As a result of the dwindling economic fortune of the country, the five owner-states Governors of Odu’a Investment Company Limited on Tuesday in Ibadan came up with a far-reaching resolution to reposition the conglomerate “as the engine room of economic growth and development of the West.”
The conglomerate owned by Oyo, Ogun, Ondo, Osun and Ekiti States, the governors on Tuesday specifically approved a Five-year Strategic Plan (2015-2019) to grow the financial fortune and economy of the South West zone from N4 billion to N20 billion by 2019.
The meeting which took place at Cocoa House, Ibadan agreed in principle to admit Lagos State as part of the Odu’a group to further strengthen the conglomerate thus making it more buoyant financially and economically.
In attendance at the meeting were Governors Ibikunle Amosun (Ogun); Rauf Aregbesola (Osun); Olusegun Mimiko (Ondo) as well as Deputy Governor Moses Alake Adeyemo (Oyo) and his Ekiti State counterpart, Olusola Kolapo, together with the respective Secretary to the State Government and members of the Board of Odu’a Investment including the Group Managing Director, Adewale Raji.
A four-point communiqué issued at the end of the meeting and read to journalists by Governor Mimiko of Ondo State remarked that the owner states Governors approved the action plan.
To actualize the dream, the Governors decided that they would henceforth meet with the Board and Management of the Conglomerate on Quarterly basis to monitor development within the investment company.
Earlier in a welcome address, the Chairman, Board of Directors of Odu’a Conglomerate, Isaac Akintade, remarked that the parley was holding four years after the last owner States Governors’ meeting held on 28 February, 2012 at the office of the Governor of Oyo State at Agodi in Ibadan.
“We are very proud to host this meeting at the iconic first high rise building in West Africa – the Cocoa House Building, which turned 50 years on 29 July, 2015”, he said just as he prayed that God Almighty should continue to progress the States and keep the unity of the South West and the Nigerian nation at large.
Follow Us