Having grown up in Aba, I am naturally compelled to constantly engage in a retrospective juxtaposition of what obtained several years ago and the unacceptable state of what currently obtains; hence, the avowal to re-direct and restore the lost glory of Enyimba City.
Engaging Aba constructively is the vital tonic which MSMEs desperately require to make far-reaching and positive impact in their business. Tremendous in-road has also been made in getting our small scale manufacturers to purge themselves of the inferiority toga which has over the years hampered in no small measure their ability to globally showcase their ingenuity. I am excited to flaunt the achievements of made-in-Aba products given that that is boldly represented in our gubernatorial blueprint.
Having inculcated in our people the inevitability of developing the can-do spirit, the old practice whereby products were manufactured in Aba and flown to Dubai and then re-labelled and imported as foreign products is gradually being confined to the trashcan of history as most of the products are now proudly inscribed “made in Aba”. This follows from our result-yielding vigorous promotion project propagated in all the nooks and crannies of Nigeria and beyond.
As the chief marketer of made-in-Aba products, which I have unrepentantly patronized and proudly modeled over the years, the expected and exhilarating signal from our national government has also birthed the “made-in-Nigeria” singsong. Great things, they say, start from small beginning.
The Federal Government became the first to be counted as Abia played host to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo during his flag-off of National Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises clinic. Made-in-Aba products have largely become the most cherished and patronized following from the vice president’s charge to Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to source locally-manufactured products. It also energized our earlier business overtures made to government establishments like National Youths Service Corps (NYSC), Nigerian Armed Forces, para-military organizations, the 36 states of the federation, et al.
The encouraging outcome is that before long, very scarce foreign resources which would have been expended in procuring 50,000 pairs of military combat boots abroad were ploughed back into the economy as Aba SMEs proudly and qualitatively came to the rescue. Consequently, the Nigerian Navy, Civil Defence and allied agencies have keyed in. Where there is a will, there will always be a way. The pathway to relevance may be fraught with daunting challenges but only the never-say-die spirit prevalent in us as a people will symbolically prove to the world that we cannot be ignored.
Little wonder, therefore, that TBWA Concept, a virile advertising and marketing firm, in liaison with Ford Foundation which took the bill, decided to sensitize the global audience leveraging CNN to showcase the ongoing trail-blazing milestones of SMEs in Aba.
Accomplishment, they say, banishes insult and we do not intend to backtrack on the gains so far made. This truism motivated us to recently sponsor the training of 100 youths, who will be travelling to China in batches with a view to enhancing and manifesting their skills in the use of automated shoemaking technology. Arrangements have been faithfully perfected to procure and install comprehensive range of automated shoe-manufacturing equipment (modern-day mass production enabler) in Aba. On completion of their phased capacity-building programme, our youths will be deployed to handle the state-of-the-art shoe-producing factory being inaugurated in Aba. This will reasonably free them from the multiplicity of setbacks and irritations inherent in having to produce manually.
We acknowledge the inevitability of energy as the driving force of any given economy and have proactively factored its unavoidable place in the end success of what our mandate is programmed to achieve. This is located in the recent and audacious giant step of having to encourage Ruyi Holdings Group, Shandong China currently interfacing with Geometric Power Company in association with Enyimba Economic City Limited for the attainment of uninterrupted power supply in Aba. It is expected that with this arrangement, $530 million will be injected into Aba Integrated Power Project.
On completion, the energy consumption status of Aba and its environs would have been revolutionized given the over 500 megawatts of electricity that will be up for generation and maximal utilization.
The Aba Independent Power Project being driven by the tenacity and doggedness of Geometric Power Company has seen to the construction of several sub-stations in Aba and recently, a 140km power-line and gas supply infrastructure. These critical sub-stations will be released for deployment of power as soon as work is completed on the Independent Power Station.
My implicit confidence in the strategic importance of MSMEs in invigorating any given economy, especially in our clime, motivated us to bifurcate and separately inaugurate a fully-fledged ministry for MSMEs. This move will undoubtedly provide the vista for us to fast-track the long-overdue growth of MSMEs.
As I recently expressed during my keynote address in Kigali, the Rwandan capital, our outstretched hand of fellowship will constantly reach out to states and nations for a symbiotic bilateral relationship aimed at manifesting and economically harnessing our latent potentials. Let’s proudly say welcome to made-in-Aba.
OKEZIE VICTOR IKPEAZU
Ikpeazu is the Governor, Abia State.
