Anambra State Commissioner for Information and Value Reorientation, Dr. Law Okwu Mefor, on this interview, speaks on transfer by the state authorities to get traders and companions to develop off-grid electrical energy technology to drive industrialisation. He additionally talks on agriculture and funding insurance policies of the Governor Charles Soludo-led administration. Onyebuchi Ezeigbo brings excerpts.
What is the federal government doing to increase agricultural growth in Anambra State?
Yes, the agricultural sector represents one of many precedence areas of the state authorities and the Soludo administration has paid ample consideration to the sector, and we’re doing so in a really intentional and specialised method. Intentional within the sense that we aren’t simply approaching agriculture generically, we’re approaching agriculture from some views that may tackle some specifics. For instance, the place it comes to the restoration, restoration of sure financial timber for which the state was as soon as reputed that at the moment are disappearing. Government within the final two to three years has been procuring these seedlings and distributing to folks to plant Seedlings like palm, you realize, particular palm like coconut, bitter cola, you realize, such uncommon financial plant or cush crops. Yes, the money crop which are going into extinction, the Solution authorities is making an attempt to get well them, and since they’re uncommon and crucial financial timber, can also be envisaged by the point the federal government achieves that focus on, those that planted the financial timber – as soon as they begin harvesting, it can assist them fight poverty itself. Apart from the restoration of those financial timber and stopping them from going into extinction, agriculture can also be half and parcel of the programme we’re working that we name “One Youth, Two Skills”.
We are encouraging the youths to go into agriculture in all its ramifications. You know, aside from money crops, animal husbandry, and all features of it, folks at the moment are, significantly the youths, at the moment are inspired severely to go into all of those.
How we do it’s that they’re educated of their chosen areas of farming, after which they’re empowered by giving seed cash to give you the option to practicalize and go into the observe of what they educated in. They need youths to have two abilities. Agriculture isn’t the one factor.
There are different features, however I simply wished you to know that it’s an integral a part of the programme – One Youth, Two Skills. There is one other method we take care of agriculture right here – via cooperatives, as a result of one of many main hindrances of agriculture wherever, not simply in Anambra State, is that produce isn’t having off-takers- that you just produce you may’t promote. You know, you produce you don’t have entry to the market, you realize.
So, via cooperative societies, they’re inspired to group themselves in accordance to the sub sectors, in order that they’re in a position to entry seedlings, fertilizer, entry the market and off-takers.
Government is doing this. In reality, to solidify that method even additional, authorities is engaged on a legislation now to formalize the operations of cooperatives in Anambra State, cooperatives and a legislation for it’s now within the making.
On the opposite hand, the federal government is deliberately creating rural roads. Most of those farmers are usually not inside city facilities, and their entry to city facilities with their produce is what the governor is deliberately tackling by offering entry roads to the areas we think about as Anambra meals baskets. You know, locations like Anyaemelum, Nzam and so forth and so forth, locations that by no means had even one meter of laborious roads since Anambra state was created. They now have entry roads as a result of the governor desires the folks there to have entry, as a result of if they’re in a position to convey their produce to city markets, they make more cash, and naturally, it helps in growing meals provides usually. And by so doing, costs of these items come down.
We used to have rice as a significant produce from Anambra state. What is occurring to that sector?
No, no, no. Nothing is occurring. We nonetheless have Anambra rice. In reality, we now have extra of it. Last month, there was an exhibition, a form of Trade Fair by the Ministry of Commerce and all of the produce- issues made in Anambra. Much of the exhibition was rice from totally different elements of Anambra State. In reality, it’s such that even areas, areas that hit out to the place it did rice manufacturing, quite a lot of them in the direction of the Anambra South, by no means actually believed that Anambra South could have a lot to do. But they got here into the exhibition, so the rice is there. Anambra rice is there, and I don’t know whether or not it’s the Ada or different rice. Good, you realize, there are different manufacturers. There at the moment are critical industrialists which are even coming into it. Someone like Coscharis Group has now made rice manufacturing in Anambra one in every of his main enterprise issues. So we aren’t dropping the ball when it comes to rice manufacturing. No, we’re doing pretty nicely in rice manufacturing. The solely factor that I believe we haven’t executed nicely in is processing. So while you produce all these items, you don’t course of. If you don’t course of, you aren’t in a position to go to financial institution.
Yes, the processing has began, however it hasn’t gotten to the extent one would say that we’re snug, as a result of if we course of sufficient we must always give you the option to service the native market after which export the excess even past Nigeria.
Are there any coverage meant to make the state investor pleasant?
Yes, there are insurance policies, the philosophy of presidency is to present the enabling surroundings, beginning with safety, easy accessibility to land, and it’s a safety, electrical energy, low-cost and fixed electrical energy provide. Then, we now have some funds that even native entrepreneurs can entry. Yes, small and medium scale enterprises can entry. We have Anambra State Small Business Agency, the place you may entry up to 10 million Naira and might recapitalize to do no matter you might be doing if the marketing strategy is nice. The situation is that you should have one thing to present for it. It’s not simply coming to take cash since you need to begin one thing to go into an experiment. We emphasize those that are into one thing already, so the fund is there.
It’s a deliberate coverage to develop native industries, assist the small scale companies to turn into medium, and huge, companies after which, in fact, to herald exterior traders. For exterior traders, the massive time ones, the federal government has created an industrial park, we name it Anambra Mixed Use Industrial City (AMIC) for brief. It’s up to 5000 hectares, virtually up to 5 p.c of all the Anambra land space devoted to our industrial park, and the federal government is offering electrical energy, entry street, safety, and all whatnot. And in fact, one main factor the governor has executed is to get the president to approve that space as a free commerce zone. What which means is that those that are into manufacturing can freely herald uncooked supplies, after which freely additionally ship out no matter they produce from that zone. These are insurance policies that we now have on floor, and they’re already paying off bountifully.
Electricity is essential to industrial growth within the state. What is the state doing to increase energy provide?
Governor Suludo is a really intentional particular person, and he’s conscious that with out low-cost and fixed electrical energy provide, that our speak about industrialisation will stay an empty subject. He began with a legislation – the Anambra Electricity Regulatory Act. We have a legislation which has created a board. The Anambra Electricity Regulatory Board can also be in place proper now to supervise the electrical energy market in Anambra and to start to actually do the enterprise of giving folks energy. They have now commissioned what is known as the First Power. It’s a subsidiary of Enugu Electricity Regulatory Commission. They are those instantly coping with electrical energy distribution in Anambra, that’s one degree of it.
Secondly, Anambra state authorities is severely buying for a method of producing electrical energy since you don’t give what you don’t have. If you may’t generate, you may’t distribute. You can solely distribute what you accumulate from the middle, so we would like to transcend distributing what we obtain from the nationwide grid to now start to generate our personal electrical energy, exploiting the decentralization and devolution of the electrical energy sector that used to be on the Exclusive List.
So, no person is stopping you from producing and distributing your personal electrical energy. So, Anambra state authorities is on that severely, trying to go into partnerships with the key electrical energy firms and traders to come to Anambra, the market is there.
