Makinde’s business friendly policies attracting influx of investments to Oyo – Commissioner 

The influx of investments and investors into Oyo State over the last few years has been traced to a series of business-friendly policies and an enabling environment put in place by Governor Seyi Makinde.

The state Commissioner for Trade, Investment, Industry and Cooperatives in the state, Hon. Adeniyi Adebisi, who made the disclosure in Ibadan, noted that the administration of Governor Makinde has done everything possible to ensure that businesses and investments thrive.

He added that massive expansion witnessed by the state’s economy was as a result of these policies, including ease of doing business, building infrastructure that targets the economy and ensuring that bureaucratic bottlenecks do not encumber the establishment of businesses in the state.

Adebisi, who stated this while highlighting the achievements of his Ministry during a session of the Omituntun 2.0 Inter-Ministerial Briefing held at the Governor’s Briefing Room, Secretariat, Agodi, Ibadan, added that the state’s policies have attracted five African countries, including Rwanda, to agree on trade deals with the state.

He reaffirmed the commitment of the government to providing more infrastructure and implementing policies that further aid the ease of doing business.

According to him, the efforts of his Ministry had helped towards strengthening the cooperatives sector in the state, with 7,865 functioning cooperative societies registered across the state, adding that the Ministry has also excelled in promoting trades and investments.

He maintained that the Ministry resuscitated industrial parks, embarked on the redevelopment of complexes and has put in all the right efforts to ensure the state’s involvement with the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) brings the right benefits to the state and its people.

According to him, “I want to thank His Excellency, the governor of Oyo State for this good opportunity given to me and my team to contribute our own quota to the achievements of Omituntun 2.0.

“My ministry is a service ministry. We render services to the good people of Oyo State. Our vision is to be the engine for the promotion of economic and industrial growth to enable our state to rank among the best investment destinations for trade, industry and cooperatives.

“We also have the vision to improve the Internally Generated Revenue profile of the state, encourage enterprise through the development of micro, small, medium enterprises incentives, revitalisation and development of agro-allied industries through the establishment of industrial clusters, enhance wealth creation through informal sector of the state’s economy, and facilitate the collection and analysis of data to facilitate economic development in the areas of trade industry and cooperatives across all your states.

“We have five different departments, with two of them servicing the three others. We have the Department of Trade, Department of Cooperatives, Department of Industry, Department of Administration and Supplies, Department of Finance and Accounts. Let me start with cooperative; that department provides access to resources, markets and services.

“Cooperative societies promote collective efforts to tackle poverty, they create jobs, they help in income generation, offer low interest loans to support small businesses and personal needs and also promote saving culture and strong financial discipline.

“We have been able to register 7,865 functioning cooperative societies across the state. In 2024 alone; we registered close to 1,000 and we have registered at least over 800 in the last one year. Also, between May 2024 and June 2025, there were 31 complaints issues such as loan defaults, landing properties acquisition, withdrawal of assets and leadership issues and the Ministry was able to successfully settle 23 of them out of courts.

“We are currently working on all others and we believe very soon we will get them settled.

“The second department is industry. Now that we are set to open our own export market, it is compulsory for us to encourage our local producers. So, we have collaborated with the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, and many other formal bodies that can be of help, such as the Small and Medium Enterprises Development of Nigeria, SMEDAN, Nigeria Association of Small Scale Industrialists, NASI, National Association of Small and Medium Enterprises, NASME, Technological Incubation Centre, TIC, Raw Materials Research and Development Council, RMRDC, to foster better interpersonal relationships, business collaborations, and also bring about rapid development to our industrial sector in the states.

“We have also begun the implementation of feasibility studies reports carried out with the aim of establishing small scale industry across all the seven geopolitical zones of the states and promoting growth with highest comparative advantage in each zone.

“Sometime last year, the governor approved that a feasibility report should be produced. We have carried out that research and come to the realisation that in each of the zones, we have crops that we can produce in quantities that, if eventually we have the opportunity to go into processing, there won’t be any need for us to be looking for raw materials again.

“Then, we have the Graduate Industrial Self-Employment Loan Scheme, GISES. We started this loan a few years ago and we have just N20 million in it. With that N20 million, the last time we disbursed, we took care of 86 beneficiaries. And, within that time and now, the recovery rate, I think, has been about 95 per cent.

“Towards the end of last year, the governor increased the fund from N20 million to N100 million and we had that approval, we are now waiting for cash-backing. If we took care of 86 people with N20m, look at the number that will benefit if we have 100 million. So we are expecting that to happen.

“Another major achievement is in the area of provision of facilities such as industrial estates and parks. The Ministry has been able to resuscitate two moribund and untapped industrial parks in Ogbomoso and Oyo towns respectively. If you are travelling to Iseyin from Oyo, directly in front of Ojongbodu Grammar School, you’ll see that place there. We are seriously working on it. And, if you go to Ogbomoso, on your way to Iresaadu, you’ll see another one there.

“The Ministry was able to embark on consultative engagement visitation to some functional industries in the states to sensitise on remittance of haulage fees. And, this has resulted in creating an enabling environment, ease of doing business and increased IGR.

“Before I move to the last department, which is trade; what has happened with our cooperative departments and the Department of Industry? We can relate the two to what is happening with the AfCFTA programme. Honestly, we have to appreciate the governor for his vision.

“As I am speaking, more than five African countries have been working with our state on having a trade agreement. Just last week, I travelled down to Abuja to facilitate a trip to Rwanda. The Government of Rwanda is expecting us but we need permission from the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Nigeria here to be able to get across to them.

“Now, because of the state’s exploit as a subnational level to the AfCFTA programme, it became important for us to identify some of our products that can be exported and check and those we can bring in. As a result of this, we launched the products of the Agricultural Export Farmers Multipurpose Cooperative Society Limited on May 8, 2025. The products launched include packaged yam-flour, packaged banana flour, packaged cassava flour and processed castor. All these are to promote value-addition.

“We also approached the governor that a new Directorate be established in our ministry to take care of quality control and he has given his approval. He even gave us the opportunity to recruit if we have to do so, so that the quality of products to be exported must have been ascertained before they get to the final destination.”

Adebisi equally noted that his Ministry has been able to embark on the redevelopment of major complexes, including the Bola Ige International Market and Oke Bola Shopping Complex, among others.

He added that the state would continue to frown on street-trading, urging traders at the Scout Camp Market and other areas to use the shopping complexes built for them rather than moving to trade on the streets.

The Commissioner also maintained that the governor’s effort to put the controversy over Iyaloja-General to rest is ongoing, as a new committee to formalise the selection and ratification would soon be constituted, even as he called on all parties to cooperate with the government.

The event had in attendance the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Mr Olajide Okesade, and other top officials from the Ministry.