The factional governorship candidate of APC in Abia for 2023 election and former Minister of State Mines and Steel Development, Dr. Uche Ogah has said he has an economic plan that can pull the state out of poverty if elected governor.
He said there is need for the state to make concerted effort to raise its Gross National Income per capita, boost Gross Domestic Product per capita and improve massively on trade imbalances in relation to other economies of the southeast region.
In a statement on Monday, the former minister stressed that Abia must aggressively pursue her regional integration and cooperation agenda to begin the process of improving the lives of the people and transforming the state from a rural agrarian disposition.
“As we’re already blessed with enterprising people in the seventeen LGAs of the state and a huge commercial centre in Aba, it is imperative that we would now go ahead to develop other adjoining areas to serve as hubs in predetermined economic activities not only for the benefit of Abia State but the entire South East region of Nigeria and beyond”.
“If Abia can take the lead in instigating an economic outlook for the South East region of the country, we would derive a lot of benefits ranging from incremental production capacity, economic diversification and growth, job creation and above all, poverty reduction which would have a ripple effect on other states of the South East,” he posited”.
He said the idea behind this regional integration and cooperation agenda is to initiate a wide variety of forms of collaboration within the region that would entail symbiotic policies and regulatory frameworks that would in turn create joint institutions.
He said such collaborations will see the establishment of highly developed transportation modes within the zone such as rail transport and alternative highways to cut travel times between production or service or raw material hubs in the region, among other projects that would boost the economic growth.
