The Federal Government has approved an oil block to Ondo State for exploration of Bitumen, following discovery of the natural resources in abundant.
Meanwhile, the state government and an agro company, WEMS Agro Limited, have signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), to engage in rice farming on over 4,000 hectares of land at Akotogbo in Irele Local Government Area.
Also, Ondo state government and Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), have signed MoU to co-finance 50 kilometer Araromi to Lagos road.
The state governor, Olurotimi Akeredolu, disclosed the oil block approval on Tuesday at an event to showcase investment opportunities on Ondo to a Federal Government Industrialization and Economic Diversification team, led by Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Usani Usani.
He said: “Let me inform the public that FG has approved an oil block licence for Bitumen exploration. Ondo State is one one of the nine oil & gas producing states has abundance oil and gas reserves that remain undeveloped. This is the time for us not only develop our gas to power but also our petrochemical industry.
“We are aggressively driving our non-oil related industries which is the reason we have invited over 80 percent of you today.
With population close to 5 million people, Ondo State exhibits tremendous potential for high productivity of both human & material resources,” Akeredolu added.
The governor hinted that his administration has given out 10, 000 hectares of land to Investors for deforestation, saying, this will create 1,000 jobs for Ondo people by before next year.
He argued that Ondo is a major player in Oil palm,rubber,cashew and kolanut farming and accounts for over 40 percent of the country’s annual cocoa output, lamenting, however we process less than 2 percent of our cocoa output.
On how his administration intended to address the challenge, the governor said that his administration would focus on developing oil palm to become self-sustaining.
“While achieving result in that aspect, we will not leave out rice production. It will interest you to know that our Rice paddies are taken all the way to Lagos/Kogi for processing. to complement complement the production effort of farmers,we plan to setup Crop Processing Zones to enable investments in finished products ready for export,” the governor added.
