I have just read a Press Release signed by one Rev. Augustine Ehiemere who calls himself the Abia State Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance ( APGA).
The Release appeared on the facebook page of my friend and media aide to Dr. Alex Otti, Ferdinand Ekeoma.
The Release made a very feeble and infantile attempt at lampooning the government of Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu for purportedly embarking on a jamboree in the just concluded MADE IN ABA TRADE FAIR in Abuja.
According to the said Rev. Ehiemere, the Trade Fair which was more like a gathering of politicians and their associates was a waste of resources and an attempt to seek cheap publicity.
Continuing, the release added that the government of Abia State should focus on solving what it called the “orgy of violence across the state” and to fix critical infrastructure in Aba.
It also lampooned Governor Ikpeazu for planning to hold trade fairs in two West African countries and another one in the US describing them as waste of resources.
I was shocked as I read through the statement. My shock emanated from the fact that someone who calls himself the State Chairman of a political party could publicly display such embarrassing level of ignorance on issues which are in the public domain.
Such unpardonable level of ignorance and aloofness by the state leadership of a party explains why they have been in sixes and sevens since after being beaten blue and black in the last elections.
Let me educate the Party Chairman, for free.
First, the MADE IN ABA FAIR in Abuja is not and has never been a project of the Abia State Government. It is a pet project of the Senator representing Abia South at the Red Chambers, His Excellency, Distinguished Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe. He funds it wholly. Since it is a laudable effort that will improve the fortunes of our state, Governor Ikpeazu provides moral support for the event.
This piece of information is all over the place and it’s indeed very intriguing that the State APGA Chairman, with all the administrative paraphernalia available to him still doesn’t know this.
Before the fair started, the Senator even went on air to speak on the essence of the fair and its major objectives which are, inter alia, to bring the message of the MADE IN ABA products to Nigeria’s seat of power where all the agencies of government are domiciled.
Since the APGA Chairman is ignorant of such public information, he would obviously not know that Senator Abaribe has in the past two years been championing the review and amendment of the Public Procurement Act to give Right of first refusal to locally manufactured goods. The man will also not know that the Senator has rallied round his colleagues to ensure that the Act is successfully amended thereby giving local products a major advantage in the procurement plan of federal government agencies.
Every year, the federal government spends at least 2 Trillion Naira on the procurement of goods. The amendment of the Act seeks to ensure that at least 50% of this huge fund is spent on buying local products and such Trade Fairs are deliberate strategies to get these products to the door steps of these agencies in a bid to make them see reason to buy them. It is a kind of advertising.
Except Rev. Ehiemere lives in a cave, he would not appreciate that marketing campaigns and advertising of products are key components of the strategy of successful establishments.
The man is certainly ignorant of the fact that it was at the Fair held last year that the Nigerian Army came and saw, first hand, that Aba Shoe makers can indeed produce good footwears for the force, a strategy which has given birth to the alliance between the Army and Aba Shoemakers.
Who knows, the ignorant party Chairman may also not be aware that Aba Shoemakers now make boots for the Nigerian Army.
The Reverend Gentleman must also be ignorant of the advantages of the economic diplomatic shuttles embarked by Governor Ikpeazu which has led to the renewed interest shown by key agencies of the Federal Government in the Aba Business Community. I am also sure that he doesn’t even know that as a result of the Ikpeazu strategy of economic diplomacy, the NYSC is now seriously considering making uniforms for Corps Members in Aba.
I can bet my snuff box that Rev Ehiemere is not even aware the then Acting President Yemi Osinbajo was in Aba to launch the first ever SME Clinic and that as a follow up to that event, agencies like the CAC, SMEDAN, etc are now opening offices in Aba. Trust me, the man doesn’t even know that the Bank Of Industry which left Aba several years ago is back to the state with a state of the art office at Umuahia, our capital. Thanks to the diplomatic shuttles embarked upon by Governor Okezie Ikpeazu.
The same explanations go to answer his baseless critique of the planned fairs in two West African countries and the US.
