Abia State governor, Okezie Ikpeazu has vowed that 700,000 new jobs will be created in the state before 2030 as part of conscious efforts to tackle insecurity and socio-economic unrest.
He disclosed this when he answered questions from State House correspondents on Sunday in Abuja bordering on President Muhammadu Buhari’s inaugural speech at the National Economic Council (NEC).
Mr. Okezie highlighted the sad state of education in the country and the high unemployment rate as a problem that must be eradicated as soon as possible.
His words, “I want to say this to all of us – by 2030 the population of Nigeria would double. So the ticking timing bomb is not the decay in infrastructure. The time bomb is education and unemployment and it speaks to everything including crime.
“So, in Abia, we are planning to create 700,000 jobs in 10 years. Certainly, I will not be governor in the next 10 years but we are planning ahead for the whole good people of Abia State that will come tomorrow or after us.
“And until we continue to plan or begin to plan ahead not for the next election but for the next generation we will not be able to do anything futuristic in our socio-economic development in Nigeria.
“So, the Enyimba Economic City is doing very well. We are happy and glad that the enthusiasm of investors outside Nigeria is overwhelming.
“So, our target is to create 700,000 jobs in 10 years and to also create a center from where people can manufacture and export without paying anything.”
“We want our shoemakers to begin to compete with the best shoemakers in the world and it will happen – there is a Brazilian Shoe Factory already that has taken stock of the number of shoes that we bought through Alaba (market) into Nigeria on monthly basis and they are prepared to reach MoU with importers to supply all those shoes.
“So, we are going to give the Chinese a good run for their money because the option we are providing includes shoes from Brazil.”
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