Made-In-Aba campaign attracts fresh orders worth N750m – Ikpeazu

Abia State government says the Made-in-Aba marketing campaign, which it embarked upon in 2016, has attracted fresh orders worth N750 million.
Governor Okezie Ikpeazu, who revealed this during the review of his administration’s activities in 2016, said the campaign yielded tremendous positive fruits and had brought to the fore the conscious efforts and ingenuity of producers in Aba.

Ikpeazu stated that the state government was able to get top influencers in politics and entertainment to sign-up as goodwill ambassadors for Made-In-Aba products in the year under review, saying they intend to graduate the campaign to cover the entire chain of everything produced in Abia State in 2017, to create new markets for products made in the state.

The governor also said that the state was partnering private developers to build an Abia Leather and Garment Industrial City at Umukalika, while simultaneously expanding existing markets for those who would not want to move to the new location.

Reeling out other achievements of his administration in commerce and industry, the governor said, “The Aba Mega Mall has been completed in partnership with Greenfield Assets Limited, Umuahia Shoprite Mall was completed and has been officially opened. Abia Hotels in Aba has been privatised under lease agreement and that at Umuahia has been upgraded. The Ohiya Industrial Cluster was expanded.”

On education, Ikpeazu stated that his administration had made significant strides in the primary/secondary school levels; “we have maintained tuition-free education. We also launched the Free Lunch Programme at the primary school level. The teachers have been made to go through sessions of training and retraining programmes. Still under our Made-In-Aba Campaign, we commissioned free School Sandals for our pupils in public schools.”

He explained that Abians in the Diaspora also keyed into ordering free school sandals for pupils in their localities.

“The state has maintained its pride of place (first position) for two years running in the overall performance of students in the WAEC. Meanwhile, so far, 18 secondary schools in the state have been renovated and provided with boreholes for improved sanitary conditions.

“Many friends and development partners have constructed new primary schools under our Friends of Abia Adopt A School Initiative (FASAI). At the tertiary level, many more disciplines have been introduced and many others re-accredited. We have moved faculties in our tertiary institutions to locations where they will have better advantages and we have built new learning facilities to accommodate the relocation.”