‘Orji’s Plea To Foreign Investors Is Yielding Results’

 

Diaspora Special Adviser in the now dissolved cabinet of Governor Theodore Orji, Kingsley Megwara, gives an update of successes recorded by the governor’s drive to attract investors to Abia, including the dialysis centre which was commissioned last Tuesday. Excerpts:

YOU have just commissioned a modern dialysis centre. What does this point to in your legacy projects series?

  Last Tuesday we commissioned the Abia Diagnostic and Dialysis Center and the event was witnessed by the Minister of Health Professor Onyebuchi Chukwu who was on hand to open the centre, located at the Abia State Specialist Hospital, with six newly installed dialysis machines. Several prominent Abians including Ambassador Ojo Maduekwe, Bishop Ikechi Nwosu, Dr Anagha Ezeikpe and Professor Mbanaso applauded the pace setting gesture of the governor.

  Additionally, the Nigerian Optometric Association in its 37th annual conference gave her most prestigious award to Governor Orji for his leadership role in the health care service sector of the state.
  In summary, Abia remains the leading state in Nigeria with over 710 primary health care centres located in 291 political wards in the state. We have been able to bring health care closer to our people making us the leading state in the immunization of communicable and preventable diseases in the Southeast. So, we are not surprised that these awards continue to pour in for the governor for his developmental and innovative strides.

  How did Abia State fare in China when the governor i accompanied President Goodluck Jonathan in his recent visit to the country?

  There was a town hall meeting organised for President Jonathan by Nigerians in China. Governor Orji used the opportunity to meet Abians under the auspices of the Abia Progressive Union in China. They congratulated him on his legacy projects dotted all over the state capital and the three Senatorial zones. On his part, the governor accompanied by Chief Eleanya Okoroji, President Aba Chamber of Commerce pleaded with them to remain law abiding citizens in the country they have found themselves shunning the lure of drug business and addiction. Hard work, he told them, remained the hallmark of Abians while integrity was their virtue. He pleaded with Abians who had set up factories in Gwanzo and other Chinese cities to come home and replicate same in Aba, Umuahia and Ohafia. He promised to return soon to meet with them.
   Also in far away Atlanta, the governor’s wife, Mrs. Odochi Orji was honoured by the Nigerian women in Atlanta with their highest award ever given to the wife of any governor in Nigeria. The Woman of Valour award was made because of her contribution to the development of the girl child in Abia State. Other contributions cited include her role in the fight against HIV/AIDS and child prostitution. Abians living in the USA hosted her to a banquet after the award. The First Lady promised she would continue to push for those values that elevate womanhood and their participation in the electoral process.

 How do you quantify Abia’s gains from the last Nigeria-Canadian Investment conference in Ottawa?

  Abia State featured prominently with our son Ojo Maduekwe as host.  We connected very well with the three Canadian ministries of Transport, Commerce and Industry as well as Education and their ministers. Quite frankly, after the conference most of the leads were followed up. We moved from Toronto to Ottawa at the behest of the investors. Maduekwe was extremely helpful marketing our potentials and capacities with prospective investors. For us the aim was to advertise Abia as a new investment haven. One of our unique selling points was the recognition that Abia State as one of the safest investment havens in the country and this is an obvious attraction to investors plus our ranking as the first in the country in terms of human resource development.
   Aba of course remains an attractive investment destination as a commercial nerve centre of the east attracting the West Coast countries. Right now we are getting ready to sign a document on a sister state relationship basis with Ottawa extending to cultural, educational and scientific fields. There is for example, the O.C. Transpo Corp-the largest transport company in Canada, which we visited, and evolving to a working relationship in the development of our mass transport company. We are also in touch with an environmental and food processing company.
In our calendar of events, we are expecting a group of South African companies interested in Abia State. They include Sell123 URL Co, Ambassador Foods Company, OTVMS Verman Co, West Plan Management & Recycle Co, John Wood International Co and the Nigerian Business Community. John Rossiter, Board Director, Ottawa Provincial Regulatory Authority was of great assistance. We are also looking forward to a London conference in September where a town hall meeting will dwell on the need for Abians to come home regularly and be part of the development process that is unfolding under this administration.

  What is your response to the accusation by Governor Orji’s opponents that he travels frequently?

 But, that is not true; the accusation is false. Last year, Governor Orji made two international travels primarily to meet prospective investors and persuade Abians to come home. Some governors are known to have travelled over 63 times during their tenure whereas Governor Orji has not exceeded 10 trips in six years. The governor believes problems at home are paramount and everybody knows him to be a homeboy, therefore it is laughable to make insinuations that the governor travels abroad more frequently than expected.

  Governor Orji is focused on work and proactive activity has been his forte in the last six years with a modern conference centre, over 265 clinics including the mobile models, over 100 hospitals each with a capacity for 100 beds in the Senatorial zones, electricity and water for the urban and rural parts of the country with massive housing and road projects.
  I am an Abian and I can tell you no governor that ruled Abia till date has been able to do this much. Above all, he has brought peace and tranquillity to the state.

The popular mantra here is that he has surpassed the expectations of both the pessimists and optimists. Twenty years from today historians and Abians will judge him favourably. In many of the town hall meetings held, the positive response to the governor’s administration has resonated more often than his opponents could bear and it is understandable why they behave the way they do.

What do you make of former Governor Orji Uzor Kalu’s criticism of your principal Governor Theodore Orji? 

I know where we are coming from. This state was in a shambles due to the maladministration of the former Governor. His Excellency Governor Theodore Orji has succeeded in laying the right foundation for progress and from now henceforth Abians will have every reason to expect an evolution of a great state, a state they will always be proud of.