Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State has spoken on the steps his administration is taking to ensure the Enyimba Economic City, located on a 9400-hectare of land fully takes off. He explains that the city which would be a hub, has the full backing of the Federal Government, the African Development Bank and Afreximbank. He says investors who set up manufacturing companies in the city will get space and manufacture goods and export for free. They would enjoy tax holidays and also enjoy the possibility of repatriating 100 percent profits.
African Development Bank (ADB) decided to create a platform for the mobilisation of funds where African nations can showcase their investment opportunities and their interests so that eventually, we would see a handshake between opportunities and funding gaps. You know that the bank is headed by one of our own and he is being driven by the need to first develop Africa and then see how we can become a powerhouse of manufacturing and exports of all kinds of goods going forward. We were pleasantly surprised to see that other agencies and banks like Afrexim bank and even institutions from Canada were there to respond to the initiative of ADB.
When you speak of these multinational entities, you reckon with the fact that other financial powerhouses are major stakeholders in these entities. So, for the second time, Africa was given the opportunity to seek funds where you first of all, defend your projects, then seek the interests of investors.
I am happy to say that the outcome of last year’s event was so profound that Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire will become major players in the cocoa industries worldwide. Sixty five percent of the entire primary production of cocoa pods happens between Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana and it is a 60 billion dollar business. The farmers in these two African countries get less than $5 million, that means those who do not even produce cocoa, controls over 90 percent of what comes into the industry. Very soon, chocolate factories will spring up from Ghana and the two countries are cooperating to make sure that they make it as quick as possible.
Nigeria was not part of the closures of 2018 and when the president of ADB was reeling out the achievements of last year’s meeting, they had deals closed in Rwanda, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, South Africa, and none was closed in Nigeria. Fortunately for us this year, Nigeria went with two projects and one of them was Enyimba economic city. Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State stood in for the governor of Lagos for the second project. I was supported by a delegation from the Federal Government and we asked for $430 million dollars which we would require for the first phase of the city. This city is a special economic zone which is located between Aba and Port Harcourt and it is a 9400-hectare of land which is large enough to accommodate Owerri and Aba put together. It is a special economic zone, signed and licensed by the Federal Government.
What we are seeking is strong companies to come into that space and manufacture goods and export for free. They would enjoy tax holidays and also enjoy the possibility of repatriating 100 percent profits. We envisaged a city where you can live, work and play. There would be health cities, oil and gas city, city for logistics. If you look at the geography of that area, we have three circles; the outer circle is about 150 kilometers radius. The center of that city has covered nine states in the South East and South South with a population of about 60 million people which is more than that of some countries in Africa. That spot is also very close to Cameroun.
There is also a rail line from there to the wharf in Port Harcourt to Maiduguri and that is where the gas bed of Abia State lies. We have the advantage of off grid power, powered by geometrics which means that those who will come there to do their manufacturing will not suffer the problems of power failure.
From conceptualisation, design and business modeling, I’m proud to say that it was done by the same consultants from Singapore that did Dubai. We did not take anything for granted and that is why today, it is regarded as the jewel of special economic zones in Africa. It has already won a prize of the most sustainable cities in view. The city that came second is in Australia and the third is in Russia. So, for the first time in many years, Nigeria is coming first in the world with that kind of flagship project. The American company that awarded the prices where the winner took $25,000 was present in the board room and attested to the fact that it is the best designed and sustainable city.
This project is a trans-generational project. You need to be a futuristic leader to be able to conceptualise it. If you build all the roads, bridges and hospitals in the world and you are unable to provide jobs, between now and the next 10 years, you are going to have massive unemployment issues on your hands. That in itself is a social issue that has no immediate solution. The way to handle this problem is for our country to begin to think in a trans-generational way –what do I do in the next 10, 20 to 30 years? Enyimba economic city is estimated to provide 600,000 jobs and as I speak to you, one of the anchor companies is producing textiles on a 300-hectare land and you can imagine how many people that a company that sits on such an expanse of land will employ.
