The Kaduna State economic and investment summit entered its second day and ends today, with investors from within and outside Nigeria unveiling opportunities in diverse areas for possible wealth creation, employment generation and overall economic prosperity for the state and nation.
Outlining her vision for the state, Abiola Bashorun, managing director/CEO, ZL Global Alliance, which is “the largest waste management firm in sub-Saharan Africa,” said “we have actually taken our proposals to 15 states across the country and, surprisingly, the 15 state governors have responded positively with projected spending of between $100 million to $1.5 billion per state.”
ZL Global Alliance, who are waste management experts, have invested in Nigeria by running what Bashorun calls the only waste management institute in Africa that trains and certifies people up to MBA level.
“In terms of technical operations, we come into states as PPP, the state governments give us rights and we collect and recycle waste. In this process, we are at a point where we are going to recruit 20,000 youth in Ondo State alone,” she said.
In Lagos, where the company is not given such a large area, ZL will be engaging around 2,000 youth in this recruitment process, with the aim of taking off from Nigerian dump sites “call scavengers” in order to create more wealth and engender better health form all from waste.
The project, Bashrun explained, is more youth based because it is basic and ZL is working only with youth from 40 years and below.
ZL Global Alliance manages waste in the solid and liquid forms, including sewage, which it recycles into water and takes the harder part to make fertilizer.
The company is also working on oil spillage waste, where it is making Vaseline from oil spill waste in the Republic of Ghana, and is currently partnering with the Institute of Waste Management to establish a plastic recycling plant in Abia State.
Nasir El-Rufai, governor of Kaduna State, said such investments are needed in order to “restore harmony and encourage shared prosperity” in the Kaduna State.
He also noted that, with a population of 10 million people, Kaduna State has more people than some 15 African countries combined. He stated that the people of Kaduna State must be served through focused and innovative leadership by exploiting rare and unusual resources in order to add value to their lives and the Nigerian economy at large.
Also at the summit, Eme Essien, country manager of African Finance Corporation, said it is necessary for Nigerian states to exploit their areas of economic strength and competitiveness in the non-oil sectors in order to withstand shocks from the nation’s dwindling revenues, as oil prices may never again recover to near $200 per barrel.
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