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Governor Abiodun with officials of the Brazilian company

Ogun, Nigeria’s top investment destination, is set to reap huge benefits as the largest protein producer in the world, JBS of Brazil, has indicated interest in investing $2.5bn in the livestock subsector of Nigeria’s economy.

The Controlling Shareholder of the company, Mr. Wesley Batista, gave this indication when officials of his firm, led by the Controlling Shareholder of EMN, Mr. John Coumantaros, visited the Ogun State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, in his office at Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta on Sunday.

Mr. Batista, who described Nigeria as the hub of Africa with the largest population, noted the enormous potentials that exist in the country in terms of human and natural resources, and said they were ready to bring their knowledge and expertise in the area of livestock to bear in the nation’s economy.

He said: “We have been talking and learning about Nigeria. We had the privilege to meet the Nigerian delegation in Brazil when President Bola Tinubu visited our country. We see Nigeria as the hub of Africa with a very large population.

“Though it is our first time in Nigeria, we feel that we have a lot of similarities between Brazil and Nigeria. We have a very good impression so far about Nigeria and Nigerians.

“We are serious about coming to Nigeria to invest in beef, pork, chicken, among others. We see growth prospects in Nigeria and what Nigerian leaders are doing in encouraging investors to come and make significant investments here. We can bring our knowledge and expertise to bear in Nigeria’s economy.”

Giving a brief background of the company, Mr. Wesley Batista disclosed that it started in 1953 with slaughtering one cow per day and grew to 600 heads of cattle in one beef plant per day in 1957, becoming the largest beef player in Brazil in the 1990s.

“In the beginning of 2000, we started looking for opportunities to go beyond Brazil, and in 2005, we started in Argentina, and in 2007, we went to the United States and Australia. JBS is our biggest business under our holding company,” he added.