Mr. Godwin Obaseki, the Governor of Edo State, is in Germany with some aides to finalize investment conversations following agreements to invest in the state from some German corporations.
The trip is sponsored by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), a German corporation based in Nigeria that has been working with the Edo State Government for over three (3) years to increase employment and income generation, improve access to finance for Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, and assist in adapting vocational training programs to market needs, among other things.
The tour’s organizers say it’s aimed at meeting with German government officials and business owners who want to learn more about the Edo State’s potential and explore how they might collaborate with the government and local investors.
The Governor met with the Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce (DHK) to examine potential areas of collaboration in Edo State for investment and job creation. He’s also taking advantage of the opportunity to strengthen his relationship with Germany by establishing channels for knowledge transfer that will help the state’s growth strategy.
According to a source familiar with the visit, Edo State is highly ranked by the German government in terms of the availability of support frameworks for businesses, such as policies that protect MSMEs, and the State government’s willingness to collaborate with development partners like the GIZ.
On Saturday, June 4, 2022, Obaseki will meet with Edo residents in Germany to discuss new investment potential in the state, particularly the nascent real estate sector, which has been sterilized to attract big money. The real estate sector gets billions of naira in investments from Edo diaspora members.
Checks showed that “Germany is the world’s third-largest exporter and the third largest importer of goods, and has the largest economy in Europe, which is also the world’s fourth-largest economy by nominal GDP, and the fifth-largest by PPP.”
“Its GDP per capita measured in purchasing power standards amounts to 121% of the EU27 average (100%).[174] The service sector contributes approximately 69% of the total GDP, industry 31%, and agriculture 1% as of 2017. The unemployment rate published by Eurostat amounts to 3.2% as of January 2020, which is the fourth-lowest in the EU,” according to Wikipedia.