OLOKOLA FREE TRADE ZONE: WE ARE MOVING TO SITE BY THE LAST QUARTER OF THIS YEAR - DANGOTE

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OLOKOLA FREE TRADE ZONE: WE ARE MOVING TO SITE BY THE LAST QUARTER OF THIS YEAR – DANGOTE

In an interview with journalists after his courtesy visit to Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa in Akure on Monday, Alhaji Aliko Dangote explained why he decided to revisit his investment plans in the state after his exit over a decade ago. He also assured work would commence by the last quarter of the year.

Question: Alhaji, why are you in Ondo State with your team today?

Dangote: I came to visit the Governor and I brought a big gift to give him the good news that we’re going to go back to Olokola Free Trade Zone. We want to create here the biggest industrial zone in Nigeria, you know, with the provision of power and other infrastructure, where investors can easily just come and put up their own investment.

As I mentioned earlier on, once we put up this industrial zone everything else will follow. We are talking about within the last quarter of this year, we will move to site and start construction.

When this starts, there will be a lot of jobs for the people, and I’m sure the people of Ondo state will be very, very happy. Not only here, but also the neighbouring states. You know, the last time we did this mega project that we were supposed to have done here in Lagos, the refinery alone, we had over 67,000 workers.

So, you can see what kind of development that it will bring. If you go now, if you see the Lagos zone which was very, very empty, even Olokola was busier then. It’s actually much busier than areas like Tincan Island. So, you can see that there is a lot of activities. You know, people who own lands, the land prices in those areas have gone up over 1,500%. … and, you know, the local people will also set up housing, because as part of our policy, we will allow the locals to build houses, and then when they build houses, any time we pay salaries later, they get paid. And that’s the kind of model that we have.

Question: Ondo State is lucky to have you back in the Sunshine State after many years. What actually informed your decision to come back?

Dangote: Well, first of all, I think now we have a great leader in Governor Aiyedatiwa who is a business-minded person. And I think he knows the importance of bringing in private sector to develop the state. His actions have been very encouraging and that’s one of the main reasons we came back here. The atmosphere is friendlier now.

Question: In your first visit almost two decades ago, you proposed a $6 billion project at Olokola. What is the volume of investment we are talking about now?

Dangote: No, it might be more than that this time. You see, it’s not only what we are going to invest, we will also invite other people to bring their projects and investments. Because anybody who is coming to put up industry there, he does not have to worry about power or infrastructure. We’ll give power, the land will be developed. He just needs to come and put his factory and connect with us. Water will be there, power will be there, everything will be there for investors to access.