From the closures we got in South Africa, we are expecting that the groundbreaking will happen before the first quarter of next year and if that happens, within the next four to five years, people would begin to see how the socio economic landscape of Nigeria would change. Our unemployment numbers are expected to go down drastically and most importantly, I would have given verve to the capacity of our people to display their passion, which is to use their hands to manufacture goods. I want us to start thinking away from trading towards manufacturing. Trading is good but manufacturing is superior.
It looks good on paper but what are the reasons for this project? Could they be political or other considerations?
The man who discovered television told himself that his idea is brilliant but that he could not imagine people sitting down all day in front of a box showing pictures. But today, there is no house without a television set. Anything that is not difficult to do is not worth the price; that is why we are putting everything into this project and we are prepared and determined to wait for the challenges as they come. Part of what we have done is to conceptualise the city as a state inside a state and the House of Assembly has approved it. If my successor comes and he is not happy with it, there is nothing he can do about it. The easiest projects are the ones you can conceptualise and build. We believe that providing the enabling environment for private sector intervention in our industralisation process is superior to actually trying to use our hands to set up a company and that is what we are trying to do.
This project is so viable that even the Federal Government has invested and I have no doubts in my mind that it has taken a life of its own and it is only a question of time. I told those who work with me that I do not want my name on any street in Abia as presently constituted but I want my name in one of the streets in Enyimba economic city.
How soon will we start seeing development in the city?
The project is already progressing and I do not see any delay because the planning was thorough. An economic zone is an ecosystem you are designing for exports; therefore it should speak the international language. It is not a Nigerian thing or something you invest in because of sentiments. No billionaire in dollars will invest as a result of sentiments. Even if you are his relative, if he can’t make profit, he will not come and invest. We are not overlooking the impact of socio political factors that could undermine such a project, but the time has come for us to think big in this country because if we look at the size of our problem, we would not think. The size of the prospects of this project is big enough to surmount whatever challenges that we will face.
You have always sounded very brilliant and during your first term campaign, everyone was convinced that you were coming to do something different. There was the belief that when you came on board, you may have been frustrated by some political players that made you not to achieve some of your visions. I also recall that one of the Afrexim chair said their fear for Enyimba economic city is for it not to turn out to be like Tinapa which was started by Donald Duke and was left undeveloped after Duke left. They are worried that the same thing will happen to this project after your second tenure expires.
I will never say that during my time that because of political frustrations, there were things I couldn’t do. But I want to tell you that if we go on ground and have a look at what he have achieved, I still stand tall to say that no government before now has done better and I want to be challenged on it. The difference is that my style is different from their style. As a scientist, I deal with problems foundationally. I cannot offer what is bad to my people. I am the only person who has done roads that has seen five rainy seasons without collapsing.
We have completed 77 roads out of 140. Before now, people do roads without drainages. I remember one of the roads that one of my predecessors did four times, while I was driving through, that road was in a very bad state. I inherited huge infrastructural deficit, but I don’t want to complain because if you cry for one hour over spilled milk, it would not make it any better.
I am a teacher and I am not very good in shouting about things in the media. But at all times, if you go through the streets of Aba, you would see for yourself. For the past 40 years, no one has done drainages in Port Harcourt road but today, that entire area has drainage and if you see someone building drainages on two sides, you know that the person is preparing for a solid road. I may not have done the road as I speak but I will definitely do it. Even if I stop there, let the person coming after me go ahead and do the road. I inherited drainage infrastructural deficit and if you construct roads without drainage, it will collapse after the first rainy season in Aba. The roads we are doing now are very quality cement roads that will last for a long time. If I do road A, B, C, D, my successor can now come and do road E, F, G and not to go back to A, B, C, D. I am the only person going back to A,B,C, D.
