The Oyo State and French Government have held talks on ways of leveraging on the existing bilateral relationship to boost the economy of the state.

Governor ‘Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, while receiving the French Ambassador, Emmanuelle Blatmann, and her team on a courtesy visit at the Executive Council Chambers of the Governor’s Office in Ibadan today Friday November 5th, expressed his determination in making Oyo State the first investment-destination in Nigeria, thereby calling for continued collaboration from the French government.

In His words: “Well, the relationship between this administration and the French Government started just immediately after my election.”

“The immediate past Ambassador of France to Nigeria visited me at home before I was even sworn in and after I was sworn in, the relationship blossomed. So, it is my expectation that we will continue to work together to deepen the relationship.”

“I believe we have started on a very good note. We had a personal relationship with the French government. We met and talked and worked closely together. So, we want to deepen our cooperation with the French government and our roadmap is pretty straightforward.”

“We are focused on four main areas, which are education, security, health and expansion of the economy. Just like the Ambassador mentioned that we have had cooperation over the years between Nigeria and the French Government, especially in Oyo State.”

“Of course, we know that we do have challenges with medical tourism in Nigeria to the extent that a few weeks ago, the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria also cried out and said that Nigerian foreign reserves are being depleted because of medical tourism.”

“With this facility from the French Government, we believe that Oyo State will definitely be able to bridge the gap nationally as far as medical tourism is concerned.”

“They will be coming to Oyo State once they have confidence in the facilities and also the care they can get from here. And the icing on our cake is really in agric and agribusiness,” Makinde said.

The French Ambassador Emmanuelle Blatmann in her address promised to leverage on existing relationship in the state alongside her team members who gave assurances on investing massively in the state.

She also commended the current administration in the state for creating an enabling environment for businesses to thrive.