[size=18pt]Okonjo-Iweala, Maduekwe, others blast Abia gov[/size]
•Set economic agenda for the state

From CHUKS ONUOHA, Umuahia, with additional report

Wednesday, December 08, 2010




World Bank Managing Director and former Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has bemoaned the growing debt profile of Abia State under Governor Theodore Orji, wondering why the state was back in debt after previous state and Federal Governments literally liquidated its debts.
Okonjo-Iweala who led a team of financial and development experts to set a new economic agenda for Abia said the time has come for the state to break out of poverty, urging the governor to provide the perquisite leadership.
The two-day summit, which ended yesterday also had notable Abians and non-Abians, including Chief Ojo Maduekwe, Onyema Ugochuckwu, Frank Nweke Jnr, Mazi Sam Ohuabunwa, among others in attendance.

While Okonjo-Iweala was particular on the new debt profile of the state, Nweke Jnr was worried that Abia State had continued to sink on every front, while Maduekwe noted that rather than talk about re-election, the wisest thing to do was for the current administration to give a good stewardship of the subsisting tenure and consequently ride on the back of that to re-election.
According to Daily Sun investigation, Okonjo Iweala’s concern stemmed from what appeared to be a borrowing spree embarked upon by the current administration soon after Orji assumed office. At one instance the state government was said to be owing virtually every bank in the state and servicing the loans soon made it impossible to meet several other obligations.

The economic summit, the first of its kind in the state, was aimed at placing the state on the right pedestal to maximise its full potential for sustainable economic growth.

The agenda, which emerged at the summit had all the stakeholders, including the state government, agreeing that time had really come for Abia to break out from the “locust years” and chart a new course for a sustainable economic growth.

Okonjo-Iweala, who set the tone of the agenda in her keynote address, was “brutally frank” in her assessment of the performance of past and present governments in Abia.
She said Abia is a state that “we all know is developing below its potential” and that “Abians do not feel the presence of their government.
“It is a state that could be driving the Nigerian economy, but instead is way behind where it should be because of poor management and poor infrastructure (hence) Abia’s development is behind the national average with poor showing on social indicators.”

The World Bank boss noted that with the strategic importance of Abia in the South-east zone and Nigeria, it must take its rightful place and become a strong contributor to Nigeria’s economy by building on past strategies like SEEDS and identifying new opportunities.

“Abia’s economic landscape looks dismal. Most formal industries in the state have either closed shops or are performing well below capacity. Only the informal sector of manufacturing SME’s in Aba is thriving along with trading. Most Abians depend on remittance sent by relatives outside the state . Yet Abia has a vision and strategy for its development laid out in as early as 2005 that is the state economic empowerment development strategy (ABSEEDS). ABSEEDS is a roadmap for Abia state to harness its resources and choose the appropriate route to industrialization and economic development. The document is progressive in recognising that private capital can play a vital role in stimulating industrial growth and alleviating poverty through privatization of state parastatals, public partnerships and other collective efforts .
After mapping out the priorities , the first thing people ask is always money. How do we finance the development agenda? This is a legitimate and important question. My answer is that we need to proactively and creatively find resources for our development. Abia was very constrained by debt burden until it was relieved.

At this juncture , she explained that the Paris Club wrote off all the debts being owed during the time she was in the office. “I do not know the current annual budget flows from the Federal Government to the state, but what ever we get must be efficiently used .

In the meantime, we can no longer fall into the delusion that we can rely solely on the financial resources from the federal government to support our development vision. We need to increase our own internally generated resources and revenue . We are starting from a very low base. It also means that the space for potential increase is big.
“Another idea is to issue a Diaspora bond to tap into the vast resources in the Abians overseas to supplement the state finance. That said , to me finance is not the bottleneck for Abia’s growth. The fundamental constraint is lack of good governance. Returning to where I started, for Abia to have any development prospect, and embark on a new development path we need to get our own house in order.

