The Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, has assured that the state government is on course on the Benin River Port and the Edo Refinery projects, as part of initiatives to industrialise the state.
The governor said this during a visit by the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) to the Dangote Refinery and Petrochemical plant in Lekki axis of Lagos, at the weekend.
The governor was in the company of about 10 other governors, who took a comprehensive tour of the facility and described it as being pivotal to Nigeria’s quest for self-sustenance in refined petroleum products.
According to the governor, “We are quite excited about this project. For us in Edo State, we are even more delighted because just beside this project is the Lekki Deep See Port, which will be a sister port to the Benin River Port.
“We are making progress with the port project. It is to be handled by China Harbour Engineering Company Limited (CHEC), which is also the company handling the Lekki Deep Seaport project. We are also making appreciable progress with the Edo Refinery and Petrochemical Limited which we are supporting.”
He noted that the state government is pursuing a comprehensive industrialization programme that would span across various produce and product value chains, with the key agricultural outputs in the state as major targets.
Some of these include the oil palm, cassava, maize, and rice, as well as the industrial clusters in Utesi, and other farm produce zones in the state.
The industrialisation programme in the state is anchored on the Edo Production Center, Benin Science and Technical College, the CCTEC- Ossiomo power plant and the Benin Enterprise and Industrial Park, among others, which will benefit from the Benin River Port project.
