Gov. Godwin Obaseki of Edo has entered into an investment deal with the Tolaram Group, a Singaporean company, to attract 50 million dollars worth of investment to create 50, 000 jobs.

Mr Crusoe Osagie, the Special Adviser to the governor on Media and Communication Strategy, said in a statement in Benin that the governor was in Singapore to begin the deals.

Osagie said that the deal covers investments in agriculture, specifically, oil palm and cassava to feed the processing plants of the group’s company.

According to him, other areas of the ongoing talks with Singaporean enterprises include infrastructure, digital services, real estate- the Edo New City Development project-, among others.

He said that the governor was accompanied on the business trip by his wife, Mrs Betsy Obaseki, the Commissioner for Wealth Creation, Cooperatives and Employment, Mr Emmanuel Usoh.

The governor’s aide said that the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Kadiri Bashiru, was on the trip with the governor.

Osagie said: “The visit to Singapore is consolidating on an earlier visit to Indonesia, where the governor sealed deals with the Indonesian Oil Palm Research Institute in Medan.

“This is to leverage on the institute’s research capacity in reinvigorating Edo State Oil Palm and Allied Industries,’’ he said.

The special adviser quoted Obaseki as saying “economic diversification into areas where the state has competitive advantage, like agriculture, is the key to job and wealth creation on a sustainable basis’’.