Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State

Abia Governor, Mr Okezie Ikpeazu, on Sunday said plans had been concluded for the establishment of an Export Processing Zone (EPZ) in the state.

He said that the facility would be located in the 9,000 hectares of land designated as Enyimba Industrial City.

Ikpeazu made the disclosure at the National Theatre, Iganmu, Lagos, during a reception organised in his honour by Ukwa-Ngwa indigenes in Lagos.

He said that his administration had embarked on the construction of 115 roads, out of which 51 had been completed.

He said that some local government areas in the state where roads had never been tarred “now have tarred roads”.

“We are using grade `A’ contractors in all the construction works, and the first flyover in the state is being constructed in Aba.

“Cement pavement technology is what we are using to construct drainages to ensure long-lasting roads,” the governor added.

Earlier, the President of Ngwa Social Club, Mr Sam Onukwue, had urged the governor to complete the various road projects in the state.

“Within a year of your assumption of, you are building enduring legacies.

“We implore you governor to complete the various infrastructural development going on in the state.

“We appreciate that you are constructing and rehabilitating roads in Aba town which were neglected by the previous administration under the guise that they are federal roads,” Onukwue said.

In his speech, Prof. Ikechi Mgbeoji of the Department of Finance, University of Lagos, complained that Ukwa-Ngwa had continued to be marginalised in political positions in the state.

“Ukwa-Ngwa was marginalised in holding political positions even when Abia was still in the old Imo State.

“Our attempt to hold office in the government house in Umuahia took a long struggle; various delegations were sent to meet political elite before our son, Ikpeazu, emerged.

“Our choice of an Ukwa-Ngwa man as the governor of Abia is a great one, looking at his achievements in less than two years of his administration,” Mgbeoji said.

On his part, Mr Chimere Amaraizu, President of Abia State Development Union in Lagos, said that the governor had brought “made-in-Aba products to twilight”.

“As an ambassador of ‘made-in-Aba products’, you have strategically and economically driven Nigeria as a producer nation in the international community as against being a consumer nation,” Amaraizu said.

(NAN)