Abia awaits economic boom as SMEDAN partners firm on industrial city project

If the ‎current investment plan initiated by a firm, Acroideation International Limited (ACRO) and the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) is to be considered, then the economic terrain in Abia State is on the verge of recording huge investment through the establishment of Abia International Industrial City (AIIC).

‎The AIIC, an industrial park to be located at Osisioma Ngwa in Abia State, according to the economic plan made available to BusinessDay, will‎ comprise 68,000 industrial shops, 200 warehouses, shopping malls, hotels as well as 200 housing units of residential estate and other requisite facilities that attract huge investment into the state.

Speaking at the signing of MoU in Abuja, Bature Umar Masari, director-general, SMEDAN, pledged that the agency would support the Acroideation International Limited (ACRO) towards actualisation of the AIIC project for Micro, Small and Medium-scale Enterprises (MSMEs) in the promotion of appropriate business capacity enhancement activities.

According to the director-general, the industrial park would provide “a conducive, durable and enabling environment for MSMEs as well as assisting them to enhance and harness their creative potentials in manufacturing, branding and marketing of their products both locally and internationally.

‎He said SMEDAN would also assist ACRO in disseminating business information about the AIIC and would also facilitate the participation from MSMEs entrepreneurs in ensuring that the park transform the state economy, asking other states to replicate the feat across the country for wealth creation and sustainable development.

Masari also revealed that SMEDAN would also be responsible for entrepreneurship training, provision of business counselling, mentoring follow up, facilitation of bankable plans, advocacy and advisory services, as well as technical assistance for the development and management of AIIC project and participating MSMEs.

Earlier, Uzoma Ohaja, president of Acroideation International Limited, who led the delegation of investors to MoU signing in Abuja, declared that ACRO was the promoter and developer of an industrial park, located at Osisioma Ngwa in Abia State, just as he added that thousands of jobs would be created in the state when completed.

Ohaja noted that the need to collaborate with SMEDAN “on this important project cannot be over emphasised,” saying that “as the major agency promoting the development of MSMEs in Nigeria, his outfit believes that with this collaboration, jobs and wealth would be created not only in Abia State, but the country as a whole.”

 

 

RAZAQ AYINLA