The Governor of Abia State, Dr Alex Otti says his administration is doing all that is necessary to enable the State retain its lead as the Small and Medium Enterprises Hub of Nigeria.
Governor Otti stated this while addressing a delegation of Bank of Industries, who paid hima business visit.
He said his overall target is to make Abia a leading State with the ease of doing business across the country and added that his vision is to gainfully engage the people and reduce hardship, hunger and insecurity to the barest minimum.
The Governor who also described the proposition of the Bank of Industry as being in line with his vision for the State, noted that governance is all about the people hence good adminstration’s commitment to work for the overall interest of the people.
“We strongly believe that governance is about the people, so for us we have come here to ease the burden of our people particularly the very industrious set of hard working people. We have come to provide an enabling environment for them to do their business”, Otti reiterated.
Governor Otti while describing Abians as industrious people ,said he is committed to creating a business friendly atmosphere to enable Abia people and residents excel and compete favourably with their counterparts across the globe.
He encouraged Bank of Industry to do more to encourage the growth of SMEs in the State and promised to help in fixing their business office in Aba to serve the people better.
Governor Otti noted that the state government in a bid to enhance governance and ease of business processes aims to issue Certificates of Occupancy within 30 days of application.
Earlier, the Executive Director Corporate Services, Bank of industry Mr Usen Effiong said that the industry since inception has the mandate of providing funds for the establishment and growth of SMEs and other businesses.
He also said that the industry is interested collaborating with government to stimulate and grow the economy of the people by supporting the youths and all kinds of artisans who have huge clusters of businesses in Aba.
Effiong disclosed that they have two types of fundings including Manage Fund and Matching Fund which the State could leverage on to boost the SME in the State.
