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Former Deputy Governor of
the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, and presidential candidate of the Young
Progressive Party, YPP, Prof. Kingsley Moghalu, has called on the federal
government to make Nnewi a full manufacturing hub in Nigeria to serve as a
panacea for the chase for foreign investment.
Moghalu, who made the call
weekend during the Nnewi 2020 Investment Summit contended that Nnewi would
hardly become a successful manufacturing hub based on the efforts of the
private sector alone hence the need for the federal government to provide the
necessary amenities to make businesses thrive in the area.
Muoghalu who was the lead
speaker at the event lamented that the federal and state governments in Nigeria
are always on the move, looking for foreign investments, when it could support
a huge manufacturing hub like Nnewi to reach its limit and in turn help in
growing the nation's economy.
He said, "Nnewi is the
only industrial town in the whole world that is growing without the support of
government. A huge manufacturing hub that was started from the scratch by
indigenes of the town and has continued to grow without the support of the
government.
"It will not be out of
place to say that the federal government has abandoned Nnewi. Do you know what
people in Nnewi will do if what government did at the Lekki Free Trade Zone is
done here?
"Let me tell you,
manufacturing sector is the easiest way to grow the economy of a country. It
doesn't matter the number of mineral resources you have. How many mineral
resources does China have? You can only survive by manufacturing and exporting
your products, and that is why China is surviving today.
"That is why I always
say that the chase for foreign Investment is a wild goose chase. If you create
the right environment, investments will come. Money knows where to go and
multiply, you do not need to go asking it to come. Instead of pumping in Naira
to rival the dollar, why not create a manufacturing hub and once products are
exported and foreign exchange is earned, you will see the economy grow on its
own," Muoghalu said.
Muoghalu also tasked the
Nnewi business community to show maximum interest in politics. He contended
that politics influences public policy, and that when the right kind of people
are in political offices with ideas that
can drive business and manufacturing, then, businesses would not face as many
problems as they were facing presently in Nigeria.
Mr Kelechi Nwosu, the CEO of
TBWA, a leading marketing company and co-sponsors of the event in his welcome
address said that the summit is an inaugural event put together to rub minds on
ways to scale up growth in Nnewi.
Earlier, the member
representing Nnewi North, Nnewi South and Ekwusigo Constituency at the national
assembly, Hon. Chris Emeka Azubogu, said the dream of the greater Nnewi
industrial hub could be achieved when government provide needed infrastructure
to drive manufacturing and also reshape policies that would help drive
industries.
According to him,
"Government has to work hard to ensure that the policy on energising the
economy works in Nnewi. Again, Nnewi business community has to generate power
locally; I mean independent power source. When we get reliable, affordable and
sustainable energy and support it with what we are getting from the national
grid, it will stimulate both economic and industrial growth."
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