Presidential candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has promised to revive ailing industries and ensure massive development in the South East to assuage the past difficulties of the region if elected.
He spoke at a town hall meeting with leaders of the private sector and trade associations, yesterday, in Owerri, Imo State.
The APC candidate made the promise while responding to the request from Ebonyi State Governor, David Umahi, on what he has in stock for the South East that have been neglected and abandoned since the end of the civil war.
Enumerating his plans after becoming president from May 29, 2023, he said new industrial hubs would be created in Aba and Owerri, while already existing ones would be modernised.
In a statement signed by Tunde Rahman of Tinubu Media Office, Asiwaju equally spoke on making credit facilities available to the traders across the region and the country in general.
“My government will build an economy with a growing industrial base, more and better jobs for our youths and more high-quality home-grown goods to sell and merchandise.
“We shall establish industrial hubs throughout the nation and modernise existing ones. We will encourage and facilitate greater production in places like Owerri and Aba. At the same time, we shall broaden opportunities for you to engage in more international commerce by steering more activity towards ports outside of Lagos such as Onne.
“I envision the Owerri-Port Harcourt and Aba-Port Harcourt corridors becoming more active and lucrative trade and manufacturing corridors than they already are.
“My administration will establish policies that widen your horizons and expand your business reach both in terms of goods you sell and your geographic reach to new markets.
“Working with the state governments, the Central Bank of Nigeria and banking industry, we shall embark on a two-pronged credit revolution.
“First, on the sale and supply side, we shall seek to drive down interest rates on business loans, especially for investment in manufacturing as well as small and medium sized enterprises.
“Secondly, we seek to make consumer loans more available. This will allow more people to afford and buy more high-quality goods from you. By empowering the consumer, we increase economic activity and prosperity for the overall economy as well as for your individual businesses.
“We will put in place policies that will boost trade and commerce. We will solve the forex crisis and ensure traders like you have easy access to a unified forex market. We shall seek to revive struggling industries in this region and throughout the nation.
“Working with Governor Hope Uzodimma, we shall continue to push to return Avutu Poultry to its status as a world class farm. This will increase food and nutrition while creating jobs and giving us a chance to open new markets. Ada Palm can, once again, become a fulcrum of job creation and foreign currency earnings.”
On infrastructure development, the APC presidential flag-bearer said the Sam Mbakwe International Cargo Airport, Owerri would become fully operational to help large-scale movement of goods across the region while priority would also be placed on the completion of the Abakaliki-Benin section of the rail project, integrating the South East to the national rail system.
“Our national infrastructure plan shall pay great attention to roadways eaten by erosion and flooding. We shall give traders the sound roads they deserve to move goods for the benefit of the rest of the population.
“For those of you in the agricultural sector, commodity exchange boards and other measures will be established to better link local markets and farmers with the global economy while also assuring them minimum prices for their harvests. The idea is to boost farm incomes, thus giving farmers greater incentive to produce more.
“We can hold to little of these good economic things without adequate peace and security. Our response to terror, kidnapping and violent criminality includes increased manpower, better communications and mobility equipment and training,” Tinubu said.
The former Lagos State governor also did not fail to mention he would work towards integrating all regions in the country to ensure Nigeria continues to remain in unity.
“For me, the unity of this nation is sacrosanct, it is non-negotiable. However, I realise many people have genuine and painful grievances in need of fair and durable resolution.
“My government will be comprised of people from every section of the country and ready to discuss legitimate grievances with those in search of a peaceful resolution.
“Our nation is still in its infancy compared to other nations. I am proud of how far this nation has come. I also understand the great strides still to be made if we are to build for ourselves a nation of democratic good governance, development, justice, and unity,” he said.
