In an effort to provide shelter for its citizens, the Imo State government says it is discussing with an American (USA) company to use locally sourced raw materials to produce affordable housing for its citizens.
Patience Mbakwe, state’s commissioner for industry and non-formal sector, who revealed this to BusinessDay exclusively in Owerri, the state capital, said officials of the company were already in the state, while documents were being finetuned to enable them start work.
She said the company would provide about 4000 housing units in the state as well as utilise the abundant raw material stock to service its other projects across the country, as the state government was close to recovering all the industries built by late Sam Mbakwe, the first civilian governor of the state, but left to rot by successive administrations.
The moribund industries include, the Imo Raisin and Paints Company and the Paper Packaging Industry.
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The state government, according to her, has already revamped the following industries, namely Imo Modern Poultry in Avutu, Obowo, Aluminum Extrusion Company and the Standard Shoe Industry, Owerri.
In her words: “Imo Modern Poultry is now functional. The Clay Product and the Aluminum Extrusion Company have been privatised. So, the government is doing a whole lot to revamp these industries and very soon, we will take procession of Imo Raisin and Paints Company and the Paper Packaging Industry.
To ensure that these industries do not lack the needed manpower, the commissioner said the state government had set up an institution to train and retrain professionals, especially engineering capacities.
“We have the Imo College of Advanced Professional Studies (ICAPS) formed by the state government with the intention to retrain some of our engineers and other professionals. Sometimes, people go through tertiary institutions without having practical experience. So, we have started that and so many of our engineers have passed through there to gain experience.
“We are also collaborating with ICAPS to give artisans certification in some special areas, like marine welding to enable artisans benefit from job openings that would emerge from oil and gas deposits in the state.
“Imo has huge gas deposits and we are also preparing artisans to benefit from ICAPS so that by the time the gas project takes off, they will have some form of certification that would qualify them for the jobs in the sector, “ she said.
GODFREY OFURUM
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