Mkpoikana Udoma
The Deputy National President of NACCIMA, Dr Emi-Membere Otaji, regretted that Rivers State was the oil and gas capital of Nigeria, yet oil and gas businesses and major business decisions were taken in Lagos.
Otaji disclosed these at the opening ceremony of the 2023 Correspondents Week, organized by the Correspondents’ Chapel of the Nigerian Union of Journalists, in partnership with the Mayor of Housing, with the theme; Rivers State and Quest for Ideal Investment Climate: Role of the Media.
The NACCIMA deputy boss, who was the keynote speaker, described the theme of the event as apt, noting that while it was cheaper for entrepreneurs to import due to the cost of production, the economy will continue to suffer due to capital flight and lost jobs from lack of manufacturing in-country.
According to him, for the state to grow economically, there must be deliberate infrastructural development across the 23 LGAs, as well as support and incentives for SMEs as obtainable in Lagos.
He said, “There must be deliberate infrastructure around the 23 LGAs for people living there to curb urban-rural migration, just like in the US, where every state has numerous cities. So infrastructural development should be state-wide.
“There must be intentional support for the micro, small and medium enterprises. These enterprises employ more people than the public sector. They must be supported; they form the basis of our GDP and employment of labour.
There must be intentional incentives for businesses to thrive because the SMEs are crying. Lagos and Ogun are deliberately attracting investments into the state with so many incentives. They are giving businesses all the support to thrive.
“There must be strategic and deliberate development as obtainable in Lagos and Ogun.
“The time for a deliberate, stronger public-private sector partnership in Rivers State is now.”
Earlier, the Chairman, Correspondents’ Chapel of the NUJ in Rivers State, Mr. Amaechi Okonkwo, said all hands must be on deck to advance the state beyond the provision of road and other infrastructure, to creating an ideal environment for investments in the state.
“Standing on the 3rd highest state in Nigeria on unemployment ranking and with the direct corollary of unemployment and poverty, it becomes very urgent that practical steps must be taken to address this challenge in the very short term.
“Other sectors like oil and gas, solid minerals, real estate, ICT, agriculture and the entertainment industry are all begging for attention and waiting to be tapped for wealth creation.
“But since we have all agreed that government is a bad businessman, let us join our voices to create an ideal investment environment that will be attractive to investors in all sectors mentioned above and the ones that were not.”
