-Industrialists lament waste
(Culled from The Sun Newspaper, Wed., July 2, 2014)
One of the visions of the late Dr. Sam Mbakwe, the first executive governor of old Imo State, which comprised the present Abia State and some parts of Ebonyi State was to ensure that the state was industrialized.
To achieve this, Mbakwe had established industrial estates in Aba and Owerri. In 1981 to be precise he had established the Imo State industrial layout situated along the Owerri-Onitsha road to ensure that old Imo State has sufficient manufacturing concerns not only to boost commerce but to equally provide employment for the citizens of the state.
Vehicles stranded along the water-logged major road at the industrial layout Owerri , while another tries to "swim" through.
Vehicles stranded along the water-logged major road at the industrial layout Owerri , while another tries to “swim” through.

In the early 1990s, Imo State had about 1,858 manufacturing industries and the majority of them were situated in the industrial layout, which had provided gainfully employment for thousands of teeming youths and other citizens of the state.
This was beside the revenue in generation for the government of the state through taxes.
However, over the years as successive governments failed to provide good access roads and other basic infrastructure to the industrial layout it inevitably forced most of the manufacturing factories to relocate to areas that are more accessible, leaving the hitherto vibrant industrial estate comatose.
It would be recalled that immediately Owelle Rochas Okorocha was sworn in as governor of Imo state he had budgeted the sum of N15 billion each for the revival of state-owned companies, as well as to create enabling environment by providing infrastructure needed in the already existing industrial layout in the state as part of his rescue mission agenda.
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But three years down the line, the situation in the industrial layout has not changed, neither is there any effort by the state government to provide access road and other infrastructure needed to revive the vast industrial layout and thus bring industrialists back to the place.
When Oriental News recently visited the expansive industrial layout now lying waste, it was discovered that the place has been long abandoned as the majority of the industries have become the abode of dangerous reptiles and hideout for hoodlums.
Some of the few companies that are still opening, mostly construction firms complained bitterly of the terrible state of the access roads to the industrial layout.
A staff of one of the construction firms, Onyeka Samuel told Oriental News that one of the major problems facing the few companies still in the area was the terrible conditions of the roads which only big trucks or jeeps could ply.
He said that no small car could pass through the roads, disclosing that most manufacturing companies had long abandoned the place because the state government has refused to provide good access roads to the industrial layout.
“You can see for yourself that all the roads leading to this place are in terrible condition and there is no way people can come here to establish their companies and even those who were here before had long abandoned their factories. We are still here because we are into civil engineering, and so we do not manufacture any product, but sell our services.
“Our clients do not come to our office because of the bad roads, when they want our services they will call and ask for a meeting with the management of the company in their own offices in town. Even state government officials who are in charge of internal revenues have to get to this place in jeeps to assess taxes of the very few companies that are still operating here, mostly the construction companies”, he said.
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Also speaking in the same vein, Chukwuemeka Nnamdi, a staff of Crystal Company, a firm producing edible oil, corroborated that the major problem they face in the industrial layout was lack of access road, saying that most of their customers find it extremely difficult to come to their factory especially during the rainy season.
He pointed out that besides shortage power and water which companies in the industrial layout had devised means of providing by themselves, the place, he said, was not secured as the only police post in the area has long been abandoned.
It is a herculean task for the few factories that are still operating in this place because besides the absence of power and water, there is no security because the only police post in the entire area has been long abandoned, not to talk about the terrible roads in the place. Even it is always difficult for workers to get to their factories and ferried to the place in the trucks of their companies because the only transport that could take one to this place are motorcycles”, he lamented.
Similarly, Chief Felix Uwakwe, an entrepreneur, pointed out that the industrialists had to abandon the industrial layout because successive governments after the late Sam Mbakwe had been paying lip service to industrializing the state as they did not provide the enabling environment for industries to thrive in the state.
He wondered what the Ministry of Industry was created for when it has no plans to industrialize the state or help revive the moribund ones.
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“The problem with this government like its predecessors is that they think that erecting market stalls is an industry and that is why they have been constructing shops all over the state which they will sell to traders while neglecting to give attention to the real sector which is manufacturing and production of goods. If the government is really interested in industrializing the state it would have ensured that the vast Imo State Industrial Layout would not have been abandoned because of the lack of security, water and access roads.
“In some other places the government would have provided the needed infrastructure in the industrial layout to lessen the expenses of prospective entrepreneurs, but that has not been done and so it was no surprise that the place has been abandoned by the majority of the companies and the government is not worried about the state of affairs, instead they are granting licenses on a daily basis for people to build hotels in Owerri”, he regretted.
He further stated that “the state governor imported uniforms and sandals from China because, according to him, there was no industry in the state that had the capacity to produce over 600,000 school uniforms in one month, but what has the same governor done to ensure that the local cloth making outlets have the

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Omeleme

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