Enugu: APC guber candidate to set up development bank if elected

The governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Enugu State, Chief Uchenna Nnaji, yesterday, said if elected, his administration would establish Enugu State Development Bank with a capital base of N250 billion to support businesses in the state.

He stated this while presenting his programme before the Enugu Business Community under the aegis of Enugu Chamber of Commerce Mines and Agriculture (ECCIMA) and the Enugu Coalition for Business and Professional Association (ECOBA), stressing that his administration would revitalise abandoned industries, build new ones in partnership with the private sector and reduce unemployment to minimum level in four years.

“I know that funding is a big programme, government will be a catalyst in industrial development.

We will support small, medium and micro enterprises to grow. To this end, we will set up Enugu State Development Bank, which will be registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission, Security and Exchange Commission and other relevant bodies.

“Government will own 10% equity in the Development bank while the people of Enugu and other private investors will own 90% equity. Any business we invest in, we do so with the private sector by investing 10% but when the business begins to do well, we will divest and move into another business,” he said.

Nnaji described himself as a complete ‘Enugu boy,’ having done his primary, secondary and tertiary education (University of Nigeria Nsukka, UNN) in the state before venturing in business.

The APC governorship candidate took a swipe at his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) counterpart, Mr. Peter Mbah, who he said prides himself as oil and gas guru, noting that the PDP candidate was a mere oil marketer, who came upon ‘sudden money’ and used same to build oil tank farms.

Nnaji said he is the one into real oil and gas business because he owns substantial equities in oil wells in Nigeria and also equity in refineries outside Nigeria.

“I’m the only businessman running for governorship; PDP candidate is not a business man, he did not grow in business he only jammed money and started oil marketing. Those of us in oil and gas business know what it means, building oil tank farm is only an arm of oil and gas marketing.”

He catalogued problems of Enugu State to include mismanagement of resources, multiple taxation and lack of capacity by government officials to deliver on their mandate.

He promised to fix the perennial water problem in the state by revitalising the seven water projects, promising to create 10 hectares of land in each senatorial districts of the state and use government resources to prepare the land and allocate same to young people and other farmers to cultivate with provision of financial support, improved seedlings and machineries so that the state can produce for local and export.

He said he would tackle insecurity through creation of jobs and increases economic activities in the state while the security system in the state would be reorganised and funded, using retired security personnel in the state.