Katchey Laboratory will complement ACFCTA, says Gov Abiodun
By Kolawole Olayinka, Abeokuta
Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun has hailed a laboratory equipment maker, Katchey Laboratory Complex for building and opening his laboratory station in the state.
Abiodun also noted that the company would help to complement the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (ACFCTA) entered into by Nigeria and other African states to allow for free trade across the continent.
The governor, who made this known during the ground-breaking event of the proposed Katchey Laboratory
Complex expected to house manufacturing of laboratory equipment and consumables, training center for laboratory analysts and bio-engineers, among others, said that the country hasn’t been able to tap into the free trade zone because most of the goods expected to be exported were not certified worthy of export.
He further noted that with a laboratory such as Katchey cited in the state, goods that are meant for export would now be certified for the international market.
Abiodun added that the citing of the laboratory in the state is a further testimony to the fact that the vision of his administration to provide an enabling environment for public private partnership is a reality.
The governor stated that the laboratory complex was a welcome development in the health sector of the country, especially at a time the globe was affected by COVID-19.
While disclosing that there cannot be a better place to cite the laboratory as Ogun which is the education capital of the country, the governor said that students from various schools in the state have continued to emerge first in Science, Technology, Education and Mathematics competition(STEM) and the global mathematics competition.
Abiodun disclosed that his administration was looking forward to partnering with the initiative particularly through the Olabisi, Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital and the School of Health Technology, even as he called on more prospective investors to partner with his administration.
In his remarks, Chairman, Katchey Company Limited, Mr. Abdulrazaq Isa said that the company which had been in existence in the last three decades has continued to support the growth of science in the country by equipping science laboratories with quality analytical instruments, chemicals, reagents and consumables.
On her part, Chief Executive Officer of Katchey Company Limited, Mrs. Kate Isa, who described the state as the most corporate-friendly in the country, called on government at all levels to look at the educational curriculum as well as at the possibility of introducing digital science.
In their remarks, Minister of State, Ministry of Mines and Steel Development, Dr. Uche Ogah and his counterpart in the Trade, Industry and Investment, Niyi Adebayo, who both commended the initiative by the company which they said would promote self-sufficiency in the country, said that the Federal Government would continue to do all it can to end medical tourism.
