Better days are here for unemployed youths in the communities hosting the Benin Industrial Park, in Edo State as contractors handling the road construction and other civil engineering aspects of the project commence work.
Special Adviser to the Edo State Governor on Media and Communication Strategy, Mr. Crusoe Osagie, said “the contractors handling the road construction work have deployed their heavy earthmoving vehicles like bulldozers, excavators, scrappers, dump trucks and motor graders inside the Benin Industrial Park. They are clearing natural barriers, opening up the area and doing the earthwork for the roads.â€
Osagie explained that his recent visit to the communities on the stretch of land hosting the park was revealing, as “the people are thrilled by the socio-economic prospect that the project holds. The positive spirit in the area is palpable and things are going to get better with the jobs being created as the contractors hit the ground running.â€
He added that “a gigantic project of this nature should delight our people in the host communities because of the thousands of direct jobs it will create, not to mention the allied businesses that it will attract.â€
According to him, “The ongoing road construction work will require operators of heavy earthmoving equipment. This is an opportunity for our people who can operate the equipment to come forward and get hired.
“In addition to operators of heavy equipment, small businesses are springing up already, from food vendors to dealers in essentials, which the construction companies will outsource. In the near future, landlords in the communities will be smiling to the banks as more workers arrive the site to work as the Benin Industrial Park promises to be the biggest construction site in the region.â€
At a recent Youth Leadership Summit, the Edo State Governor, Mr Godwin Obaseki, told participants that “three groups have registered to be co-developers of the Benin Industrial Park†adding that “by October 2019, the first tenant will move into the park. When the park is ready, we will have over 1,000 companies in that park, generating an excess of $3 billion annually.â€
He said the state is building youths’ capacity to exploit opportunities from the inflow of investment, noting that in the last 16 months, his government has created about 60,000 jobs in Agriculture, infrastructure, and industries.
The Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, performed the groundbreaking ceremony of the N200 billion Industrial Park at Iyanomo in Ikpoba Okha Local Government Area of Edo State, in November 2017.
Osinbajo said the industrial park will create 170, 000 direct and indirect jobs and would contribute significantly to the country’s manufacturing sector.
He commended the Governor of Edo State, Mr Godwin Obaseki, for the huge public-private investment initiative.
