Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State
Abia to inaugurate six cottage industries in December 2021
[From BONIFACE OKORO, Umuahia]
Six of the pilot, agro-based, cottage industries being established in local government areas of Abia State would be inaugurated in December this year, according to Governor Okezie Ikpeazu, who also disclosed that the state has become a net exporter of labour and manpower to other countries.
The Governor who made these known Friday morning in a state-wide broadcast as the state celebrates its 30th anniversary, said four of the cottage industries have been completed while the remaining two would come on stream before the end of this November.
“Permit me to inform us that Abia State, under our noble watch, has embarked on the proliferation of Cottage industries in the local government areas of our state. Today, we have completed palm kernel oil processing plants in Obingwa, Ugwunagbo, Umuahia North and Isiala Ngwa North. Two more will be ready before the end of November 2021. These six plants will be commissioned in December 2021,” the Governor announced.
“By the time we establish these in all the 17 local government areas, and in addition to what we had done with the planting of over four million tenera seedlings of oil palm, we would have further deepened the legacies of M I POWER as an icon of agricultural revolution in Nigeria,” he added.
On exportation of labour and manpower by the state, Ikpeazu named United Arab Emirate, Liberia and Qatar as countries that have tapped from the state’s pool of manpower in foot wear and garment sector, describing it as part of the gains his administrations deliberate efforts to make Abia the Small and Medium Enterprise capital of the world.
“Aside from the already well-established growth in the available opportunities to our producers as a direct result of the campaign, I am glad to announce to you that Abia State has become a net exporter of labour and manpower in the productive sector.
“Abia youths are now being directly engaged by footwear and garment industries all over the world to come over and strengthen their workforce. We have reports of young Abians getting recruited from Abia State to work in shoe companies in the United Arab Emirates and Liberia while Emmanuel Paul, an Abia Tailor based in Aba has been recruited by a garment factory based in Qatar to come over and work in their factory, diagnosing issues with their equipment and fixing same.
“Our ‘Abia to the world Campaign’ has recorded positive gains not just in terms of goods produced in Abia State and exported to the world but now, we are also the destination for the recruitment of critical skilled labour for the global productive ecosystem.
“This feat did not come about by happenstance. It is a result of a deliberate, painstaking roadmap which we outlined at the beginning of our administration which we have diligently pursued to visible impacts,” Ikpeazu said.
He said his government was applying same methods and processes to other sectors of the state economy. “From education to healthcare, agriculture, industrialization, youth and sports development to critical infrastructural development and even social development, we have all hands on deck working to build the Abia we want,” he said.
