THE NATION

Bayelsa State Governor Douye Diri has appealed to foreign investors to tap the economic potentialities of the  state beyond its depleting oil resources.

Diri, who spoke at one of the closing sessions of the annual global investors meeting called Dubai Expo, at Dubai Exhibition Centre in the United Arab Emirates, said Bayelsa was an amazing state with investment opportunities waiting to be harnessed.

He said the state, created in 1996, sought investors to develop its agricultural potential in areas it had comparative advantage such as in rice, cassava, sugarcane, palm trees and palm oil production, plantain as well as in fisheries and aquaculture.

The governor invited investors to partner the state to exploit its rich mangrove forests and natural beaches, to make it a tourists’ haven.

He stressed that Bayelsa’s sprawling coastline, the longest in Nigeria, provided opportunities for power generation ranging from wind to tidal and solar energy.

Diri said actions already taken had put the state on a positive trajectory, adding that a recent Ease-of-Doing Business report rated Bayelsa highest in the Southsouth.

According to him, the state is being adjudged as one of the safest places to do business in the country.