By Clara Nwachukwu
Bayelsa State Government is offering huge incentives including tax holidays, land, and equity partnership to foreign companies willing to invest in the state.

These were parts of the package the state brought to visitors to its stand at the just-concluded World Petroleum Congress, WPC, in Doha, Qatar.

The Secretary to the State Government, SSG, Mr. Gideon Ekeuwei, who made the presentation, said, “As you know, Bayesla is still very young; we will provide free land to investors. We will also offer 24-hour electricity supply from our Independent Power Plant, IPP, we will offer security support for investments, and we are also prepared to share risks with investors through equity participation. We are equally prepared to give tax incentives to investors.”

With regard to infrastructure availability, the SSG told his guests that the state has embarked on massive infrastructure development, including what he described as a “first class health facilities” to open up the state for fresh investments.

To further support investment, he said the state has set up a Local Content Capacity Development Institute to boost indigenous capacity, especially as it also owns its own Bayelsa Oil Company, operator of the Atala Field.

Elaborating further, the State Commissioner for Energy, Mr. Maxwell Oko, said that equity participation will not be nominal, but will be backed up with funds, saying, “We are very willing to partner with investors on any project by taking up equities and we will pay for them.”

He explained that the electricity offer to investors will be highly subsidised, adding that the state planned to pull out its power from the national grid.

He argued, “Bayelsa is the only state without national power, and we own about 98 percent of our power infrastructure. So in a couple of months from now, we will do a total pull out from the national grid because the power infrastructure belongs to us.