Abia State Governor, Alex Otti has called for support from the United States consulate in promoting trade, investment and other areas of interest in the state.
The Governor made the appeal on Wednesday when he received in audience, the Political and Economic Section Chief of the US Consulate, Lagos, Mike Ervin, who was in the state on a working visit with his team.
He highlighted a number of challenges confronting the state, especially the business sector, to include access to finance, power and logistics support in the area of digital economy, among others.
Governor Otti disclosed that the issue of power supply in Aba would soon be over with the planned commissioning of the Geometric power plant which will be performed by President Bola Tinubu on Monday, 26th February 2024.
The Governor, who stated that Abia is a major trading and industrial hub in Nigeria, noted that Aba has over 50,000 shoe manufacturers and is also very strong in fabrics and garment productions.
He regretted that the State has suffered setbacks in the past due to infrastructural decay, noting that many businesses that hitherto relocated from Aba to other states were gradually returning as his administration has in the last 8 months fixed many roads in the state, especially in Aba, the commercial hub of the State.
“You can come in as the United States to assist us, if we solve the power problem, then there’s another problem which is access to finance. These days, people are running away from foreign currency funding.
“But I believe we can sit down and think out a process whereby, even if it is for the government to provide a guarantee and help against fluctuations in the foreign currency price so that our people can be sure of support that they can pay back,” Governor Otti said.
Earlier in his speech, the Lagos US Consulate Political and Economic Section Chief, Mike Ervin, who explained that the Consulate covers the 17 Southern States of Nigeria, said their mission was to seek ways to expand bilateral trade and investment and ensure prosperity between the United States and Nigeria.
