Governor Godwin Obaseki, in a chat with Africa Report, said the investment would drive Nigeria’s diversification targets, as the plantations developed through the Edo State Oil Palm Programme would provide feedstock for manufacturing companies in the country.
“ESOPP benefits from CBN financing as we sat down to determine the type of financing required to built a sustainable sector. We also keyed into the government’s mechanisation programme. We have since attracted $500 million in investment into the state’s oil palm sector.” “There has to be a market. Agriculture is a business. We located companies and partnered them. We looked at what they needed and asked them to come to Edo to invest in the raw materials they needed to run their factories and plants.