Over 65% of the shoes and bags produced in Aba are shipped to neighboring West African countries. They are very popular there. The idea behind the planned fair is to increase awareness of the products there and to also market them even to their governments using the Nigerian experience as a reference point.
Perhaps the most pathetic part of the statement is where the Party Chairman advices the State Government to focus more on improving critical infrastructure in Aba.
When I read this part, I was convinced that the Reverend gentleman is certainly on a year long mountain pilgrimage somewhere outside of Nigeria. He certainly must be hibernating in some remote place where he has no access to information because to feign ignorance of what Governor Ikpeazu is doing in Aba is simply unpardonable.
The man most definitely has no idea that the reconstruction of Faulks Road with the IFE OBARA FLOOD CONTROL PROJECT will benefit the Aba Shoe Market greatly. Faulks Road, apart from being the major gateway into the Ariaria International Market also leads to the SAMEK Shoe Plaza, the largest cluster of shoe makers in West Africa.
Rev Ehiemere obviously doesn’t even know Aba well. If not, he would have known that apart from the humongous Faulks Road project, Governor Ikpeazu is also working on the MCC SAMEK Road day and night with the sole strategy of opening up all access roads that lead into the Shoe Plaza and make it easy to get there straight from the Aba Owerri Road. The roads have become reasonably motorable now even when the project is still under construction.
If the man doesn’t know these basic facts, no one expects him to know that the Abia State Government is building an INDUSTRIAL LEATHER AND GARMENT CITY at Umukalika off Ogbor Hill, which will he the largest cluster of shoe, bag, belts and garment makers in Africa complete with major infrastructure and space for about 250,000 artisans. The project which is a Public Private Partnership is ongoing as we speak.
I am also sure that Rev Ehiemere doesn’t even know that few weeks ago, Governor Ikpeazu was in Cairo, Egypt with the Chairman of Geometric Power, Prof Barth Nnaji and Paschal Dozie of Diamond Bank to meet with the leadership of the Afrexim Bank for the sake of retooling the Aba Independent Power Project, a move that has led the international financier to agree to invest One Billion Dollars in the project.
Someone should please inform Rev Ehiemere that part of the Egyptian talks was with Mr. Darl Uzu, one of the biggest real estate investors in Nigeria who has already signed an agreement with the state government for the establishment of the first Free Trade Zone in Eastern Nigeria, the Enyimba Free Trade Zone.
If Rev. Ehiemere is ignorant of all these, how will he know that just last week, a private investment company has signed a tripartite agreement with the state government and the Nigerian Shippers Council to establish the very first Inland Container Terminal in Abia State at Nbawsi, Isiala Ngwa North LGA which will now make it possible to offload containers of goods exported into the country in Abia State through the promotion of inter modality, a complex economic term which Rev Ehiemere may think its some Hebrew Old Testament pronouncement.
The problem with APGA is that it always puts forward people with no idea of the challenges that face the people, as their leaders. People who live in Lagos and Abuja and only show up during elections flying with helicopters while the people they seek to lead battle with the challenge of roads.
This time, they have chosen as their Chairman, a Priest who should busy himself with the propagation of the gospel and saving souls for the kingdom of God.
His statement today clearly exposes his hollow understanding of basic economic principles and total aloofness from the people.
Since the last election, APGA has only existed virtually on facebook and instagram, releasing periodic press releases that sound like works of literature and fiction. Their inability to galvanize their membership and remain a proper opposition party is a clear product of the ignorant leadership they parade at the State level.
APGA should look inwards and do a proper house cleansing if they want to be taken seriously as a party in the state. A good first step is to shop for a State Chairman who understands basic economics and stop depleting the Lord’s vineyard of scarce Human Resources.
Finally, I sincerely pity my dear friend, Ferdinand. A fine and brilliant young man who has been made to look incompetent because he chose to hobnob with a set of ignorant fellows.
Onyebuchi EMEMANKA, Esq.
Special Adviser to the Governor on Public Communications.
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