges.
Amosun, who spoke to State House correspondents after a closed-door meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari, acknowledged that the prevailing economic situation in the country is affecting all stakeholders.
The governor believed that his state was one of the states that have tried to make judicious use of the opportunity by tapping from the resources available to it, especially giving its proximity to the commercial nerve centre in the country.
Asked how his state is managing to survive, Amosun said: “Yes, I know things are tough and I’m saying these with all sense of responsibility, all the states in Nigeria are affected. We are part of the larger context called Nigeria and because of that challenge, people must think out of the box and I am happy to report that in Nigeria today, maybe not in the quantum of what we generate, but we are number one.
“If you check the indices that have been released, we doubled our revenue with about 97.8 per cent, the next state to us I think was 41 per cent. We are working hard and we are doing well but there is still a lot more to be done.”
Commenting on the effect of the investment summit he organised, the governor said: “It is the fourth in our series of investors forum and this year we believe we had to zero in on three key areas; that is agriculture, environment and transportation and the reason is not far-fetched.
“Everybody believes that there is no alternative except for diversification and even before this crisis we realise that the only to go is to diversify into agriculture.
“It will employ our people, it will create wealth for them. Those nations that have got it right if you see them you will discover that they have their cottage industries; they are the enablers.”
