Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State is currently in the state of Georgia in the United States, where he met with Senator Donzella James and interfaced with Abians resident in North America and Canada under the aegis of Abia State National Association North America (ASNA) during their 2015 National Convention held at Hilton the Garden Inn, Atlanta.

Governor Ikpeazu met with Senator James representing Metropolitan Atlanta’s 35th District in the Georgia State Senate. The senator is the Chairperson of the Georgia State Senate Interstate Cooperation Committee.

Also in attendance were Rep. Mike Glanton, representing District 75 in the Georgia State House of Representatives and Nigeria’s Consul General in the U.S, Ambassador Geoffrey Teneilabe. Ikpeazu’s entourage comprised Deputy Speaker Cosmos Ndukwe, Chief of staff, Mr. Chijioke Nwakodo, Due Process Adviser, Kalu Uduma, Ukpai Agwu Ukpai, Eziuche Ubani, Dr Chima Chukwu, Chief Kingsley Megwara, and President of Abians in North America/ Canada, Dr Chris Ike, among others.

Elated by Ikpeazu’s expression of the rich potentials of Abia State, especially in agriculture, which coincidentally, is what Georgia is richly endowed with, Senator James pledged to assist the state in areas critical to Ikpeazu’s programmes.

“What do you want from us? Georgia is agriculturally very rich and is well known for this,” Senator James, who was a recipient of the ‘2014 Friends of Nigeria Award,’ inquired from Ikpeazu.

The governor had cited the five major pillars on which drives his programme namely; agriculture, trade/commerce, oil/gas, health, resuscitation of small and medium-scale enterprises, urban renewal, among others.

Before the visit to the Georgia state government office, governor Ikpeazu had visited MedShare, a multi medical supplies/equipment company, where he interfaced with the Vice-President Corporate and International Relations, Mrs. Nell Diallo, on how Abia State could tap from the company to effect its healthcare policies. In this regard, the governor directed that a team of three Abians would do a follow-up on the discussions.

The 2015 convention was a long-awaited forum by Abians resident in North America and Canada to interface with the governor who has been recorded as the first state governor to attend the convention in person.

Last year, Abians at a leadership conference held in Houston Texas had articulated a way forward for the state from May 29 when a new governor would have emerged. This year’s convention therefore provided an avenue to officially launch the new action plan the documentation of which was handed over to the governor.

Welcoming Ikpeazu and others to the convention ASNA President, Ike, described it as historic “in the sense that for the first time Abians from all walks of life, from different parts of the globe are gathered here in Diaspora, with our state governor and his team present, to rub minds on ways to move our state forward.

“We believe that our discussions and deliberations at this convention will lead to actionable programmes that will take our state to the next level.”

Governor Ikpeazu had called on people with positive ideas that will promoted unity and development of Abia State was welcome and that he will catalyze every idea that will lead to the achievement of the stated goals.

According to Ike, ASNA will sustain its medical missions to Abia and specifically requested that certain hospitals be assigned to them to manage using global best practices, adding that in line with ASNA resolution to find programmes that would benefit its members, they will embark on building a Diaspora village.

ASNA also noted the governor’s pledge and his visible efforts to rejuvenate Aba, saying that “getting the city right” would amount to “getting Abia right.” The group also cited his vow to pay workers regularly and clear arrears owed them, fight corruption at all levels, increase the state’s internally generated revenue, as well as disband multiple taxation.

The group stressed that there are about 200,000 Abians in North America many of whom are captains of industries, Fortune 500 company managers, hedge fund controllers and investors, who have the capacity to bring multi-billion dollar investments into Abia. ASNA recommended that the governor choose a date, time and venue to invite them to what he called a round table discussion on “Abians in Diaspora.”

ASNA, who also pledged to contribute to the actualisation of the action programme hence their membership comprises captains of industries and professionals, urged Abians in the diaspora to think home and further told the governor that ASNA expectations of him were high.
Governor Ikpeazu in his remarks said he was defining the path to the success of the state to give new hope to the young ones.