Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, has secured a $100 million investment deal during a five-day working visit to the United Kingdom.
The visit, which was anchored around the 2025 Commonwealth Business Investment Conference in London, aimed to attract foreign investments and reposition Osun as a viable destination for doing business.
Rasheed Olawale, spokesperson to the Governor, who disclosed this in a statement, said the Governor achieved the investment deals which covered agriculture, water, tourism and a free trade zone.
According to him, “the other target of the visit is to forge official investment link with United Kingdom through the Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy to Nigeria. The most obvious which the general public always look out for is the amount of investment deals secured on such trip.”
Speaking further on the investment trip, he said, “Osun investment climate was presented to stakeholders with specific reference to a unified tax system to avoid multiple taxation, 45 45-day window for processing of Certificate of Occupancy, a one-stop shop for investment processing, among others;
“The revival of the Osun Free Trade Zone was presented with opportunities for UK and European businesses interested in the free trade zone model;
“The reduction of Osun infrastructure deficit by 45 per cent and further expected reduction in 2025 by almost 75 per cent were graphically presented in terms of roads, bridges, health and social facilities to the excitement of the business community;
“A formal investment facilitation framework and structure was put in place with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with the ESG Consulting group to relate with the office of the UK Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy and interface with the investing community on several opportunities in Osun state;
“A total of $100 million investment deals were inked with a group of investors who attended the signing of the investment facilitation MOU in the presence of the UK Prime Minister’s trade envoy, Hon Florence Eshalomi. The investment areas include agriculture, water, tourism and a free trade zone.
“An investment collaboration framework with the Nigerian-British Chamber of Commerce and Industry was agreed upon during the chamber’s trade mission. Alongside the Osun state Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the relationship is to create a tripartite working framework among the binational chamber, the State government and the UK Chamber of Commerce and Industry;
“A partnership deal with the British Museum on cultural tourism focusing on Osun cultural assets and confirmed a huge link between the Museum and Ile Ife, the cradle of the Yoruba nation;
“A new framework relationship between the British Museum and the state government on the digitisation of cultural assets, and
“Multiple hosting and briefing of Osun indigenes on state of governance at home with two full days of feedback and brainstorming on governance ideas,” he added.
