By Samuel
The Abia State Government has revealed plans to resuscitate moribund agro-processing industries within the state.
The State Governor, Okezie Ikpeazu stated this at a stakeholders’ validation workshop on Abia State Industrial Policy and Strategy at the Michael Okpara Auditorium in Umuahia, the state’s capital.
Okezie, represented by the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Chris Ezem, noted that the resuscitation will be extended to other industries alike.
He assured residents of the total implementation of the policy while seeking the support of the House of Assembly to ensure that it sails through.
He said, “This draft document, as soon as it is executed, will form the policy thrust for Abia State with respect to industries.
“I want to assure you that the government will implement it to the latter all that is in that document once it is executed.
“This programme is key to us. It is very important because we don’t want to just bring out a document, strike out a policy thrust statement, and pass it on to everybody.
“What we are doing is to have the understanding and input of everybody from all nooks and crannies of the industrial community, so that it can be part of this embracing document, which will form the policy thrust of Abia State with respect to industries.”
The governor also noted that the state would scale up its investment stakes in agriculture, seeing that the world is currently making a shift from crude oil to agriculture.
According to him, the policy will entail support for farmers and all stakeholders within the agricultural value chain.
“The Commissioner for Agriculture, at the last Exco meeting, was given a marching order to do everything we need to do to shore up our stake with respect to our investment in the area of agriculture.
“We know this is the way to go. We know what the crude oil market is doing today and we know that the best way to go is to sustain ourselves in the area of food by making sure that we support farmers and all the stakeholders in agricultural business,” he assured.