You know the Governor of Kaduna State had problems with teachers who could not write properly and that problem is everywhere. But what did I do? I quietly brought in Australians to retrain our teachers and over 4000 of them have been retrained. At a time, because of paucity of funds, we were trying to decide whether to send our primary school teachers to Australia or send our shoe makers to China. Today, I have better teachers. I have 340 new classrooms and four model schools and that is why we have come first back-to-back in WAEC for the past four years.
There are concrete things I need to tie up in order to focus attention to where I am going. My focus is trade and commerce, small and medium scale enterprises, oil and gas, agriculture and education. As we speak, my Appeal Court matter is still going on but whatever the outcome, I must talk to you and we must move Abia forward. The man who is in court with me is the person who came third and his votes are not large enough to upturn the votes in my local government alone but he is in court to make sure that I am distracted. The hallmarks of leadership are two things; one is to be able to say that despite distractions, you will be more focused. I have not done everything that I would have loved to do but it is a thing of joy that my state has moved from a place where all that was said about Abia was Bakassi boys, Osiskankwu, kidnappers, to a place where the state is being discussed on a global platform for investments. That is the kind of conversation that I want my state to be involved in.
While we were discussing business and investment, the head of the bank told me to tell them that whatever is left of Abia equity, they would pay. That is how important Enyimba economic city is, I think the man is from Cote d’Ivoire. I met the head of Afriexim bank in Dubai on our way to South Africa and we got talking and I noticed that he was not very enthusiastic of Enyimba economic city. I had the good fortune of flying with him back to Dubai. He stood up from his cabin and invited Mr. Gupta, the president of Olam who is behind one of the flourishing special economic zones in Congo and told Gupta to come and visit the state to see for himself. Afriexim bank is now looking for the possibility of taking 100 hectares of land. There were a lot of things that the head of Afriexim didn’t initially understand that was why he was not enthusiastic. He knows better now and he is fully on board. I see the support of everybody and I appreciate the robust disposition of the Western press. Nobody de-markets his country. Things may not be going on well for them but certain things are said in hushed tones. Things are happening in many countries in Africa. In Rwanda, they have an international conference center, security, a powerful airline with brand new aircraft. The day I went there, I counted 17 on ground; they want to make that country a hub in Africa.
Nations that have succeeded are nations that put statehood very close to God. Some nations like China put statehood above God but in Nigeria, statehood is at the lowest rung but religion, tribe, language and every other thing is up there but statehood is at the lowest rung of the ladder.
There was a plan for centenary city in Abuja but that project is comatose because of the many issues over land and compensation. If Abia State is acquiring this large expanse of land to build an economic city, have you settled the issues of compensation? Also, Geometric was supposed to supply Aba with dedicated power but it hasn’t. How confident are you that it will happen in the case of the economic city?
That question is very relevant because it was asked by the investors. Nobody wants to bring in money and then go into litigation. Also, no investor wants to talk to land owners in Africa where you go and push him to see the chiefs and all of that. But Enyimba economic city has the most robust community/government engagement, compared with other economic zones in Africa. The first day I went to China to look for investors, I transported the traditional rulers, youth leaders, women leaders, stakeholders and influential priests. I paid for them to join my entourage and people thought that I was mad. Many of them had never travelled out before and we got to China, I asked them; ‘Have you seen China? They said yes. I told them this is how I want the economic city to be and that the man sitting across us is coming to build a textile industry where he would employ 12,000 people and out of them, at least 3000 or 4000 will come from their community.
The state government owns all the land but we are not taking it by force, we are giving them two options. One, they will be part owners of the city and the board membership will be rotated community by community. They will also get what they are supposed to get in terms of land preparations. As the buildings rise, they will be the ones to provide labour. We also established community liaison officers so that every community that has even one inch of land there would have a liaison officer that meets on regular basis to discuss issues that come up. If you sell your land to me, it means you have no stake in that land again and if I discover oil there, there is nothing you can do.
