The Dr. Michael Okpara Centre for Leadership has honoured C. Darl Uzu for his expansive paces in development, philanthropy, and industrialisation of the South East. The event was held in Abuja last Thursday.
Uzu, managing director and driver of Enyimba Economic City, received the award from Clement Ebri, former governor of Cross River State.
Uzodinma Okpara, son of Michael Okpara and chairman of the Foundation, was in attendance.
The event organised by the Michael Okpara Foundation and Verbatim Media Group was to honour the memory of Michael Okpara, the Premier of Eastern Region from 1959 to 1966.
He was known for his visionary leadership and contributions to agriculture and industrial growth, which made the Eastern region one of the fastest growing economies in the world.
Uzu’s award was, “In commendation of his accomplishment in the development and industrialisation of South East and philanthropy.”
Enyimba Economic City (EEC) is a 9,803-hectare Greenfield Special Economic Zone in Abia State.
Uzu’s latest project is a Public Private Partnership (PPP) project of Crown Realties Plc., Abia State Government and Federal Government of Nigeria under the Made-In-Nigeria for Export (MINE) programme of the Federal Government of Nigeria.
It is the single largest urban development project in Africa today, a member of NXT 50 Coalition Cities in Africa and recipient of the first prize of the Global New Cities Business Plan Contest of the Chartered Cities Institute in Washington DC in 2019, beating Black Stone Charter City in Australia to second prize and Novgorod New Hanse Town in Russia to third place, as a new city that has the capacity to transform the economy of the country. The award included a US$25,000 cash prize.
African Export Import Bank (Afreximbank) has syndicated $201.7m debt for the first phase of the project. It is projected that construction of the project will commence soon.
EEC has the capacity to transform the economy of Nigeria with impacts across Africa and globally.
The City has growth sectors not only in manufacturing; it is a self-sustaining live, work and play modern city with growth sectors in manufacturing, logistics, healthcare, entertainment, education, innovation and technology hub, commercial, lifestyle, residential, and aviation.
Enyimba Economic City Development Company FZE also, intervened in improving connectivity in the project catchment area by leading a Consortium that included CCECC Nigeria Limited, Escher Silverman Global, UK, Insta-Toll of South Africa and Afrinvest (WA) Limited to win the concessions of the two main highways that connect the areas namely, Enugu-Port Harcourt (200km) and Onitsha-Owerri-Aba (161km) for a value-added concessioning that includes design, construction, financing, maintenance, operation, management and tolling of the highways under the Highway Development and Management Initiative, HDMI, of the Federal Government of Nigeria.
Uzu appreciates the award, which recognises his decades of commitment to industrialisation and estate management. He prefers to be quiet on his philanthropy.
