Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun, says construction work has commenced on the Sagamu-Papalanto-Ilaro Road under a Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement between the state, the Federal Government, and Dangote Group.

Abiodun, who disclosed this at the commissioning of the Abeokuta branch of Providus Bank at Oke-Ilewo, said the dual carriage way which would be made of concrete, represents a successful story of how PPP could be used for the good of the people.

The road, the governor said, when completed, would ease traffic on the Abeokta-Siun-Sagamu Road, which is currently providing a link from the Ota axis to the Lagos-Ibadan expressway.

He stated that the influx of industries and other forms of investments to the state is an indication that the PPP vision of his administration is yielding positive results.

The governor noted that the various policies and programmes put in place by his administration through the ‘ISEYA pillars’ and the buy-in by the private sector showed that public private partnership could work if properly harnessed.

Governor Abiodun said: “Ogun is blessed with mineral resources in abundance; two-thirds of our land is sitting on limestone.

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“The gas pipelines that crisscross our state and the conducive environment have brought a lot of industries and businesses to our state.

“Ogun State is the largest producer of cassava in the world; number one producer of poultry and eggs in Nigeria. We are the industrial, religious, and educational capital of Nigeria.

“We have more universities than 3-4 states combined, which means that we are constantly incubating more students than any other state.”

Abiodun stated that the state government would soon commence the construction of a Dry Port at the Kajola area of the state to enable manufacturers import their raw materials and move them directly to the state, saying this would increase the state’s ranking on the ease of doing business index.

The governor further commended Providus Bank for its strides in seven years of its existence, especially its programmes on the Small and Medium Scale Enterprise which he said is the engine room of the economy, attributing its success to the tenacity and indepth of the management in the banking sector.

The Alake of Egbaland, Oba Aremu Gbadebo, while commending the management of Providus Bank for siting its branch in the state capital, emphasised the need for the bank to make loans available to its customers, “as no bank could survive without granting loans, calling on all and sundry to patronise the bank for economic upliftment.”

On his part, Managing Director of Providus Bank, Walter Akpani, noted that the bank in the last three years, had organise Small and Medium-Scale Enterprises programmes that attracted about 4,000 people, saying the bank was poised to impart positively on the economic well-being of the state.

The Star