Steve Oko, Umuahia
Abia State government is perfecting plans to adopt a 30-year sustainable development strategy to fast-track the economic transformation of the state.
Executive Secretary, Abia State Planning Commission, Dr. Nnenna Chikezie, stated this at the ‘Approach meeting of Abia State long-term development plan draft agenda’ held in Umuahia, yesterday.
Chikezie said the need to generate a long-term development strategy and economic blueprint for the state followed directives of Governor Okezie Ikpeazu, to spearhead the process.
“The objective of this meeting is to initiate the frame work, discuss the tools that would be needed to drive this process, and at the end bring every stakeholder to the table so that a development plan that is all inclusive would be produced,” she said.
Chikezie said the commission had the mandate to get the plan ready before the end of 2019.
According to her, the governor’s directive followed the impressive performance of the Abia team in a competition held recently in the South East and South South.
She said Abia was partnering with Partnership Initiative for Niger Delta (PIN) to achieve the goal, adding that realizing the plan would help the state access help from donor agencies “as they would be able to see and assess the economic road map of the state.”
Lead consultant of PIN, Dr. Ebebe Ukpong assured that they would bring their experiences to bear and work as a team to give technical guidance to Abia government to drive the economic development plan.