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The German federal government is set to partner with the government of Enugu State to fast-track development in various sectors, including energy, agriculture, trade and investment.
The German Consul-General, Weert Börner, who made this known when he led a team on a visit to the Enugu State governor, Peter Mbah at the weekend, said that the partnership was part of the German government’s commitment to grow bilateral cooperation with sub-nationals, beyond the federal government.
He noted that Enugu was chosen as one of the benefitting states in the Southern region because it has improved a lot in structuring processes to get business done more easily and improve its infrastructure under the current administration.
“We are happy about the development and the speed and ambition with which the governor is growing the state’s economy, hence our decision to cooperate on a higher and more intense level,“ Börner said. Apart from Enugu, Ogun and Abia are the other states we have chosen to partner with in the South.”
In his address, Mbah said that his administration had set an ambitious goal to grow the state’s economy from $4.4 billion to $30 billion in the next seven years, adding that this cannot be achieved without collaboration with the private sector as well as bilateral and multilateral arrangements with institutions like the German Consul.
“The visit is a very strategic one and is coming at the right time because we are committed to unlocking the economic potentials of the state across different sectors,“ he said. “Our ambition and goal are national in scale even though we are sub-national.”
Mbah explained that his administration has already identified agriculture as one of the sectors that can be used to rapidly grow the economy, hence its decision to put together a land bank of about 300,000 hectares that will support massive agriculture growth.
“The ultimate goal is to be able to produce what we can export to other countries because there are no reasons why we cannot begin to export and also achieve hunger because our land is fertile,”.
Speaking further, he said, “While attracting commercial farmers, we are also strengthening our smallholder farmers by providing them with the implements, inputs and machinery that they need to scale up production capacity.”
He maintained that his administration was also making sure that access roads to farmlands were constructed to tackle the challenge of evacuating farm produce, not just for the farmers but also for investors.
He further stated that his administration was also strengthening institutions, policies and regulations that would improve electricity/energy supply, all intended to derisk the business atmosphere and create an enabling environment for investors to come in.
Mbah appreciated the German government for its choice of Enugu as one of the benefitting states to partner with, pledging that his administration would be transparent honest and accountable in the partnership.
Gideon Arinze
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