Abia State Governor, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu, on the 30th of March 2016 held his usual Quarterly Media Briefing with seasoned Journalists at the Banquet Hall of the Abia State Government House.
The Briefing which availed the Governor an opportunity to tell Abians and Nigerians at large the success story and challenges to be conquered of his administration, was attended by notable Journalist drawn from Major National and Local Media Houses, including the veteran Abia Online Media group..
Governor Ikpeazu during the briefing revealed that his administration is making efforts to ensure that “Made in Aba” Products saturate the Nigeria market. In his words, “If we can sell our ‘Made in Aba’ boots to the Nigerian Military and security organizations (Army, Air force, Navy, NSCDC, etc), sell our garments (uniforms) to the same organizations and Nigerian people, then he will feel fulfilled”. He further stated that “when that goal is achieved, we would then begin to market our goods beyond the shores of Nigeria.”
Abia State Governor Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu has revealed that between May 29th and now that he took the oath of Office as the governor of Abia State, his administration began with 65 Roads in the State, 27 have been successfully completed, and even his worst critic knows that the roads he had completed will last for a Minimum of 15 Years.
The Governor also revealed that his administration has not abandoned the “Free Meal Initiative” especially for the least public schools. This was in response to a question from one of the major media house journalist seeking to know if he had fulfilled his pledge to do so in the previous quarterly media meeting.
He revealed that when he saw that the proposed schools were learning on the bare floor, his administration had to begin first with the building of class room chairs, so that pupils will not be eating while sitting on the floor instead of Classroom Chairs.
Our Abia State governor, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu has revealed that for the past six months, he has not tasted foreign made rice, stressing that the decision to stop further consumption of foreign made rice became necessary following his administration’s commitment to encourage Local Made products.
The Governor also revealed that 800 out of 1000 street Lights are already standing in some of the Roads already completed by his administration which he said the street lights were powered through Solar and sometimes Generators.
Governor Ikpeazu stated that his administration has completed two bridges from May 29th 2015 since he took oath of office as Abia State Governor. One of them is an entirely new bridge (Okonma) and the other (Umuneochi) was refurbished.
He said the construction of water Project is ongoing at Uturu which was abandoned over 21yrs ago.
The Governor used the Quarterly Media Chat to appeal to Abians abroad on the need to come back home and Invest. He stressed that Abia is PPP (Public Private Partnership) friendly state while reiterating his government’s support for the “Friends of Abia Initiative” to revamp public secondary schools. A good Abian volunteered to bring ₦500 million to fix the road in his local government while the government will bring ₦300 million.
Empirical data indicates that South East Nigeria holds the key to Nigeria’s industrialization and Abia State holds the key to South East’s capacity to fulfill this expectation. Indeed, among Nigerian States, Abia has one of the highest potentials for independent, private sector-led economic performance. Given its human, physical and industrial resource endowments, Abia remains critical to Nigeria’s overall industrialization prospects.
Besides oil, confirmed industrial mineral deposits in the state range from silica and black marble to limestone among several others. Over twenty major cash and food crops are also found in the state. But its greatest assets lie more with its people – innovative, persevering and highly industrious. With an economically vibrant and innovative citizenry, self-help and community service are engrained as part of the psyche of the people. Governor Ikpeazu stated that “any private sector investor that does not come quickly into the state between now and December would find that he/she arrived late by next year”.
The rate of private and community-led provision of infrastructure is growing astronomically, higher than anywhere else in the country. Prices of land in the state are skyrocketing, even in the so called rural areas because of the on-going good road networking, the Abia State Government led by Dr. Okezie Victor Ikpeazu is committed to achieving.
Ikechukwu, an Abia Online reporter, asked “Your Excellency, Governor Ikpeazu what are you doing differently from other State Governors to achieve this success given the paucity of funds?
His response was “we will neither cry nor beg because of falling oil prices, God’s own state is bordered towards the south by alluvial coastal plains, characterized by rain forest vegetation, large belts of wild plantations of Palm Oil, Rubber, Cashew, Cocoa and arable land. We are looking at Abia beyond Oil. Abia cities (Umuahia and Aba) are strategically located in the heart of South Eastern Nigeria and offers a strategic location for trade and commerce.”
“I have reduced my allowance by 50%, reduced the cost of Governance using Due Process, encouraged entrepreneurship through skill acquisition trainings (CBN & NDE, Education for Employment), ensured high security in the state so as to encourage foreign investors. I’m more interested in Abians in Diaspora. There are Abians in the UK, US and so on who have never returned home, when our illustrious sons and daughters come back to invest, the white man will easily follow”, the Governor further stated.
Source: Abia Online
