Sam Hart
The most important ingredient required for any remarkable accomplishment is clarity of vision and direction. As has been oft emphasised, Abia State Governor, Dr. Okezie Victor Ikpeazu was very clear from the get go on what he wanted to do with the innate potential that was lying untapped in the Aba creative sector.
Governor Ikpeazu analysed the myriad challenges facing the Aba productive sector and narrowed them down to 5 broad areas to wit:
Lack of Access to Finance
Lack of Access to Power
Lack of Automation
Loss of Confidence and Market Share
Lack of Quality
Lack of Access to Finance
The Aba Producers have for years, been producing under very difficult financial burden. The average Aba producer could not access needed financing to upscale their production and that was a huge challenge. Today, a lot has been done by the Ikpeazu administration to mitigate that challenge. Most of the businesses were informal concerns without basic book-keeping and legal documentation to make them viable for funding opportunities.
Governor Ikpeazu released funds for free registration of businesses in Abia State and thousands of businesses benefitted from that gesture. An MSME Microfinance Bank was established with an offtake seed of N100M which grants loans to producers in Aba with minimal requirements. Other intervention funds were harnessed from available federal and state initiatives to ensure flow of much needed funding to the Aba produced and today, that challenge has been significantly dented. There is also the N1B funding facility from the Bank of Industry for which the Abia State Government matched will N500M counterpart funding and Aba businessmen are accessing that facility.
Several other initiatives to guarantee flow of operational funding for Aba businesses are being worked out but suffice it to say that a lot of progress has been made from 2015 till date.
Lack of Access to Power
Prior to 2015, the power situation within the production cluster in Aba was abysmal with hundreds of thousands of generators littering the cluster. This came with noise and environmental pollution hazards as well as a dent on the production costs of the producers. Governor Ikpeazu personally embarked on shuttle diplomacy with all parties involved seeking a multi-pronged resolution of the challenge. While engaging with Geometric Power to untangle the hindrance to their commencing operations, he also engaged with the Rural Electrification Agency to come to the help of Aba Producers.
Today, the Rural Electrification Agency, in partnership with the Abia State Government, has commissioned an Independent Power Project – The Aba IPP – which at the moment, is providing 24 hour uninterrupted power to 35,000 shops inside the Ariaria International Market. The constant intervention on behalf of Geometric Power has equally yielded fruit as the issues surrounded the project has been resolved with the personal involvement of the Governor – including travelling with the management abroad to seek additional funding and new investors – as well as interfacing with the Federal Government for waivers and relaxation of difficult operational conditions.
Assurances are that the project will be switched on imminently and that would greatly resolve the power situation in Aba leading to increased productivity and drastic cut in cost of production.
Lack of Automation
For all it’s fame and acclaim, the bulk of production in Aba has always been manual with scant or negligible automation in production processes. In a rapidly advancing industrialised world, the Aba producer faced extinction if they were left to continue with their methods as manual production was simply not competitive against automated competitors.
Governor Ikpeazu confronted that challenge head-on. First, he personally embarked on an exploratory trip to China to understand modern techniques in shoe-making and upon return, he arranged for 30 shoemakers in Aba to be sent to China to be embedded in the shoe factories to learn automated shoemaking. Upon the return of the trainees, Governor Ikpeazu purchased the machines that were used in China and set up the Enyimba Automated Shoe Company (ENASCO), a state-of-the-art shoe factory with the most modern shoemaking equipments and machinery to guarantee improved production and large orders. The Factory has been handed over to proven private sector operators and the factory has commenced production.
Having tackled the shoe sector and mindful of the fact that Aba production prowess rests on two pillars of leather and garment works, Governor Ikpeazu has set his sight on replicating the ENASCO model in the garment sector.
The Governor dispatched a team of aides to Turkey, Bangladesh and Vietnam – world leaders in industrial garment making – to understudy production in those countries with a view to replicating the same in Aba.
The vision is that while at the moment, the bulk of garment production in Aba is bespoke and small orders, the citing of a garment production factory in Aba will raise the game and spawn bulk producers of ready to wear clothing lines and capacity for handling large orders for schools, military and paramilitary organisations as well as corporates requiring bulk production of garment essentials. The ultimate aim is to produce in Aba in bulk and export to the world as facilities that exist in countries were these orders are currently being sent will be present in Aba.
The Enyimba Automated Garment Company is envisioned to commence operations by the 3rd quarter of 2021.
Loss of Confidence and Market Share
The creative ingenuity of the Aba producer has long since been established. But due to a loss of market share occasioned by a myriad of issues, the Aba producer lost confidence in their products and began labeling their creations with foreign brands. Governor Ikpeazu would often lament why an Aba creative would toil day and night to produce a creative masterpiece and end up giving the credit to a company far removed who are unaware of the work that was done! He decided to lead from the front in restoring the confidence of the Aba producer.
From his inauguration as Governor till date, in line with his avowal, Governor Ikpeazu has only worn articles of clothing produced in Abia State. He has also personally given the works of Abia creatives as gifts to political and cultural influencers and have proudly proclaimed the ingenuity of Abia producers wherever he went.
He has ensured that Aba is put firmly on the map of global creative conversations by showcasing the ingenuity of Aba producers at various fora. He has organised trade exhibitions and shows for Aba Producers in Abuja, Lagos, New York, South Africa, London, Egypt and other places where he took the producers along to showcase their products which stood shoulder to shoulder with global brands.
Today, no fashion conversation is held without Aba featuring. Organisers of fashion events are always extending invitations to Aba producers to participate in local and global exhibitions.
Aba producers have regained their confidence as they now travel frequently on the strength of their works. Creatives have regained the confidence to proudly label their works MADE IN ABA as it is no longer inferior to other brands. They are making waves and earning accolades and there is no going back from here. Aba is back at the table of creative conversations and this is thanks to the vision of Governor Okezie Ikpeazu.
Lack of Quality
Another major bane that led to the decline in the dominance of Aba in the creative space was a glaring lack of quality in the products that emerged from Aba. Aba was soon synonymous with inferiority as low-quality products irrespective of their origin were derisively dubbed Aba Made. Governor Ikpeazu would have none of that. He set up an Abia State Maketing and Quality Management Agency with the twin mandate of finding new markets for goods made in Abia State and ensuring their quality.
The Agency swung into action and has been working to interpret the vision of the Governor as clearly enunciated. Goods made in Abia State have been showcased creatively precipitating increased patronage while measures were implemented to improve quality of the goods.
The efforts of Governor Ikpeazu through the Agency has led to over N5B in new orders into Aba in the last 5 years with appreciable improvements in the quality of goods made in Abia State.
It is said that Rome was not built in a day but several steps were taken each day culminating in the greatness of Rome. Abia will not become great in a day but with visionary concerted steps, greatness is inevitable.
Governor Okezie Victor Ikpeazu understands what needs to be done to ensure the greatness of Abia State and it is indisputable that with his measured, well thought out approach to solving the problems of Abia State, he has set the state and it’s people on an irreversible course of greatness.
Sam Hart, a Lawyer, lives in Umuahia.
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