In the southeastern part of Nigeria, Abia state occupies 4,900 square kiliometres of land. Its capital is Umuahia, but its major industrial hub is located in Aba, Abia south. It shares boundaries with the north and northeastern parts of Anambra, Enugu, and Ebonyi. To the west of Abia is Imo State, and the east and southeastern borders are shared with Cross River State and Akwa Ibom State. Abia has been known to the world for its conscientious people who are industrious by nature. Aba’s products gained a name in the past for producing replica products of global brands. Unfortunately, this was the only way that the producers could guarantee sales, as Nigerians at the time were more interested in imported brands. With the worst economic downturn that plagued Nigeria for the past few years, it has become imperative that we begin to look inwards and encourage local producers in Aba to create a “Made-in-Aba” brand name. A huge development within the state is the supply of over 2 million leather shoes per month, to neighbouring countries such as Ghana and Togo. It reveals the reach the state government has gone to ensure investment and partnership. Although, Abia is an oil producing state, Dr Okezie Ikpeazu PhD is focused on developing other key areas of the economy. He sees these areas as viable and sustainable. These sectors are manufacturing, agriculture, and education.
As a result of the sudden drop in federal allocation from the fall in oil prices, the state is now looking inwards like never before. From a monthly N4 billion received as federal allocation, it fell to N1.8 billion naira. However, recurrent expenditure was at N2.6 billion monthly. Furthermore, Governor Okezie Ikpeazu Ph.D. made adequate effort in reducing these costs by conducting an employee audit within the state ministries; he was able to reduce recurrent expenditure to N2.1 billion.
The state government is now unveiling the state strengths to the nation, and the international community. This strength lies in a few areas. Firstly, the manufacturing characteristics of the Aba hub. The workforce in the state is always willing to do some work; many of the unemployed decided to go into craftsmanship, which is something that has been inbuilt into the typical Abian. Ideally, these are the employees that are needed for manufacturing organizations. For this reason, the state is making efforts to revitalize companies such as Golden Guinnea Breweries located in Umuahia, International Glass Industry in Aba, Aba Textile Mills, and Aba modern ceramics. Aba has already begun attracting direct sales through military boot and election material orders. These direct sales have injected N1.2 billion into the industrial hub from just within Nigeria.
For the past several months the state government has been determined to reach out to manufacturers to attend fairs and educate them on the great opportunities in the southeastern part of Nigeria. One trade fair which was a great success was the “Made-in–Aba trade fair”, held in Abuja in March 2017. The event attracted legislators, enterprise development agencies, and citizens, in a bid to showcase Abia’s talent and to renew Nigeria’s confidence in the Aba brand.
Secondly, the agricultural capacity of the state has gained a lot of attention from the state government attracting an injection of N2.3 billion into the sector in 2017. There is substantial focus on cassava, cocoa, cashew, poultry, oil palm and mushroom farming. Brazilian researchers have distinguished the good fertility of the Abia soil, compared to many other states in the country. The federal government is resuscitating the Abia Golden Chicken Company that sits on 360 hectares of land, the Abia Cashew Company on 160 hectares of land and the Abia Cocoa Estate on 220 hectares of land. The state government wants to empower the youths and women in farming, in order to create farming cooperatives that can access tailored credit facilities.
Thirdly, education in a developing nation is paramount for the continued economic growth of the economy. Abia state has excelled by producing the best results in the 2016 and 2017 WASSEC results. The state government continually lauds the performance of the schools. About N4 billion was injected into the sector in 2017 to give individuals access to affordable and quality education in technical, vocational and tertiary education. The Dangote Group launched the “Education For Employment Job Centers” in Abia recently. The initiative was designed to provide the essential tools for job seekers, entrepreneurs and university students to tackle the challenges that are faced to achieve success in their career path. The initiative is digitized and will provide continuous updates on unemployed youths, and their demographic within the state. Likewise, the introduction of skill acquisition centres has become an important scheme being driven by the state government. Abia was selected as the southeast Centre for the N-power skill acquisition centre, chosen by the Federal government. The minister of labour Chris Ngige visited the multidisciplinary skill centre located in Obingwa LGA, in February 2017. N-Power is a joint federal government programme supported by the state, which mobilized 3200 youths to the facility.
Fourthly, The state government launched the “ Water Must Flow Initiative” focused on driving the increased availability of water supply. Much focus remains on the Umuahia and Aba regional water schemes. Although, Phase 1 of the Umuahia water scheme has been completed, work is still ongoing for the Aba regional water scheme. The state also attracted a World Bank assisted programme through the 3rd National water sector reform project. This programme involves the introduction of meters to monitor individual consumption.
However, as it is, all over the world, there are threats to the economic growth of the state. These threats are largely infrastructural issues which are being tackled with great focus by the state government. Firstly, the access roads have been deteriorated for years and serious floods have occurred due to bad drainage, similar to the drainage problem faced in Lagos, Nigeria’s business hub. As a result, the state government has begun standardizing the drainage system of major roads and clearing blocked sewage passageways. With the heavy-duty trucks on the roads of Aba and its environs, the conventional tarmac roads have not been the most sustainable. The state government has introduced the use of “Rigid Cement Technology”, although more expensive than tarmac, it is guaranteed to last up to 20 years without repairs. Major construction is ongoing on roads such as Faulks road that leads to Ariaria market, a huge market in Aba, and to Port Harcourt, Rivers State. Considerable work is ongoing for the creation of flyovers at Osisoma, the best access route to Aba, and at Isiagate in the state capital Umuahia. These road projects should be completed by the end of 2018. On the other hand, power is a critical infrastructural need for any industry to excel, it is particularly essential for continuous production and longevity of machinery. This is why the Aba integrated power project (Aba IPP), a partnership between Geometric power, US-based General Electric and Orascom of Egypt to build two separate 500 megawatts power plants in Aba will soon be implemented to provide Aba with its own electricity supply for manufacturing.
The 2017 budget titled, “Budget of Prudence and Self Reliance” which was presented by Governor Okezie Ikpeazu Ph.D. harmonizes with the past and current activities of the state. Revitalizing these industries through capital expenditure and partnership are now necessary steps being taken; some have already begun yielding some development. Focusing on various sectors and forming strategic partnerships with private equity firms, venture capitalist and international investors can be seen as sustainable ways to achieve some level of economic balance and generate considerable internal revenue. Now, this very much feeds into the state’s 2018 budget called – “Budget of Partnership and Opportunities”. Thus, giving investors a sense of direction regarding what they should expect from Abia state in 2018. At the Abia-Turkey Investment forum held in 2017, the Turkish ambassador to Nigeria commended the business environment in the state, and the Turkish community pledged to invest $100 million towards the country’s new collaboration. This alliance is aimed at the manufacturing of clothing and shoes in the state. The potential of the state is immense and requires domestic and international partnerships, to ensure that the resources mentioned above are efficiently utilized.
Samuel T Wabara
Special Adviser Industries Abia State
