In his address to the gathering during the
official opening of edifice in Ile-Ife, on Friday, at Resort and Industrial
Park, Ajebamidele, Ile-Ife, Oyetola lauded Ooni for his exemplary passion for
socioeconomic development, .
He said that the initiative would go a long
way to complement the Administration’s efforts to leverage on the comparative
advantage in tourism and culture, mining and agriculture.
According to him, the initiative is in line
with the Administration’s Progressive Agenda which focused on revitalising the
economy and stimulating the local socioeconomic indices for maximum growth.
The Governor acknowledged Oba Ogunwusi, for
his love, exemplary leadership quality and passion for socioeconomic
development of the State in general and the ancient city of Yoruba in
particular.
Oyetola described the initiative as a round
peg in a round hole, noted that the unveiling of the brand-new city of hubs,
has been embedded to generate employment for the youths.
According to him, this would further impact
positively to the lives of the citizenry as well help to showcase the rich
cultural heritage and value of Ile-Ife.
The Executive Governor while commending the
foremost traditional ruler for his noble vision for human capital development,
particularly his inimitable passion for the youth.
He said that the execution of the park has
further justified the traditional ruler’s love for development, saying that for
anyone that familiar with Kabiyesi’s trajectory and passion for youth and
socioeconomic development, this indeed would not come as a surprise.
“In 2019, he organised a Summit on
Addressing Growing Youth Unemployment in Nigeria: The Significance of Made in
Nigeria and Buy Nigeria, to rally Nigerians to patronise made-in-Nigeria goods.
“Ooni Ogunwusi donated motorised Local
Fumigators to States across Nigeria during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“He also partnered with Afe Babalola on
clinical research to develop drugs and vaccines to combat the Coronavirus
pandemic.
“As a Government, we
“This we are doing by leveraging, in the
first instance, our comparative advantage in tourism and culture, mining and
agriculture.
“Our infrastructure development plan is
also carefully targeted at ensuring that we open up the latent economic
potential of our towns by ensuring that our people are supported with the
requisite social amenities for a decent living.
“Therefore, we are immensely grateful to
Kabiyesi for joining forces with us to strengthen our economy.
“I urge other royal fathers to take a cue
from Kabiyesi by using their influence and instrument of office to support the
development of our State.
“Let me employ this medium to stress that
initiatives such as Ooni is creating and attracting to Ile-Ife will only thrive
and be sustainable in an atmosphere of peace.
“I therefore appeal to our youths and
people to continue to allow peace to reign so that they can enjoy the dividends
of the enterprise,” he added.
While appreciating, the Ooni lauded the governor for supporting private initiatives and for providing conducive atmosphere for private investments to strive.
The Ife Grand Resort and Leisure, which is planted on over 1000 acres of land will aside from offering facilities for exquisite lodging/accommodation, harbour multiple industrial parks with pockets of industries currently producing many industrial and agricultural products as well as rendering essential services to the resort, the Ife community and Nigeria.
Sitting comfortably within the Ife Grand
Resort which is a focal attraction on Friday is the 3000 seating capacity
Meeting Incentives Conference and Event(MICE) Centre branded ‘Ojaja Arena’, a
complex of architectural wonder planted by Ooni Ogunwusi to add value of
relevance to urban renewal in Ile – Ife.
Ooni Ogunwusi disclosed that he
deliberately brought the 3000 seating capacity event centre to make Ile-Ife the
epicentre of MICE in Africa, saying that the ‘Ojaja Arena’ has been configured
and positioned with all facilities to satisfy demands of Meetings, Incentives,
Conference and Event adding that it would also shore up intellectual and
congregational activities in Ile Ife, the ancient source of mankind.
“We are building a brand new city driven by
urban renewal initiative. The Ojaja Arena is basically not built for social
activities but a centre for training and manpower development for youths in
this country, considering Ile-Ife to have over 500 thousand students of about
20 tertiary institutions; Universities, Polytechnics, Colleges of Education and
Schools of Nursing within 100km radius surrounding Obafemi Awolowo University
built at the nucleus Centre in Ife over 60 years ago.
“The question in my lips has been, what
will these young vibrant youths will be doing after tertiary institutions, the
best bet is to set up a hub that is technology friendly to boost and drive
small and medium scale industries within our country Nigeria by creating a
smart city for them to display whatever they can do to become employers of
labour after graduation. It is a sad truth that no industries to employ them
all. We can only encourage them to create industries for and by themselves
because that is the reality on ground”. Ooni said.
The natural traditional head of the House
Oduduwa worldwide also revealed that “One of the industrial parks within the
Ife Grand Resort Colony, the Adire hub has engaged 50 people, empowered over
150 others and started producing adire in bales which are being exported to
foreign countries.
He also disclosed that one of the
agricultural parks which specializes in rearing of Ostriches has also employed
another set of 40 staff who have started rearing Ostriches in an unprecedented
manner with the vision to produce ostrich hides and skin in high commercial
quantity for export purposes.
The occasion was attended by traditional rulers, cultural icons, sons and daughters of Ile-Ife among others.
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