Speech delivered by His Excellency, Governor Willie
Obiano of Anambra State in a ... with journalists
and investors at an event tagged "An
#EveningWithObiano"
Obiano of Anambra State in a ... with journalists
and investors at an event tagged "An
#EveningWithObiano"
"Our objective is to become one of the top 3
industrialized states in Nigeria. We are pursuing this
in four key areas – Creation of modern Industrial
Parks and Small-to-medium Enterprise Clusters,
Improved Drive for Investment and better Access to
Financing and Strategic Capacity Building.
Today, we have so far attracted over $140 million
of investment to the manufacturing sector. Ndi be
anyi, odi ofele?
Next on my Economic Pillar is Trade & Commerce
Our objective in Trade and Commerce is to move
Anambra to the Top-3 states in Trade and
Commerce in Nigeria. To achieve this, we are
rehabilitating our existing markets and building new
ones alongside ultramodern shopping malls across
the state.
Here are some of our key achievements in the past
two years:
We commissioned the ultramodern Onitsha
Shopping Mall in April this year to give our people a
taste of a world class shopping experience. The
Mall is one of the Continuity Projects I inherited
from my predecessor which I have commissioned
as I promised during my campaign days. Ana ekwu
ekwu, ana eme eme!
Work is progressing smoothly on the two other
malls in Nnewi and Awka at the moment. We have
flagged off the construction of a $350 million
wholesale shopping complex in Ogbunike in Oyi
LGA. This commercial and lifestyle complex will be
the first of its kind in Africa. The retail outlets will
be operated by leading brands from across the
world. Similarly, the 1st Phase of the 20,000-unit
International Market at Oba in Idemili South Local
Government Area valued at $75 million dollars is
nearing completion while Expression of Interest has
been concluded on the Umunze International Market.
The fourth Economic Pillar is Oil & Gas
Anambra State is blessed with over one billion
barrels of oil and 30 trillion cubic feet of gas. Our
target is to have a fully developed Oil & Gas sector
by 2018. We intend to achieve this through 3
broad areas of intervention – policy formulation &
infrastructure development, private sector
participation and community re-orientation.
In the area of Policy Formulation, we have crafted
far-sighted policies to drive the development of this
sector. In fact, my bill proposing the establishment
of the Anambra State Oil & Gas Development
Agency has already been passed into law.
As a follow up, we have also set up the Oil and
Gas Advisory Committee headed by Dr. Emmanuel
Egboga, the former Special Adviser to the
President on Petroleum Matters. This committee is
charged with drafting a comprehensive Blueprint
for the Oil & Gas sector and advising the State on
the necessary steps that would ensure the
recognition of Anambra as the 10th Oil Producing
State in Nigeria.
We have opened access to the oil fields by
building Anambra’s longest bridge across the
Omambala River in Aguleri. The bridge is 280
meter long and the road is 42KM. This bridge has
since been completed.
We are also building two other bridges to the oil
fields through Umueje in Ayamelum and Umudiora
in Anambra West Local Government Areas.
The importance of these roads and bridges can only
be understood if we remember that there was no
access to the oilfields of Aguleri before now from
Anambra State. It could only be accessed through
Enugu State.
Similarly, we have concluded plans to pipe ATK
(aviation fuel) from the Orient Petroleum Refinery
to the proposed cargo Airport in Umueri where a
storage facility will be built for it. The idea is for
the airport to serve as a major hub for the re-
fuelling of international flights in West Africa.
We have since flagged off the construction of three
dual-carriage ways that will open up access to the
proposed airport from three strategic directions –
Umueri, Awkuzu and Nteje axis." - Willie Obiano,
Governor of Anambra State
