The signing of MoU between Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi and the Arab business mogul, Hon Sharif Ahmad Bin Jaber Al Natour
THE Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, Ojaja has partnered with an Arab billionaire, Hon Sharif Ahmad Bin Jaber Al Natour to establish a commercial venture which would create massive job opportunities for the youths in Yorubaland and Nigeria in general.
To create leeway for the smooth take-off of the business partnership, the traditional ruler on Monday at his palace in Ile-Ife signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Al Natour, saying the development was aimed at tackling mass unemployment, most especially among the youth in the South West.
The wealthy Jordanian prince based in Morocco who owns Global Trade And Development Corporation (GTDC) group that recently disbursed US$800m fund for commercial ventures in livestock, sugar and sugarcane in North Central Timor was in the country on a 3 day visit to meet the Ooni and President Muhamadu Buhari on various areas of possible collaboration.
Speaking during the signing of the MoU, Al Natour expressed his commitment to building green cities in Nigeria under the auspices of GDTC Investment Nigeria Limited as a collective instrument of social, humanitarian, industrial and commercial projects to provide happiness and new lease of lives to millions of Nigerians.
According to him, “have met many kings and world leaders but Ooni of Ife dazzles me most. I love him so much. I follow his activities a lot. He goes around the world to unify Africans in diaspora through his peace and unity agenda. I also love his youth development quest. That is why I am here at Ile-Ife to partner with him on green energy and green environment for the benefit of the good people of Yoruba and Nigeria”.
While describing Ile-Ife as his second home, Al Natour assured that with the MoU, the technological hub in its first phase is expected to facilitate massive employment of youths in Nigeria, stressing that “I have built schools, hospitals and houses around 168 countries in six continents of the world. My focus now is to come home which is Ile-Ife. I am here to partner with this globally respected monarch who preaches peace around the globe”.
He posited that “Ooni is not just my business partner, he is also my father who has assured me of his unflinching support to invest heavily in the continent in the area of agriculture and renewable energy technology that will promote international trade in Africa. With this MoU signed today, our planned technological hub in its first phase will surely facilitate massive employment of youths in Nigeria.”
In his remark, Oba Ogunwusi expressed optimism that the project would spur development across Nigeria and Africa at large, explaining that his partnership with the international business magnate was fast-tracked to ensure that the success of the project can start benefiting the teeming unemployed youths as soon as possible.
He stated, “I am very proud to be associated with the new birth of GDTC investment in Nigeria. I will work with you on a very long time basis, not on a short time basis. We need a lot of investments to make sure that things are properly done in this part of the world. We need a lot of private and public partnership for large transactions.
“We need to provide jobs for the youths. We need to provide a lot of humanitarian services for them. We need to also see how to reform the mindset of our youth very positively. I am so impressed with the green energy and green city you want to partner with us which will help our teeming youths to be gainfully employed”, Oba Ogunwusi remarked.
by Oluwole Ige (Tribune)
We don’t employ people to give them jobs but so that they can help meet our areas of need. We are not doing them a favour but they are assisting to sacrifice their time and bring their expertise on board.
If staffers of the proposed investment are selected on sentiment of man-know-man, instead of competence and value-addition of unique attributes, the company will fail and fold like others with similar un-focused management.
It is also worth stressing that Nigerians should be on the watch-out that this is not another grand design to exploit and en-slave us in our inheritance and force alien cultures as well as practices on us.
We have more than enough qualified hands – both skilled and unskilled, professional and otherwise – in all the areas and importing funny characters under the guise of expatriate quota should be utterly rejected.