“We should confront the paramount challenges in security, governance and infrastructure. Only with a secure and business friendly environment we can make full use of our vast human capital to develop the economy by focusing on selected sectors of comparative advantage such as education and health services, manufacturing, construction and IT-related industries and agriculture.”

She, therefore, called on Abia to take advantage of its vast potentials in human and natural resources to expand its frontiers of development, adding that the new development agenda could be achieved without relying solely on money but by “proactively and creatively” locating and utilising resources needed for development.

Governor Theodore Orji spelt out his vision for the envisaged economic growth of Abia, saying that it would revolve around sustainable security, revival of Aba, the industrial and commercial of the state, as well as resuscitation of moribund industries and provision of conducive environment for the private investors to do business in the state.
In one of the sessions, a panel of discussants that included chairman of Nigeria Economic Summit Group, Mazi Sam Ohuabunwa, Executive secretary, Frank Nweke, Jnr; Kalu Idika Kalu, Diamond Bank Managing Director, Emeka Onwuka, Chief Ojo Maduekwe, Chief Onyema Ugochukwu, Senator Uche Chukwumerije, among others spelt out a number of things that needed to be done to drive Abia’s economy.

In his own contribution Frank Nweke (jnr) said for any economy to move forward, the leadership of the state “ must have a clear vision, put the right team in place and hold them accountable. When we had two spark leadership in government, we achieved a lot. Followership is as important as leadership,” he said.

Senator Chukwumerije said that the state was yet to get to the root of the crime of kidnapping, adding that “we have only driven away the kingpins”, adding that if the federal government can invest 10 percent of what they have invested in other states, in Abia, the state can sustain the success already achieved. Ugochukwu said that Abia state has been living on what he described as the years of the locust. “What needs to be done is to have the focus, political will to implement the good plans. People shy away from investing here because of lack of infrastructure and security situation” Kalu Idika Kalu said that sense of mobilization is what the state have to seek. The leadership in the state should go out to ensure that every community has a sense of belonging to the government in power. There should be a sense of belonging and a team that will do that should be set up.”

Sam Ohuabunwa said that the critical thing in dealing with poverty is investment. The existing advantage we have is that anything can be made in Aba. He said that things must be done according to rules for any state to move forward.
Reacting after the discussion, Dr Okonjo Iweala said that one of the worst situation that is driving people away from Aba is it nature of uncleanliness. “Why don’t you clean up Aba so that Investors who come can feel safe.”
She explained that she once came to Aba with some one who should have invested in the city but that the dirty nature of the city drove him away and since then it is difficult for her to invite any body. Aba should be the China of Africa, but people live inside rubbish and children play inside rubbish in Aba,” Iweala lamented.


http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2010/dec/08/national-08-12-2010-28.htm

Now that is what I am talking about.
Holding your own state government accountable for it's failures, irrespective of how they got there.

The best thing I have read all day.

Where are those m0r0ns blaming the Northerners?
Good news. . . there are people with brains who disagree with you.

The woman just wasted her precious time on that graduant of okija shrine governour who is noting but a THIEF. He has resolved nt 2do anything but LOOT. If u like bring Bill Gate, Dornald Trump or Ban ki mon to chart an economic way out for Abia state dis current Thief as governour, thier wount still be progress reasons been that d governour was raised by BIG THIEF CALLED ORJI UZOR KALU, HE THEODORE ORJI has perfected d act of stealing, his mindset is so distorted to the extent he hardly make sense when he speaks. For 4yrs all we got from him was d institulization of crime and d breading of all maner of criminals. My advice: he shld be picked and buried alife or better still feed him 2d crocks.

I pray that the people of Abia state vote the governor and his party all the way out in the next elections.

She, therefore, called on Abia to take advantage of its vast potentials in human and natural resources to expand its frontiers of development, adding that the new development agenda could be achieved without relying solely on money but by “proactively and creatively” locating and utilising resources needed for development.

Who/what is Abia if not T.A Orji?