Our Reporter, New York
Investment banker and development economist Dr. Obiaraeri Onyeka Nnaemeka has explained how the South-East governors can generate over $4bn annually by establishing agro-clusters in each of the ninety-five local government areas of the region. The entrepreneur discussed the ideas during an exclusive interview with Rudolf Okonkwo on 90MinutesAfrica.
“In the South-East, we have 95 local government areas, and I told the governors that if they invest $6m to set up agro-clusters in every LGA, I will show them how that can unlock $42m every year from each cluster,” Dr. Obiaraeri said.
He explained that the scheme would involve the communities providing the land; the government providing the basic infrastructure, and the private sector being the produce takers.
“The communities will donate the land, and their sons and daughters will manage it. All the government will do is provide the basics like access roads, water, and security. We will bring the technology, provide the training, provide the seedlings, and off-take everything they produce.”
The ex-banker assured the governors that they don’t need to spend any of their allocation on the scheme. He said he and his team would institute a transparent framework that would create over a thousand jobs in each electoral ward and generate at least five billion naira annually from each ward.
Using his home state of Imo as an illustration, Obiaraeri said: “Imo State has 305 wards. Imagine the State is generating three billion naira in annual revenue from each of those wards; that will be one trillion naira per year. Imo State’s federal allocation over the past five years is not up to one trillion naira.”
During the interview, the development economist discussed Nigeria’s economy and how President Bola Tinubu dropped the ball in his economic reforms. He said the twin policies of petrol subsidy removal and the exchange rate unification were good, but the government failed to eliminate the underlying issues that created the problems in the first place.
He also pushed back on Vice President Kashim Shettima’s claim that Nigeria is the greatest black nation on earth, arguing that Nigeria is the most populous black nation with the highest concentration of poor people in the world.
“Shettima is grandstanding in emptiness. Nigeria has failed Africa because of men like him,” Obiaraeri said.
