The administration of Governor Udom Emmanuel is one administration that has effortlessly gained the love and support of the masses not through the regular channels of propaganda or rice distribution, but by making the delivery of his promises to the people a priority, especially the promise of industrializing the state.
Before now Akwa Ibom people used to be proud of Peacock Paints, Sunshine Batteries, Quality Ceramics, Qua Steel, ALSCON and many others that made the state an industrial leader and offered jobs and business opportunities to the citizens. Unfortunately, these companies all faded away decades ago.
Needless to say that the current administration in the state gained victory during the 2015 general elections because the people saw the governor as the one with capacity to deliver on the most vital need of the state at the moment – industrialization. Since his assumption of office the governor has been working and breathing industrialization. This has seen the state in recent times becoming the destination of choice in Nigeria for investors.
The seriousness with which the governor has approached the industrialization drive has yielded tremendous results already. It has resulted in the building of the already functioning AKEES Pencil and Toothpick factory with production capacity of 5000 pencils per day and twenty thousand tons of toothpicks per hour, thereby creating employment for over two hundred Akwa Ibom youths currently working at the factory.
The governor has also revamped the Peacock Paint Limited, a company that was moribund and overgrown with weeds for decades. Peacock paint again has employed many youths and has set a standard of quality in paint production beyond the state, as evident in demand from across the country.
The completion of Akwa Prime hatchery is another bold step taken by this government in its bid to ensure that day-old-chicks are produced in sufficient quantity to meet the demand from within the state and ultimately from the entire South South and South East markets. The fully functional hatchery located in Uruan Local Government of the state also has over twenty thousand layers that supply the eggs to the hatchery.
As part of the governor’s vision of industrialization he is making assiduous efforts to create an enabling environment for private sector driven industrialization by creating a power supply hub. This is to enable more stable power distribution in the state. Needless to say that power has been the greatest impediment to industrialization in this country, and the government of Udom Emmanuel may just be the first to break the jinx.
Having seen the passion of our dear governor and his friendly disposition to investors, many National and International conglomerates have indicated interest in siting either their assembly plant or manufacturing facilities in the state. The metering solutions company which will make Akwa Ibom state a manufacturer of electric metering machines.
The governor, who has been nicknamed Mr. Industrialization by the people, is also embarking on a construction of coconut processing and refining plant. This project has begun with the ongoing planting of 2million trees from improved seedlings. On completion the refinery will refine coconut as well as palm nuts. The entire project will employ over 5000 skilled and unskilled workers.
The same goes for the rice mill where improved rice seedlings have already been planted and the processing mill is under construction. When completed, the plant will process rice to finished products thereby simultaneously discouraging the importation of rice into the state and reducing the cost of the commodity in the state.
The recent expression of interest by the Federal Government to partner with the state on Ibom Deep Sea port to the tune of a billion naira in the 2017 budget is another sign that the people’s Governor is setting the pace for a revolution in industrialization that will shake the country and the federal government does not want to be left out in the glory.
A careful look at these initiatives show that as a good leader, the governor is leading the people to opportunities that others do not see and his prioritized choice of projects are peculiar to the state. These are projects that command interesting prices as commodities and great prices after value addition. Hence, even before completion, the markets are always begging for supply and the citizens are already feeling the impact.
This piece is a contribution of the Directorate of Marketing and Brand Management.
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