The Ekiti State Governor, Mr Biodun Oyebanji, has urged investors and business owners to take advantage of the state’s friendly business environment to invest, assuring them of government support.

The governor stated this when the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) held a Technical Session and Statewide Town Hall Meeting in Ado-Ekiti, targeting the building of a robust business environment in the state and strengthening partnerships with national economic initiatives.

Oyebanji, who was represented by the State Commissioner for Finance and Economic Development, Akin Oyebode, said the state is at the forefront of ensuring that businesses thrive in partnership with federal government initiatives.

He said, “The reforms that PEBEC has instituted are significant to us in improving the business environment in Nigeria, and it also works very closely with what Ekiti State Development and Investment Promotion Agency (EKDIPA) is doing. What PEBEC is doing nationally is what EKDIPA is doing in Ekiti State.

“The whole essence is to improve the business environment for those who are doing business in Ekiti State. We recognise their strength, resilience and sacrifice in doing business here to help build our economy.

“Our job as government is to provide an enabling environment for businesses to grow and thrive so that they can put our young people to work. Ekiti will always be at the forefront of improving the business environment, and there is no better place to do business than in Ekiti State.”

While emphasising the private sector’s importance to the state’s sustainable economic development, the governor highlighted key infrastructure projects in his administration’s efforts to create an enabling environment for investment and economic diversification.

“We have taken the regulatory environment within Ekiti to our heart. We are the first state, from day one, to get senate approval to set up our own state electricity regulatory body. We will help customers by ensuring we can regulate properly. The state has invested significant sums of money in connecting many towns and local governments that didn’t have access to electricity.

“We also worked with the federal government, and we must thank them for the work they are doing on transmission. The TCN project in Ekiti is going on as planned. We have provided all the support, and very soon we will see that the transmission infrastructure in Ekiti will significantly improve. We have also done IPP to reduce what the state is taking from the national grid to ensure that the power that is available is for the use of the people and the use of businesses.”

On renewable energy, Oyebanji said “we are working with the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) and I am sure by the end of July, we will be getting a major announcement from the partnership between Ekiti State and REA as it will provide solar access for people, businesses and establishments in Ekiti State.”

Highlights of the event include a technical workshop on the State Action on Business Enabling Reforms (SABER) program and a session designed to engage private sector stakeholders, addressing reform challenges and opportunities for sustainable development in the state.

On his part, Program Manager of SABER in the state, Adelusi Titus, explained that “the essence of the program is to ensure that the performance of the state as regards ease of doing business is improved and we engaged the private sector to know what they are going through.”

Director General of EKDIPA, Lolade Olutola, noted that the agency was established by the state government to serve as a guide in mitigating the challenges faced by business owners in the state.

She said, “I must give kudos to our governor for having businesses in mind. One of the major focuses of his administration is to ensure that businesses in the state are not only surviving but are thriving. One of the things we do as an agency in the state is to check in on existing businesses, because it’s not enough to bring in new investment; we also need to retain and sustain it.

“To further improve business environment, there is stakeholders engagement we do have and this is one of them – to feel the pulse of businesses in the state, see what the challenges are, see the areas where the state government can mitigate against them running out and ensure that businesses expand in the state.”