As investors intensify their search for a more business-friendly climate to reduce operational costs and increase profit margin, a good number of investors are moving to Edo State to take advantage of the unique incentive offered. .
The audits revealed that Edo State is the first sub-national government to provide a tax credit to investors, a unique incentive that experts say is capable of changing the economic fortunes of the state.
A tax credit, according to Investopedia “is an amount of money that taxpayers can directly subtract from the taxes they owe” and sources close to the Edo state government explained that the initiative is among the drastic economic strategies designed to rethink the wheel of economic development and state growth.
According to experts, a tax credit is an innovative new method of financing projects to attract the private sector to invest and strengthen the development of infrastructure in a state or country.
This is a program aimed at revolutionizing the government’s approach to financing infrastructure to support development.
It allows private sector actors to invest in infrastructure in exchange for tax credits. Federal and state governments can provide tax credits to encourage investment in critical sectors of the economy.
The tax credit is used to accelerate growth, create jobs, increase economic activity and also improve the standard of living of a State. It is used to support efforts to ensure a peaceful climate conducive to business development, to make the State a preferred destination for investors.
Specifically, the initiative of the Edo State Government has attracted the Saro Group of Enterprises which has invested no less than N24 billion in an integrated agricultural factory project in Edo State, in a concerted effort to stimulate local production of raw materials for use in manufacturing. , in particular the food and beverage sub-sector.
According to the Managing Director of Saro Group of Companies, Mr. Rasheed Sarumi, “The Integrated Agriculture Project is a joint venture between Saro Africa and Mohinani Group, under the Green Hills Agric Projects.
Sarumi praised the Obaseki-led government for creating a business-friendly environment, noting that the plant will be commissioned in the first quarter of 2023.
Saro Group is a beneficiary of the state tax credit scheme which influenced the construction of a 3 km road in Ologbo, in the Ikpoba Okha local government area of the state.
The integrated agricultural project is an important project because it uses raw materials from the state and will employ hundreds of people to cultivate cassava and also work in the factory to process the production, which is ethanol.
In addition, Saro Group has also started the development of a 10,000 hectare oil palm plantation and set up a 30 hectare tree nursery, with plans to plant 400,000 nuts in the Evboesi community in the Orhionmwon Local Government Area of Edo State. It’s a community that hasn’t seen investments of this magnitude since its inception.
The project received accolades from the host community. Evboesi’s Ohen-Osa, Chief Billy Akongie, while praising the Governor’s investment campaign to create jobs for many young people, noted, “Obaseki is our son. We are delighted and at the same time pleasantly surprised by what Saro is doing in Evboesi; our young people have been gainfully employed on their farms and we are very happy with the 500 KVA transformer that Saro Oil Palm has given us.
This move by the Obaseki administration will not only boost economic activities in the state, but will also attract foreign investment which, in turn, will create employment opportunities, promote faster and sustainable growth and improve living standards. residents.
