The “Rlg-Adulawo Technology City,” which represents a public-private partnership between Rlg Communications and the State of Osun, is a world-class facility that will create over 10,000 jobs, both directly and indirectly in Nigeria.
Speaking at the inauguration, the Group Chairman of Rlg, Roland Agambire, noted that although the African continent is the wealthiest, we have not been able to maximize our full potential so Rlg is a pan-African company that has an ambitious dream that will lead Africa out of poverty.
“Africa is wealthier than any part of the world. Rlg has a dream that will establish young people to lead and make wealth, be a tool of happiness [rather] than create war and destruction within ourselves.”
He said the inauguration of the Rlg-Adulawo Technology City gives one an idea of what the “Hope City” project will do for Africa. He noted that what fostered partnership between his company and the State of Osun was the zeal and passion within the state itself and in the youth to develop themselves.
“This shows that the youth are passionate to develop themselves. All they need is a visionary leader and they have a visionary leader, Governor Aregbesola. What is lacking is how we can open the way. This assembly plant is one of the best tools to begin to create jobs within the Adulawo Technology City enclave,” he stated.
Mr Agambire was full of praise for the exemplary and visionary leadership of the Governor of the State of Osun, Honourable Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, without whose support the project would not have been successful.
“When you have a vision, you expect the assurance of the elderly to initiate it and that is what I saw a few minutes ago and this is the manifestation of success to come. For me, the first thing that encouraged us was the fact that Governor saw this on a long goal and said, ‘Look, young man, I will not partner anywhere but to partner with a pan-African company that believes in the things I believe in, so if you say mobile phone repairs is job creation, then I believe you and I will do it,’ and that is what you are seeing today,” he revealed.
He added: “Our first investment of $50 million plus is to show you the commitment that we are here to stay.” He urged all Nigerians to endeavour to use an Rlg device to keep the job creation dream alive since all the revenue generated will go back to benefit the State of Osun, indeed, the country as a whole.
“Nigerians are passionate about themselves. I want to see this commitment from this place that every single Nigerian will believe in this and that everybody will use an rlg device. I will need this commitment because this is what will keep all of us alive. Nigerians have created a billionaire in Africa through cement. Today, I want Nigerians also to create a billionaire in Africa through technology and it is a possibility,” Mr Agambire assured. Speaking in an interview with The General Telegraph, the Governor of the State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, could not hide his happiness on account of the Technology City.
“It means growth; it means development; it means prosperity; it means joy and happiness. It means fulfilment to a large segment of our people,” an elated governor told this reporter.
He said ICT is the life of the current state of human development. “We proposed a training offer to Rlg and they found it irresistible. That is what first of all cemented our relationship and from there we are here, Technology City.”
He outlined some of the benefits that the State of Osun will be deriving from its partnership with Rlg Communications.
“We shall have over 800 people directly working here in shifts in this factory alone but when the city gets to its highest potential, there can be close to 10,000 people here so I am happy, satisfied and fulfilled from only that angle. But when you now factor into it the revenue retention to the state, it is simply enormous. Now, if you add to the collateral advantage, you are talking about 800 in direct employment, and tied to the direct 800 in employment will be almost 15,000 opportunities for people who will be repairing the handsets, those who will be marketing the handsets and what have you. So I am fully impressed and happy about it that we have brought it here at this time.” Governor Aregbesola said he used the “carrot” of training 20,000 youth to bring about this $50 million investment.
“Our investment is innovation; we used our training needs to bring in this investment. We bought the land that this property is built on and we equally supported this investment with 500KVA transformer. So they are training our people for us whom they will ultimately employ but for the payment we are making for the training, we have forced this investments. That is all we invested,” he added.
Honourable Aregbesola, urged other investors to come on board to help make the Rlg-Adulawo Technology City the biggest in Africa since, as he put it, Osun is the safest place in Nigeria where an investor’s investments will grow.
“This is the first phase of our Technology City. We are pushing for the development of a city that will be solely dedicated to technology so we are inviting all other investors to come and invest here in all aspects of technology because we are growing our economy to be strong and healthy,” he added.
The Rlg-Adulawo Technology City is a state-of-the-art assembling plant located on the Illesha Akure Expressway in Nigeria. The plant has the capacity to assemble 5,000 mobile phones and 2,500 computers a day, making a minimum of 7,500 electronic devices a day. It has a fully furnished training centre called the Rlg Institute of Technology, Research & Development (R & D) lab, corporate office building and a staff quarters located just behind the training centre. It also has two big warehouses. Also installed at the facility is Green Technology Biogas Plant, which will provide cooking gas for the staff quarters. It has the capacity to generate 3KVA of electricity which can be used for lighting.
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