Ben Ezechime, Enugu
Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu State has said that as part of efforts by his administration to grow the state’s economy from $4.4bn to $30bn and ensure food security, tractors needed for farming in the state will be produced in the state before the end of 2025.
The governor said this when he received the newly elected president of the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association, NECA, Dr. Ifeanyi Okoye, and other leaders of the association at the Government House, Enugu, at the weekend.
He reiterated his administration’s commitment to creating a business-friendly environment and helping to de-risk investments in the state, calling on investors to key into the growing investment revolution in the state.
“We are ready for business and we are open for business. You could not make a better choice than Enugu when you are thinking about where to invest or where to grow your wealth because you are dealing with a government that is business-friendly and we do not only think about creating the environment for businesses to thrive, we are also interested in working with you collaboratively either as a Joint Venture (JV) or Private Public Sector Partnership (PPP) or even helping you to de-risk the investment flow. We are interested in listening to you, knowing what areas that would make it possible for you to invest.
“We have just signed an order with a Danish company that is coming here to manufacture their tractors. So, our target is that before the end of the year, we would have been able to assemble over 300 tractors. Our ultimate target in the medium term is to get up to 1,000 tractors before the end of next year.
“What this means is that you would not have to import the machinery and the implements you need to be able to farm in Enugu State.
“Again, we are interested in value addition and processing too. We are building a Special Processing Zone where we expect that as we plan to scale up our production in the agricultural space, we also have produce cities where those things can be processed. It is not just producing and exporting them raw. We are planning to add value, create and capture those values,” Mbah said.
He added that the government was taking measures to ensure the availability of the necessary infrastructure, ranging from urban roads to access roads to farm, power, and water, while also making huge investments in security and collaborating with security agencies to sustain and strengthen the relative security attained by the state in the last 15 months.
“In the area of roads, our target is to make sure that all our streets, all our roads in the city are paved and we are already achieving that. Just recently, we completed the 71 roads we awarded last October and we again awarded another 141 roads. We are also making sure that we also get our rural roads paved, most importantly the access road to the farmlands because we have some ambitious target in our agricultural sector where we now have over 300,000 hectares of land in our landbank,” he said.
Mbah congratulated Dr. Okoye, who is also the Managing Director of Juhel Nigeria Limited, on his emergence as NECA President, assuring of his administration’s readiness to collaborate with NECA to create more economic opportunities in the state.
Speaking earlier, the NECA leadership pledged unwavering commitment to fostering partnerships that will catalayse socio-economic development in Enugu State and the South-East, having observed the governor’s vision and business-minded approach to governance.
“We have closely observed your outstanding leadership, coupled with your clear vision for the transformation of Enugu State. Your administration’s focus on economic diversification, infrastructure development, and human capital enhancement aligns perfectly with NECA’s objectives.
“We believe that through strong collaboration between the public and private sectors, we can collectively drive growth, create jobs, and improve the overall well-being of the citizens,” the NECA president stated.
