From the beginning the present government of Anambra State has been concreting a number of blue prints, plan and road map for resource mobilisation, specter technology and youth empowerment, preparatory for a second industrial revolution, as it were, in the South East of Nigeria.
Anambra State as a core Southeast Igbo nation has had memorable economic history and relics which constitute the first ever economic and industrial revolution and which road map is being landscaped. Among the historical relics about to be rekindled in the landscaping contours are the then West African great market, malls and trade emporium of Onitsha, the first Dubai in Africa.
The nugget of the Chief Executive is his vast experience, hindsight and foresight as well as audacity and a sense of history with which he is landscaping the productive activities, physical, social and cultural realities through specific architectures and iconic elements. Industrial landscaping by the Economist-Scholar-Technocrat-Chief Executive of Anambra State is the foundation laying in terms of superstructures and infrastructure preceding an industrial revolution in the Nigerian Tiger State.
From the policy perspectives, capital expenditure budgets are tailored to sustainable development of Anambra State as a livable homeland and into a Singaporean and Dubai statuses recapitulated from the relics of Igbo civilisations. Yet, Professor Charles Chukwuma Soludo’s administration is not bereft of the vision to erect sustainable sufficient and necessary conditions for modern industrial start ups which are the landscaping in terms of infrastructure and resource mobilisation, environmental sustainability, talent hunting and management and “viral and spectre technology” otherwise dubbed “everything technology” in the backward integration process. Because the youth is the demographic index of active and transformative agenda of development, they are the proletarians and workforce of the industrial revolution.
The youth “1Youth 2 Skills Solution” is, therefore, a laudable and revolutionary flagship project for breeding smart young entrepreneurs that would compete favourably in the global business environment and turning Anambra State into the biggest skill hub in sub Saharan Africa whereby a great percentage of the youth would have employable and exportable skills. Youth question is highly pronounced in policy action of Anambra State government given credence to the philosophy that the youth are the leaders of tomorrow and the engine of growth and development in the state. To this end, education from primary to the tertiary is being reformed as necessary antecedent to industrialise Anambra State.
Institutions and master classes have been contracted to groom skills and entrepreneurs for the take off of the industrial master plan. As ongoing concern, 5000 youths have graduated and are now in the province of stock shops of experienced business owners for effective transfer of skill under the mandatory “Apprenticeship model” , the inter generational mentorship scheme of Igbo people, which had been rated as the most impactful enterprise development model in the world.
Entrepreneurship Scheme and formation of cooperatives are parts of the revolutionary landscaping and all is being facilitated by UNIZIK Business School with affiliate standard Entrepreneurship Development Institutes (EDI), the brain child of the governor.
This is also an enlightenment flavour of the industrialisation process that would rekindle the Igbo civilisations, And to Landscape the fertile foreground further the “Clean and Green programme” is to enhance the environment with road and flyover infrastructures, cocoa nut tree planting, sanitation and environmental protection and sustainability for a liveable home and industrial and Agro-Mega mega-city.
This is with the full knowledge that there can’t be development without the right human and environmental condition. This a truism expressed, albeit, that if you want your place to be like Dubai be like the Dubais and if you want your place to be like Japan work like the Japanese. The governor has taken the giant step in furthering this people’s capacity building initiative into action by establishing Solution Innovation District (SID) centre in Awka with ultimate goal of transforming it into the Silicon Valley of the South Eastern Nigeria, equipped with digital skills’ lab, robotics lab, co-working space, steady power and internet access.
The mandate is to re-activate, build and scale-up the innovation ecosystem in the State, offer digital skill training and services, incubate start-ups, train innovative small and medium entrepreneurs in Anambra State and stimulate local manufacturing and innovation through the “Made in Anambra Project”
The transformation of Anambra State into an African Dubai-Taiwan mega city has now gotten a grandiose impetus in a number of initiatives. Soludo’s recent signing and sealing of a $200 million USD deal with AFREXIM Bank in Cairo, Egypt, marks a pivotal step towards realising the grand vision of an industry landscape of Dubai type.
This landmark agreement is to stimulate Ikenga Mixed-Use Industrial City Project that will create wealth and jobs, boost economic growth, and elevate Anambra State to an industrial tiger in Africa. A landmark investments in the Anambra Export business empire is configured in the AFREXIM deal. As a catalyst for export-led growth it will attract foreign investments and propel Anambra State into the global trade stage.
The AFREXIM deal will ensure the establishment of the Akwaihedi-Unubi-Uga Automotive Industrial Park, which will diversify the state’s economy, create sustainable employment opportunities, and establish Anambra State as a hub for automotive manufacturing and innovation. This will promote development in all fronts including creating the Operational and Governance Framework for the Anambra Diaspora Fund which objective is to provide capital and financial advisory services for key projects such as the Anambra Intra-City Rail project.
“Action speaks louder than words” is the truth about the Anambra story of redesigning the industrial landscape of the state. The architecture of an economic fortune in the making is a productive base which will result in physical, social and cultural development.
Prof. Dukor is of the Department of Philosophy, Nnamdi Azikiwe University.
