By Naomi Uzor

Bayelsa state said all is set to hold its 2nd economic investment forum in the state.

Speaking at the dinner held in Lagos to create awareness of the forthcoming event to the Lagos business communities, the Director General, Bayelsa state Development Promotion Agency, Mrs.  Freda Ruth Bruce-Bennett, said the forum which will hold in Bayelsa state from 29th to 31st of July 2015, will showcase to Nigerians at large, the key areas of collaboration and partnership and the key areas of interest of investment.

“In the first investment forum, we had a very wonderful outcome, over 800 participants and alot of key conversation was heard.  During last year’s investment forum, our focus was on showcasing and unveiling Bayelsa as a state, it was on identifying all our opportunities as a state across the board in every sector”

“This year, we are looking at where the state has comparative advantage, we are looking at the economic situation in Nigeria and the need to diversify the economy” she said.

According to her, this year, the state will be looking at sectors such as oil and gas, agriculture and power.

“Bayelsa state has the largest deposit of natural gas in the country. The government is therefore facilitating investments into power generation to add 5,000-10,000mw of power to the national grid thereby transforming Nigeria’s economic landscape”

“Historically, the state hosts some of the earliest oil palm estates established in Nigeria, prior to oil and gas, oil palm was the foundation of wealth in what is today Bayelsa state” she disclosed.

She said the state is committed to attracting investors to expand the cultivation, processing and marketing potential of rice and oil palm leveraging on the clear underlying economic potential, she added, the forum will bring together large-scale farmers and financiers to take advantage of the enormous agriculture potential of the state.

On power, she said, the Eco Industrial Park (EIP), will leverage current and future power generation potential to attract diverse manufacturing businesses to be sited at the EIP.

“The unveiling of the EIP will showcase a world class eco-industrial park designed to meet the manufacturing needs of the 21st century. We seek to attract chemical and pharmaceuticals, domestic and industrial plastics and rubber, wood and wood products, electrical and electronics, non metallic  mineral products, pulp and paper products, and other manufacturing concerns to the EIP” she stated.