President Julius Maada Bio of Sierra Leone is set to visit Oyo state in two weeks as he will be hosted by Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde.
The scheduled state visit will be about his interest in making a tour of The Fashola Agribusiness hub in Oyo State.
This was announced in the newsletter released by Governor Seyi Makinde late Thursday night.
The statement read in parts;
As we Roll Out Carpets for a Presidential Visit…
“Let me start by thanking everyone who sent me a condolence message over the death of my elder brother, Sunday. The outpour of your sympathies, even when some of you did not personally know Sundo, was really touching. May God bless you and keep you.
After the short break, I have since returned to work. My first port of call was a trip to Ethiopia for the African Business Forum (ABF) 2025. It was an opportunity to network with business and other leaders as we build on our wins over the past, almost six years, and consolidate on the foundation we have already built.
As a forward-looking government, we have focused on taking advantage of every opportunity to create prosperity for our people, and this forum provided another such opportunity. As I stated during our show and tell session, Oyo State is leveraging the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) to collaborate with African National leaders. We are going into trade talks with our neighbours – the Republic of Benin. I will be having meetings with their representatives within the next month to determine collaborations.
Also, within the next two weeks, the President of Sierra Leone, His Excellency Julius Maada Bio, will visit us here in Oyo State. One of his big interests is the success story of the Fasola Agribusiness Industrial Hub. We have been getting visits from both within and outside Nigeria to the hub before now, but this visit is remarkable because this is the first time a sitting President will be visiting the hub.
This visit is a testament to the quality of work we have done at Fasola. As one of the investors in the hub stated, the Fasola Agribusiness Industrial Hub has taken a sleeping village and turned it into a world-class agribusiness and tourism site.
I want to again thank the Director General of OYSADA, Dr Debo Akande, for his dedication to ensuring that the dream of reconstructing this once moribund facility became a reality. We have just a few finishing touches to apply there before we commission it.
As they say, the reward for hard work is more work. So, we are looking to replicate this pilot project on a bigger scale at the Eruwa Agribusiness Industrial Hub, which we have already flagged off. We plan to implement all we learned from Fasola at Eruwa.
Listening to all the speakers and presenters at the ABF, it is clear that Oyo State will play a pivotal role in the sub-regional economy if we play our cards well and set up the right structures that are private-sector driven. This is the path we have chosen and we will be focused on ensuring that our natural resources are backed by the entrepreneurial spirit.
I will provide further updates on the deliberate steps we will be taking in the coming months.
Talk to you again soon.
