The five governors of the South-West states that own the Odu’a Investment Company Limited on Tuesday said a five-year plan had been approved to grow the revenue of the company from N4billion to N20bn.
The governors made this known after their meeting with the board and management of the company at the Cocoa House, Ibadan, Oyo State.
Speaking on behalf of his counterparts at the end of the meeting, Ondo State Governor, Olusegun Mimiko, said it was also approved by the governors that Lagos State should be admitted as a member of the group.
Mimiko said, “The new target is to position Odu’a Investment Company Limited as the engine room of economic growth and development of the South-West. We have approved a five-year strategic plan to grow the revenue of the company from N4bn to N20bn by 2019.
“We have agreed in principle also to admit Lagos State into the Odu’a Group. Because of this renewed interest in Odu’a as the engine room of economic growth of this region, we have also resolved that we will now meet the board and management of the company every quarter.”
Also present at the meeting were the governors of Ogun and Osun states, Ibikunle Amosun and Rauf Aregbesola, while Oyo and Ekiti states were represented by the deputy governors, Moses Alake and Kolapo Olusola, respectively.
The Chairman of the company, Isaac Akintade, said that as part of efforts to reposition it for growth, profitability and sustainability, the board proposed the payment of a gross dividend of N167million at the last Annual General Meeting, which was approved and paid to all the owner states.
“The feat came after six years without dividend payment and we are here affirming our commitment to continuing to pay dividend on a yearly basis as we have charted a course for the Odu’a Group. At the AGM, we requested for the input and approval of shareholders on our ambitious five-year strategic plan to grow from N4.5billion to N20billion, which is the outcome of a board-management strategic retreat,” Akintade said.
