By Obi Trice Emeka
There is no doubt that the year 2020 has left all economies with a bloody news. Economies all across the globe are contracting and pushing many out of jobs as revenue sources continue to stifle. For a country like ours that depends largely on crude oil sales for revenues, it becomes even more difficult as the pandemic continue to devastate the crude oil sector. To mitigate this hydra, government must be strategic and find creative methods to unlock private funds in other expand local economies.
Gov. Hope Uzodimma as usually, always ahead of the time has begun to find partnerships that will drive the Imo state economy post covid. Speaking during a virtual conference of the Imo Economic Development Initiative, the governor once again proved that he understands the central problem of the time and is ahead of the pack in tackling issues head on. He unveiled plans to collaborate with the private sector to unlock five hundred thousand new jobs in Imo state within the next three years.
These jobs will be carved out from the agricultural sector and also through training youths on industrial relevant skills that will be needed by various private businesses that will migrate or set up shop in the state.
The turnaround in the fortunes of Adapalms orchestrated by Gov. Hope Uzodimma has the capacity to create over 100,000 jobs directly and indirectly through the palm oil value chain. The various road projects being embarked on by the Governor is also done to expand the frontier of private investments in the state. When infrastructure is available and supportive of business, new businesses will set up shops because infrastructure is an accelerator for economic growth. Hope Uzodimma understands this perfectly and began an aggressive road construction all over the capital territory immediately he assumed office.
In the same bid to attract private funds to the state, the Governor purchased over 100 security patrol cars and has equipped the security agencies in the state more than ever, this alongside his community policing strategy is to protect investors and investments in the state. No one will invest in an insecure state and the Governor has done well by ensuring security is air tight in the state.
To cap it all, Gov. Hope Uzodimma is building an Imo state University of Agriculture to produce students who will have the necessary skills to exploit the agricultural potentials of the state leveraging on technology. The university will produce students who will evolve smart agriculture in the state and create numerous jobs across the agricultural value chains, indeed, Imo state will become the world leader in agricultural innovations in no distant time.
Gov. Hope Uzodimma came prepared. He saw the pandemic before it became a torn on our economy and focused on providing infrastructure and security to attract private investment in the state. In few years, Imo state will attract more investment than any other state in Nigeria.