Aba shoe, garment makers rake-in N1.6bn from direct sales

The Abia State Government says it has attracted about N1.6 billion direct sales from shoes and garments, through its campaign on Made-in-Aba goods.

This includes 50,000 pairs of military boots, ordered by the Nigerian Army, the cost of which is estimated at N300 million, orders from the Nigerian Navy, the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), the Police and Civil Defence Corps.

Governor Okezie Ikpeazu, who revealed this in an exclusive interview with BusinessDay in Umuahia, the state capital, explained that the vision of the state is to be globally competitive.

And to be globally competitive, he said the state is changing its emphasis from ‘Made-in-Aba’ to ‘Make-in-Aba’, which is aimed at wooing investors to produce in Aba and Abia.

To make that happen, he said the state government is creating an enabling environment for business to thrive, starting with the establishment of Abia Investment House, known as the One-Stop-Shop.

The essence of the one-stop-shop, according to the governor, is to remove bottlenecks in the registration of businesses and processing of documents to improve on the ease of doing business.

He further said, “One of the best ways to create this environment is to start from our entry point, and our entry point has to do with the first building that this government set up, which the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, graciously commissioned, called our Investment House or One-Stop-Shop.

“I really do not know how many states in the country today that have one-stop-shops. But I want to paraphrase the comments of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) project manager for the South-East Entrepreneurial Development Centre (SEEDC), who said that he spent two years in one state, trying to persuade the state to host the SEEDC.

“Then on the average, for some other states, he spent an average of two visits, selling the idea to them. But when they arrived Abia, it took us just 40 minutes to sign-off and this is because of our one-stop-shop”.

Governor Ikpeazu also explained that his administration has secured a 9,000 hectre piece of land at Ukwa, for the establishment of the Enyimba Industrial Zone.

He stated that the Enyimba Industrial Zone is seeking recognition as an export free trade zone.

According to him, “It is the best location in Nigeria for a free trade zone. It is 30 minutes away from Onne Port in Rivers State, 30 minutes away from the Port Harcourt Airport, about 40 minutes away from Owerri Airport.

“It has a rail line that crosses from Rivers, through 13 stations in Abia, to Enugu and to the northern part of Nigeria. It has gas for energy. There is no other location anywhere in Nigeria that can compare, in terms of economic strategy, than what we have.

“And we went to China with this story and seven days after our visit to China, 11 companies came and we are talking with them, including the shoe manufacturing firm that is coming with $1.5 billion investment.

“To underscore how serious that business intercourse is, we are sending 100 Abia youths to China to learn how to manufacture shoes, the way the world wants it, all expenses paid.

“So, this is where we are today. This is our journey so far and this is our story. We are optimistic that it will herald a very serious socio-economic revolution in terms of industrialisation,”said Ikpeazu.

 

 GODFREY OFURUM, UMUAHIA