Poland indicates interest in partnering Abia
*As Otti says Govt. open to robust partnership for economic growth
From Boniface Okoro, Umuahia
Poland has indicated her interest in partnering with Abia State in the areas of agriculture, mining, education and culture, a move Abia State government has welcomed with open arms, saying that the present administration was open to robust partnerships that would lead to the growth of the various sectors of the state’s economy.
The Polish Ambassador to Nigeria, Mrs. Joana Tarnawska, who made her country’s intention known when she paid an official visit to Abia State Governor, Dr, Alex Otti on Wednesday, November 29, 2023, disclosed that the visit was her first to the South East, added that there was a lot that could be done together between her country and Nigeria.
“Nigeria is a country of great opportunities and potentials. We would like to tap into that potential and look for new avenues of cooperation between Poland and Nigeria, and in particular your state.
“Last year, the President of Poland visited Nigeria, we signed a MoU on Cooperation, Agriculture and I hope that we can, on this basis, develop even closer ties with Nigeria and with Abia State.
“We would like to cooperate in Agriculture, Mining, Education and Culture, and I believe that this would be to the benefit of both our great nations,” Mrs. Tarnawska said.
Welcoming the Polish Ambassador, Governor said he was glad that the Polish government was willing to partner with Abia State and assured her that there could not be a better State to partner with than Abia.
“There can’t be a better State to partner with than Abia and I say that for a lot of reasons. In terms of agriculture, we are very big. In terms of education, our dreams are very big and we believe that by the time we are done, we will actually be exporting education, if there is something like that, as an industry to the world,” he said.
Governor Otti disclosed that there were close to 1,000 public schools in the state, explaining that government was looking at standardising the entire education spectrum, from primary through secondary to tertiary levels.
He further announced that his government had set minimum standard to be adhered to by all the public and private schools in the state, stressing that his administration was very passionate about education.
“We are very passionate about education. We are doing the same for healthcare, security; those are very critical. Those are the areas where people may be tempted to ignore but they are so important to every other thing we are discussing with respect to development,” he said.
The Governor equally informed his guest that Aba was an industrial hub for the entire South East, with creative potentials and maintained that with more support from the government, entrepreneurs would do more and even produce products that could compete favourably in the international market.
He further requested Mrs Tarnawska to visit Aba to see for herself, the ingenuity of Aba artisans, saying, “our people are very creative, very innovative, very focused. They produce virtually everything; they may not be as sophisticated as those in Europe, but they work.”
The Polish Ambassador was accompanied by an Abia-born former member of Polish Parliament, Hon. John Abraham Godson and Uchechi Dakoru, her personal Assistant, while the commissioners for Education and Trade, Commerce and Industry, Prof Uche Eme-Uche and Dr. Chimezie Ukaegbu, respectively, as well as the Principal Secretary to the Governor and Chief Strategy Officer, Mr. Chinenye Mba – Uzoukwu, joined Governor Otti to receive the visitors.
