Make Nnewi manufacturing hub of Nigeria, Moghalu urges FG

Former Deputy Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), and presidential candidate of the Young Progressive Party (YPP), Prof. Kingsley Moghalu, has urged the Federal Government to make Nnewi a full manufacturing hub in the country to serve as a panacea for the chase for foreign investment.

Moghalu, who made the call at the 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 city.

The founder of Institute for Governance and Economic Transformation, who was the lead speaker at the event, lamented that the federal and state governments 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.

“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,” he stated.

“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,” he stated.

Earlier in his remark, the member representing Nnewi North, Nnewi South and Ekwusigo Federal Constituency at the House of Representatives, Chris Emeka Azubogu, said the dream of the greater Nnewi industrial hub could be achieved when government provides needed infrastructure to drive manufacturing and also reshape policies that would help drive industries.