We are developing the city in phases and were in South Africa for the first phase which is 1300 hectares out of 9000. It’s not as if all the money we are looking for will be spent on the first phase. We are going to do the spine road, which is an eight-lane road that connects Abia with Owerri, Abia with Enugu, Abia with Ebonyi and Abia with Akwa Ibom. All the roads leading to the nine states will be connected to the city. We are going to have an eight kilometers railway that connects Aboneme to Onne to join the existing narrow gauge that we have. There is a dry port in Enyimba economic city and if you construct that eight kilometer railway, what it means is that anything you produce here goes to the port through the railway. It is a well planned and structured development that every person that is involved would benefit. For the first time, the federal and state governments and funding agencies in Africa are coming together to say yes to a project. It is deliberate and it must achieve results.
Are you preparing the people of that community for the skills that are required to be able to work there? The company may want to engage 12,000 people but those in the community may not have the skills needed to fit in.
I think the way to go is to first do our ground breaking and then we determine the anchor companies that are coming first. But we are sure that it is the textile industry that is coming. We are sure that out of the 1200 hectares that we mapped out, nearly 200 hectares will go with infrastructure because we are going to do hotel, houses for security personnel and others. A lot of skill acquisition is already going on. The commission in charge of oil producing areas, DESPOADEC in Abia State has changed its focus from providing boreholes to skill acquisition, so I am sure we can cope with the skill requirements needed for employment.
If you are building an economic city, what is going to happen to Aba? How long is this project going to take before it becomes reality?
Already, Aba is becoming very congested and it costs more to do urban renewal than to do a new city. Dubai is not more than 30 years old. There is a place they call old Dubai, where Dubai started, which is across the river and I have had the privilege of going there. That did not stop the development of the new Dubai because we are creating a city where you would work, live and play. Within that city, we have entertainment and we have health. All of the people that are interested in health are ready; We have up to 12 consultants in all aspects of health outside Nigeria that are doing well. In South Africa today, the best black neurosurgeon is a Nigerian. In some parts of America, I know that the best organ transplant surgeon is also a Nigerian. These are the kind of people that have come together to say they need a health city.
Aba will naturally benefit because they are going to provide the skills for industries like shoemaking and textiles. The largest chunk of money leaving my state today goes to China on account of importation of fabrics because our people must sew. So, if I bring that, it will ventilate the business ecosystem of Aba. If you ask me about my greatest regret in the last four years, it will be that Ariaria market is still the way it is. People are displaying their cars on the fourth floor of malls. All we need to do is to put a multi layer car park, drive through a corridor to the car park and an escalator will take up to 45 people at once. But the Ariaria traders won’t let you do anything there. I was discussing with them in my office, they ran to the House of Assembly and the Assembly sent their House committee chairman to say that I should just give them three weeks to resolve the issue.
Before now, previous governments allowed the traders to convert everywhere to shops including police stations. Ariaria doesn’t have a police station or a car park. It doesn’t have a fire service office; the fire service office became shops. People do not know that it is the car park that drives the market and once you demolish the car park, no one will come there again because I must park my car to shop. I cannot shop on the go, so, if I don’t have anywhere to park my car, I go to another place and that is why Ariaria has moved to the express.
Back to your question, Aba will be re-ventilated and to the extent that I have time to do, the redevelopment of the city will happen. In the case of Tinapa in Cross Rivers, it was not a private sector driven initiative at all. It is easy for state governments to go and borrow money and make things happen. It is also possible for the state government to provide the ambience for the private sector to come and invest. The two can happen; one is easier to do but the latter is superior but more difficult and that is why all I have been doing in the past three years is that Enyimba economic city takes up a life of its own and that is what it has done. I cannot sit here and begin to think about what my successor would do. My thing is to run on the strength and power of my vision. Any project that any governor would do that would last only while he is in office cannot transform this generation.
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