Let’s Make Anambra Destination Point For Commercial, Industrial Development – Gov. Soludo

Let’s Make Anambra Destination Point For Commercial, Industrial Development – Gov. Soludo

The Anambra State Governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, has urged indigenes living in Nigeria and abroad to work together to make the state a destination point for commercial and industrial development.

Soludo said this during a town hall organised by a group under the aegis, ‘Ndi Anambra Residents in Lagos State’, at the Collonades Hotel, Ikoyi.

Soludo said that all, irrespective of socio-economic status, must join hands in developing the state and making it a destination point for significant investments in critical sectors.

“I urge Ndi Anambra to take that resolution and return to join hands in the development of the state including okada, keke riders, petty traders among others.

“Part of our mission in Anambra is to make our place to become a departure lounge. We must turn Anambra to become a destination point.

“We must change the narrative; we must change the story for our place to become a point of departure and all of us have something to do in this mission,” the governor said.

Soludo emphasised the importance of collaborative efforts to key into his agenda of making the state a prosperous homeland by realising the objectives of the five major agenda of his administration.

The governor highlighted them as: security, law and order; economic transformation and infrastructural development; education and youth skill acquisition; governance; rule of law; and sustainable environment.

“I recall how past nationalists like Nnamdi Azikiwe and Michael Okpara succeeded in creating a sustainable economy in the region in the 60s through investments in agriculture, industry, education and human capital.

“We have all it takes to develop the state, but what is lacking is home consciousness,” he said.

Soludo noted that the menace of insecurity had rocked his administration at the inception.

“However, we were able to surmount the challenge through launching operations that made it possible to recover over nine local government areas that have been overrun by criminals.

“Efforts are in top gear through various approaches including the armed forces, intelligence, and community vigilante to ensure that the state is secured for development to be in place,” he said.

The governor also highlighted other projects such as construction, industrial parks, commercial hubs, roads, real estate development, and renewal of urban areas in line with his vision of creating a prosperous and liveable homeland.

He added that currently, there was an ongoing training of about 20,000 youths on digital skills in collaboration with private partners such as Microsoft Corporation among others.

“I also encourage people to come and identify with projects which they can invest in because Anambra is ready for business.

“With the campaign slogan, “Think Home and Bring Home”, the state government rolled out a real estate development scheme.

“This scheme encourages people to invest in housing development, anchored by the Anambra State Housing Development Corporation (ASHDC),” the governor said.

Soludo said that the the state was working on shortening the time it took to process acquisition of land for investment purposes.

He also assured that the Anambra State Investment Promotion and Protection Agency (ANSIPPA) would help create an enabling business environment for investors.

Also, Chairman, Local Organising Committee of the event, Mr Charles Odunukwe, said that keying into the agenda of the state government was for the good of the entire state.

Odunukwe said the goal of the event tagged, “Aku Ruo Ulo”, meaning “think home”, is to encourage the people to come and invest in development projects in the state.