Friday, 1 November 2013

Ajimobi: Cocoa, Heritage malls’ll create 2,000 jobs




Posted by: Bisi Oladele, Ibadan in News 23 hours ago

Oyo State Governor Abiola Ajimobi yesterday said the Cocoa and Heritage malls in Ibadan, built by the Odu’a Investment Company Limited, will create over 2,000 jobs.

He spoke while inaugurating the N3 billion malls.

Representatives of the governors of Osun, Ondo, Ekiti and Ogun states were at the event.

The Odu’a Investment Company Limited is owned by Oyo, Osun, Ondo, Ekiti and Ogun states.

The twin malls stand on 12,000 square metres land mass in the heart of Dugbe, the city’s central business district.

Heritage Mall, which was solely financed by the conglomerate costs N2 billion. Cocoa Mall, which cost N1 billion, was built in partnership with a private developer, Top Services Limited.

Ajimobi hailed the Odu’a Investment Company Limited’s Group Managing Director (GMD), Mr. Adebayo Jimoh, and his team for making the dream a reality.

He said: “From the eye of commerce, the vision of the board was to redirect the footsteps and foreign currencies of high net-worth individuals, who spend time and money travelling to Europe and America to shop. Today, that vision has become a reality. It has given birth to one of the most attractive shopping malls in this part of the country and a place that anyone with an eye for shopping would want to be.

“The vision of the Odu’a Investment Company Limited in constructing these malls rhymes with my administration’s transformation agenda. Indeed, the zeal behind the vision is a replica of the can-do spirit, with which we have broken the barriers of developmental impossibilities in Oyo State.

“You will recall that during my inauguration on May 29, 2011, I promised the people that our administration would vigorously pursue the vision of peace and order, as against the chaos that we inherited. We also promised to run an efficient and result-oriented government that would make Oyo business-friendly, leisure-friendly and an attraction to investors.

“Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, I am happy to report to you that after successfully maintaining peace and order in the last two years or thereabout, after embarking on an aggressive environmental clean-up and provision of infrastructure, investors are now making Oyo State their Mecca.”

The governor urged the company to replicate the mall in other owner states.

Jimoh hailed the governors of the five owner states for their support and thanked Ajimobi for creating an enabling environment for the project’s success.

He said the malls have replaced the Kingsway and UTC stores, which folded up during the military era.


Source: The Nation

No comments:

Post a Comment