The Akwa Ibom State Government has disclosed that the Federal Government has not constructed any road or industry in the state.
The state’s Commissioner of Information and Strategy, Mr, Charles Udoh, said that, though the state was the largest oil producer in the country, it lacked the federal presence as the FG abandoned it to survive on self-made
revenue.
He said, “We maintain our own airport. For us to resuscitate some of the moribund industries in the state, we are not going to put government money revitalising them. We are creating the business environment and finding opportunities so that when an investor comes, we offer land and they go about their businesses.
“We are also working on a cattle ranch. We have an agreement with an investor from Mexico that is going to bring 2,000 herds of cattle to the ranch; we are doing landscaping and once the land is ready, the herds will come in.
“The cattle are coming based on the trust and agreement that we have had. With the ranch, we will have a meat, milk and yoghurt processing factory. All these are tied to the government’s promise to provide great jobs to alleviate poverty and create wealth.”
On its sector-wide incentives to drive investments, Udoh explained that the Bureau on Foreign Direct Investment in the state was working on a document that would soon be made public on investment incentives.
“There are so many areas of investments and that document, once it receives the approval of the State Executive Council, will be made public.
We are not just building industries and attracting any kind of investor, we are looking at targeted industries that have market
potential,” he said.
