The Deputy Governor of Anambra state, Dr. Nkem Okeke has said that the government of Chief Willie Obiano is making Anambra a business friendly state even as he said that doing business in the state is no longer difficult.
Okeke who stated this at the weekend at the Lecture and Unveiling of the Anambra Technical Skills Centre and Industrial Village organized by the Association of Anambra Development Unions (AASDU) in Lagos said that the state through the Anambra State Investment Promotion and Protection Agency (ANSIPPA) had establishment of business in the state so simple.
According to him,”We have ANSIPPA, when you come in, you give them your proposal and they look at it, decide on what you need and before you know it, you are signing MOU with the Governor, your job is now for you to go and find resources to begin to execute the project”.
The Deputy Governor who represented Governor Obiano at the event stated that the administration wanted industrial parks to come into Anambra state saying that they had a lot of initiative going on in the state.
“Take Nnewi for instance, what that town lacks is power, if Nnewi has enough power, believe me, the sky is its limit and that is what we are praying and we need to start looking inward, we can’t keep depending on what the federal government is doing. Every state needs to look inward and that is the framework the governor is restating, that states need to look inward, build up what you have, look at what you have comparative advantage on and work on it.
“In Anambra, we have agriculture, we are traders, so the idea is if you grow things, you process them in an industrial sector and begin ti sale them to the neighbors and outside the country. That is progress and that is how to add value, that is how you create wealth for your citizens and that is what we are doing in our state”, he said.
On his part, the Special Adviser to the Honorable Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr. Chukwuemeka Ifezulike FCA, noted that the Federal government was partnering with the Anambra state government as it had given the federal government a piece of land at Nnewi that was over 80 hectares to build an auto park adding that plans were at an advanced stage to establish that auto park.
Ifezulike who doubled as the Chairman of the occasion also said that the federal government was willing to collaborate with the state in any area it wanted collaboration even as he assured of federal government’s readiness to give Anambra state the needed collaboration.
On the proposed Anambra Technical Skills Centre and Industrial Village, he said,”Basically, if we could take all the youths, we will but basically, we engage various communities and people are coming up. We want to train everybody, make people to acquire skills, it is not a matter of selecting this youth and leaving this one, everybody is invited and we are doing it in phases. So, that definitely will be done”.
He continued,” There are things that create multiplier effect, the minute you create industrial park, all the countries that have developed, developed with industrial parks. There are a lot of young people who are idle and the minute you create industrial park, more investors will come because an industrial park is a place where you provide all facilities and there will be common facilities that will be used by everybody.
“The one in Anambra we are trying to build occupies a land space of about 80 hectares and government has already planned to increase it to 150 hectares. So, it is going to be massive, it is going to be a mini city and so many people are going to be involved”.
Earlier in his welcome address, the President AASDU Lagos, Chief Barr. Vincent Osakwe said the event was to honour some distinguished citizens of Anambra state and some friends of Ndi Anambra who had contributed immensely towards the development of humanity.
Osakwe explained that the event which usually hold in the first or second week of November was brought forward as a result of the Gubernatorial election coming up on the 18th of November, 2017 in Anambra state even as he disclosed that the day’s event was to usher in their cultural day slated to hold in Lagos on the 28th of October, 2017.
On the Technical Skills Centre and Industrial Village, he said,”The essence of the unveiling is to have industrial layout where we engage some of our youths and the moment we engage them, the youth restiveness within the southeast will naturally reduce and there, they will acquire skills into various aspects of life and with that, they will specialize and once they specialize, they produce quality goods and quality goods means that you will be ready to export.
“The whole essence of this programme us that the governor of Anambra, His Excellency, Dr. Willie Obiano is talking about think home and we keyed in to the project to engage our youths so that the emphasis of going back to the city will reduce”.
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