Emma Nwakpadolu, the newly elected president of Aba Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (ACCIMA), has urged the Aba business community to join hands with his administration to revive industrial activities in the commercial city.
Consequently, he promised to re-establish the Aba business coalition made up of all trade associations and groups in the commercial city, to ensure that the Aba business community spoke with one voice.
Nwakpadolu, who is the managing director/CEO of Cone Oil and Gas Limited, assured the organised private sector in Aba that his administration would work tirelessly with the view to improving the socio-economic development of Aba, in particular and Abia State in general.
According to him, “we will reactivate industrial activities in Aba, which was once known and referred to as the Japan of Africa.
“The chamber movement represents the organised private sector and the essence of having the chamber is to protect the interest of business organisations and react to the policies of government, especially those that affect the organised private sector.”
He also promised to improve the organisation of the Aba International Trade Fair to conform to international standards, but decried the unavailability of a permanent trade fair complex in Aba, which according to him hampered the organisation of previous trade fairs in the city.
In his words: “We had fundamental problems with previous trade-fairs. We have been using venues not conducive for such an event. In 2014, we used Abia State Polytechnic football pitch, even at a time the school was in session. The pressure they mounted on us affected activities at the fair.”
The ACCIMA president is however counting on the promise of the Abia State government to allocate a permanent trade fair site to the chamber, a move initiated by his predecessor, Anthony Enukeme, chairman/CEO, TONIMAS Nigeria Limited.
He promised that his administration would improve the organisation of the next edition of the Aba Trade Fair, by stepping up their awareness campaign, to ensure that they attract key manufacturers within and outside the country, to make it truly an international trade event.
