A’Ibom to train 500 indigenes in specialised courses in Argentina Posted on Saturday, July 6th, 2013 Akwa Ibom Government is to send about 500 indigenes of the state to Argentina, Britain and India for specialised courses before the end of the year to boost its manpower. Governor Godswill Akpabio, who announced this Wednesday while fielding questions from Government House correspondents in Uyo, stated “I am sending the first set of 150 Akwa Ibom children this September to India and I hope to do the same thing to Britain and even Argentina. I will like a situation whereby before the end of this year, we can have up to 500 of our children -both graduates and non-graduates studying outside the country so that we begin to build the manpower to man all the infrastructure that we are building now”. Akpabio observed “Outside building the infrastructure, you must build the people that will also enjoy the infrastructure. That is why we are trying to have a mix. Yes, you are building the infrastructure but you also think of the manpower and that is why we are beginning now to send our children abroad. We have been sending but we want to increase the tempo both for those who are going to study piloting and those who are going to do ICT”. He, however, reiterated government’s commitment to undertake large-scale production of palm oil with Argentine government for export, recalling “This same issue also came up when I met the Indian High Commissioner to Nigeria. We are looking at agriculture in two major areas: one is palm oil production. All over the world, it is becoming increasingly difficult to get palm oil. It is now even as costly as crude oil. It is in high demand. “For instance, this year alone, India has budgeted about $9.2b for importation of the oil. So I think if we can revive our Akwa Palm Industries and other palm produce farms across the State and run them on commercial basis, with seedlings that can ensure faster yields and be more productive, I think we can gain a lot and improve our internally generated revenue. According to him, “So I am looking at post-Godswill Akpabio era. My job is to put enabling infrastructure in place and the next administration should be able to generate revenue from things like farming, things like agriculture. That was why when the ambassador spoke with me, I laid out areas of cooperation between Nigeria and Argentina step-by-step. And I latch onto the agricultural elements so that we can ensure employment opportunities for our teeming youths and our farmers particularly our women because our economy is agrarian one outside the crude oil that we have”. The Governor remarked “It also came up in my discussion with Indian High Commissioner that indeed we can also pursue rubber production; we can pursue cocoa production; we can pursue palm kernel and palm oil productions. We also mentioned the aspect of day-old chicks for poultry and hatchery. “You know we have built the biggest hatchery in West Africa located at Uruan. It will be proper for us to have investors who will partner us and we can supply day-old chicks to the whole South-South Region of Nigeria. Those are my hopes and through that we will create employment opportunities while generating income and revenue for our people”, Akpabio observed. On government policy to establish one industry per local government area in the state, he explained “We have set up Akwa Ibom Industrial Promotion Commission headed by Chief Senas Ukpanah. You need to see him to know what is done in that direction. You know Rome was not built in a day. There is a period for design, there is a period of construction and there is a period for commissioning. I am very happy with the progress made so far towards industrialization. A lot is happening. The Governor stated “We are even going to commission gas processing plant in Esit Eket anytime from now. As I am speaking to you, even Mobil has keyed into it. Mobil is building 500 megawatts of Independent Power Plant. So many things are happening in the industrialization sector. It is only that industries are not something that is built in a month. Some people have applied for land for fertilizer plant and some are applying for ammonia plant. “So when I say we should have one industry per local government, eventually we may not be able to have one industry per local government area, but we should be able to have a total of 31 industries. Industries are sited nearest to raw materials. What I see as the trend now is that almost every applicant is looking at how he can export what he is going to produce. So most people are asking for the riverine, most applications are towards the Ibaka deep seaport area and the free trade zone”, he noted. Akpabio assured “Government is not going to build any further industry. We can only build hospitality centre and lease it out. In terms of Industry, be assured that a lot is happening. Applications are coming in and people are bringing in money to invest in the State. They may not all be located in one local government area or one central point. But be assured that much is happening”.
Posted on: Sat, 06 Jul 2013 17:29:58 +0000
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