{"id":163503,"date":"2025-05-21T21:48:48","date_gmt":"2025-05-21T20:48:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/uncategorized\/edo-loses-over-1bn-to-cult-related-violence-annually-okpebholo"},"modified":"2025-05-21T22:51:01","modified_gmt":"2025-05-21T21:51:01","slug":"edo-loses-over-1bn-to-cult-related-violence-annually-okpebholo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/economy\/edo-loses-over-1bn-to-cult-related-violence-annually-okpebholo","title":{"rendered":"Edo loses over $1bn to cult-related violence annually \u2013 Okpebholo"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Nigeria. <\/strong><\/span>Edo State Governor, Monday Okpebholo said that the state loses over $1 billion worth of potential investments annually to the negative impacts of cultism.<\/p>\n<p>Okpebholo disclosed this while speaking with newsmen in Benin City.<\/p>\n<p>The governor said the activities of cult groups had not only resulted in the loss of lives and property but also discouraged investments and tourism in the state.<\/p>\n<p>He noted that the development has contributed to the slowdown of the state\u2019s economy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe high spate of cult-related violence in the last five years, long before my assumption of office as the governor of the state, has caused substantial disruptions to economic activities, as investors and business owners increasingly grew wary of the security situation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat we have witnessed in Edo State was more than a threat to public peace. It was a significant drain on our economic potential.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAccording to statistics by the Diaspora Commission, Edo State tops the list of states with the highest remittance from the Diaspora. However, 95% of the repatriated funds ended up in different states because of cultism and other violent crimes as our people in the Diaspora were scared of coming home to invest.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis loss in disposable income, closure of businesses and decline in tourism severely impacted the state\u2019s business climate.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe adverse impacts of cultism over the years on the state\u2019s economy has led to the loss of lives and the loss of over $1 billion worth of potential investments yearly,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>The governor noted that the state\u2019s critical infrastructure and commercial centres were also affected, with some businesses forced to shut down temporarily or permanently.<\/p>\n<p>He also stated that the fear of violence deterred potential visitors, resulting in a downturn in hospitality, transportation and other tourism-related sectors.<\/p>\n<p>Okpebholo opined that his administration\u2019s declaration of total war on cult-related activities is already yielding positive results<\/p>\n<p>with more stakeholders joining the support groups against cultism in the state.<\/p>\n<p>He, however, appealed to Edo sons and daughters both in Nigeria and in the Diaspora to bring their investments to the state and help in the development of its economy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEdo State has immense economic potential. We will not allow violence and cultism to define our future. With the right partnerships and firm action, the present government is restoring peace, attracting investments, and repositioning our economy for sustainable growth,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Nigeria<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Nigeria. Edo State Governor, Monday Okpebholo said that the state loses over $1 billion worth of potential investments annually to the negative impacts of cultism. Okpebholo disclosed this while speaking with newsmen in Benin City. The governor said the activities of cult groups had not only resulted in the loss of lives and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":163502,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,15],"tags":[443,254,12790],"class_list":["post-163503","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-economy","tag-edo","tag-nigeria","tag-okpebholo"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Edo loses over $1bn to cult-related violence annually \u2013 Okpebholo - Nigeria<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Edo State Governor, Monday Okpebholo said that the state loses over $1 billion worth of potential investments annually t ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/economy\/edo-loses-over-1bn-to-cult-related-violence-annually-okpebholo\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Edo loses over $1bn to cult-related violence annually \u2013 Okpebholo\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Edo State Governor, Monday Okpebholo said that the state loses over $1 billion worth of potential investments annually t ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/economy\/edo-loses-over-1bn-to-cult-related-violence-annually-okpebholo\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nigeria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-05-21T20:48:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-05-21T21:51:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/05\/sm_1747851693.747589.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/economy\/edo-loses-over-1bn-to-cult-related-violence-annually-okpebholo#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/economy\/edo-loses-over-1bn-to-cult-related-violence-annually-okpebholo\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Edo loses over $1bn to cult-related violence annually \u2013 Okpebholo\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-05-21T20:48:48+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-05-21T21:51:01+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/economy\/edo-loses-over-1bn-to-cult-related-violence-annually-okpebholo\"},\"wordCount\":414,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/economy\/edo-loses-over-1bn-to-cult-related-violence-annually-okpebholo#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/05\/sm_1747851693.747589.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Edo\",\"Nigeria\",\"Okpebholo\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Economy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/economy\/edo-loses-over-1bn-to-cult-related-violence-annually-okpebholo#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/economy\/edo-loses-over-1bn-to-cult-related-violence-annually-okpebholo\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/economy\/edo-loses-over-1bn-to-cult-related-violence-annually-okpebholo\",\"name\":\"Edo loses over $1bn to cult-related violence annually \u2013 Okpebholo - 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