Given her enormous natural and human resources for wealth creation, Governor Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom State says the big oil state is the best destination for investment in the country,
The governor was speakingat a dinner he organised for officials of the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) at the Government House, Uyo.
While pointing out that there are several industries in the kitty that will soon berth and requested for serious partnership with the investment agency, Governor Udom added, ‘’with viable gateways such as water, air, land and good road infrastructure across the state, there is no business that cannot thrive in Akwa Ibom given its serene and secured ambience.’’
He also said that over 150 megawatts of electricity is generated by the Independent Power Plant in Ikot Abasi, and only a very minute fraction of the generated power is consumed within the state, and explained, ‘’we are giving the power infrastructure in our state a major boost with Provision of Standard sub stations to ensure power stability and enhance the development of small and medium scale enterprise.’’
While appreciating the NSIA officials for the choice of the state for the retreat also highlighted some of the development strides recorded by government in healthcare, agriculture, education and industrial sector of the economy, the governor added that the state has invested in the power sector to ensure that every citizen has access to electricity by ensuring that digital meters which now produced in the state, are installed at every home for proper billings.
According to Governor Udom, ‘’Akwa Ibom has invested in sports development and the gains are beginning to manifest in the field of soccer and athletics. The Coconut refinery is another mega bucks investment given the price of coconut oil in the international market. With about $80 million as loan facility the refinery project will soon be ready and the credit facilty repaid within five years.’’
He then called on the NSIA to facilitate the process and also help in the development of other areas of investment.
Chairman, Board of the NSIA, Jide Zietlin, applauded the governor for the insights in exploring the investment potential of the state and the bold steps taken to make Akwa Ibom and investors Haven.
This, he said, informed the choice of the state for the retreat and assured that the retreat would enable the team explore and make recommendations on the areas for priority for partnership, and thanked the government and the people for the warm reception to his team.
