By Chinwendu Obienyi
The Governor of Anambra State, Chief Willie Obiano, has said the four pillars of development consisting of Agriculture, Industrialization, Trade and Commerce and Oil and Gas has been the bedrock of investment in the state.
Speaking on the theme, Investment Promotion and Protection: The Anambra State Experience- challenges and opportunities during the July Breakfast meeting organized by the Nigerian American Chamber of Commerce (NACC) in Lagos yesterday, Governor Willie Obiano, represented by his deputy, Dr Nkem Okeke, said his administration in 2014 met no landmark infrastructure and security issues, adding that the state now has a new face of investment because of the economic blueprint set by his administration.
“When I assumed office in 2014, there were no landmark infrastructure, no clearcut strategic vision for the future and we met a state that was heavily traumatized by security issues such as kidnapping, armed robbery and before the blueprint, we had to tackle the issue of security first as it discouraged investments and cut off grid of modern development from the state,” he said.
“After we tackled the issue of security, we set up the Anambra State Investment Promotion and Protection Agency (ANSIPPA). Today, what is widely accepted as Anambra investment success story is as a result of the resolve of my administration to make the state a socially, stable, business friendly environment for investors to seek wealth-creating opportunities”, he said.
He further said, “Essentially, our exploits in the face of investment can be broken down into the four pillars of our blueprint. Thus we have investments covering the broad areas of Agriculture, Industrialization, Trade and Commerce and Oil and Gas”
According to him,” In the first two years of my administration, the state recorded $4 billion investment and now the biggest investment drive is coming from Elite International Corporation Limited of China which is investing over $2 billion in the Anambra Airport City project located in Umueri in Anambra East Local Government Area.”
This, he said, was to ensure the reconfiguration of the economic map of the country and change the economic landscape of the South East.
Obiano pointed that his administration could have done more were it not for the unsettling atmosphere of uncertainity, recession and the unfavourable forex regime in Nigeria.
The Anambra State Governor, thereafter declared that the South Eastern state is open to further investments and new ideas of development, urging investors to tap into the oil and gas, aviation and tourism sector in the state.
