Gov. Godwin Obaseki of Edo has called on local and foreign investors to take advantage of the newly completed 450MW Azura-Edo Power Plant and invest in the state.
Obaseki made the call when 10 World Bank Executive Directors in the power plant visited the plant located near Benin, on Friday.
He said the state would leverage on the power plant to attract more investors to the Benin Industrial Park and Technology Innovation Hubs, now being constructed.
He said: “power is the key to industrialisation and development. We will be looking at the Benin industrial park, building infrastructure to encourage and support manufacturers to come in.
“We are looking at innovation hubs; we want to use the advantage of the 24/7 electricity supply to encourage technology groups and companies to be located in the state.”
“We are looking at getting the power to our schools so that we can increase the standard of our education.”
Ms Bongi Kunene, World Bank Executive Director, Angola, Nigeria and South Africa sub-group, said the bank was ready to partner with Edo in project execution as long as such projects met its focus.
Kunene said that the Edo-Azura power project was an example of solution to a key problem in the country.
“The project is transformational. It gives us a scope of what we can do together. We are delighted to see solutions.
“We would want to commit ourselves to projects that make sense and are in line with our focus.” she said.
Dr. David Ladipo, Managing Director and Co-Founder, Azura Power West Africa Limited, said that the project was a huge contribution to the power sector in Nigeria.
“We are producing 10, 11 and sometimes 12 per cent of all the power that goes across the national grid.
“We want to ensure that we continue to produce this power and in another week or two, we will start planning for phase the II of the project”, he said.
