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The Special Assistant to the Governor of Ebonyi State, Engr Dr David Umahi on solid minerals interface with the Nigerian Export Promotion Council in Abakaliki
The workaholic SA on Solid Minerals Hon. Ozoemena Njoku has again approached the Nigerian Export Promotion Council on the 15th of October 2021 to further push for value addition and possible exportation of the mineral resources in our dear state Ebonyi.
Speaking with the Coordinator and the staff, the SA started by appreciating the Council for the warm welcome given to him and his team.
“This office has been friendly and i know because i have been working with you before now in my rice processing company but today’s visit is on a different capacity, as it has to do with the solid minerals produced in our state”.
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“Recall that His Excellency Chief Engr David Nweze Umahi in his annual lecture at the university of Nigeria Nsukka two years ago titled, ‘Prepering Ebonyi state for zero oil economy’ emphasized the need to diversify our economy and we in Solid Minerals sector are ready to make this Clarion call a reality.
God has blessed Ebonyi with different kinds of mineral resources but it is unfortunate that we have not really benefitted from them due to the inability to add value to them. For instance we have Salt, Lead, Zinc, Limestone, Iron ore, Caolin etc.
But sadly enough these minerals are being carried away from our state to other places where value are added to them and brought back to sell to us at exorbitant prices.
We are therefore looking at the way the state and federal government can collaborate to make something better out of these mineral resources at home here so that we can benefit more and doing this is capital intensive”.
He went further to harp on the need to collaborate with Council to see how the state can attract the federal government intervention.
Reacting to these remarks, the coordinator Nigerian Export Promotion Council Ebonyi State mr Unanam Emmanuel expressed his elation toward the move by the SA, saying that coincidentally, he had ripped off wanted to meet with the SA to discuss some of these things, describing the visit as a right step in the right direction and also timely.
“You are aware of the downtrend in the global oil prices which has negatively affected the government revenue both in national and state level, and this has generated so much concern especially toward diversifying our economy now than ever before.
There is need to develop some of our strategic products and I want you to know that the Council (NEPC) is already at the vanguard of this concern through the adoption of a Zero Oil Export.
It is a plan geared towards developing a strong and vibrant economy that could be sustained with revenues from non oil products. And to drive that, they came up with a kind of initiative which is called One State One Product.
We are looking at how all the states including federal capital territory can come up with priority products, one or two that will have a comparative advantage over the other states so that the council can see how they can work toward it to develop it for export purpose, and in doing this the state has a role to play.
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In our council here, a committee has been set up which is known as a State Committee on Export Promotion which is domiciled in the state ministry of commerce and the Permanent Secretary is the chairman/chairperson.
The essence of this Committee is to work together to ensure that we get to the grassroot concerning all these exports in the state.
We are happy with this visit and we are ready to work together to achieve this dream, but at these point we need to sensitize the people on the benefits of value addition and exportation of these minerals as it will increase employment opportunities, thank you and welcome” he concluded.
Monday Okorie
Reporting from the office of the SA on Solid Minerals.
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