Ogbonna Nwuke: key to wealth creation, poverty alleviation and employment in Rivers State

In his weekly radio and Internet address entitled by journalists as 'Spirit of innovation' key to the future, President Barack Obama was quoted on Saturday 1stAugust 2009 as saying, Innovation has been essential to our prosperity in the past, and it will be essential to our prosperity in the future…. This and the other difficult but important steps that we have taken over the last six months have helped put the brakes on this recession…Even as we rescue this economy, we must work to rebuild it stronger than before.... We've got to build a new foundation strong enough to withstand future economic storms and support lasting prosperity….That means having the best-educated, highest-skilled workers in the world, a health care system that fosters innovation by holding the line on costs, building a clean energy economy and investing in research and development....It is only by building a new foundation that we will once again harness that incredible generative capacity of the American people….All it takes are the policies to tap that potential — to ignite that spark of creativity and ingenuity — which has always been at the heart of who we are and how we succeed….For communities like Elkhart to thrive, we need to recapture that spirit of innovation that has always moved America forward.

What Obama was saying is that without Industry and Commerce, which two types of business by nature, a nation can not move forward. While Industry means a particular business that has to do with manufacturing and the development of some raw materials for profit making by selling its manufactured products in the market, Commerce means a kind of business which does not necessarily falls on development or manufacturing. Commerce activities aimed to provide an in-between the producer and consumer. Examples of Industry are thus: industry of leader, steel industry. And Commerce: trade and aids to trade.

The first organized organization of the Industry and Commerce in Nigeria was the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, with a membership of 14 at inception but now with over 1, 400 membership. The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry is said to be the Premier Chamber of Commerce in Nigeria, founded in 1888 and was incorporated in 1950, regarded as a non-profit making organization, Limited by Guarantee under the Companies Act of 1948.

Rivers State being a staunch state for Commerce and Industry, with Prince Ogbonna Nwuke now heading the Rivers State Ministry of Commerce and Industry, after he headed the Rivers State Information Ministry, the shutdown of many businesses in Rivers State, have hope to rejuvenate once again, no matter that the state governor, Mr. Chibuike Amaechi had called on companies who left the state because of the unrest to return.

Governor Amaechi has to be thanked for choosing this dude in the person of Ogbonna Nwuke for the Commerce and Industry Ministry of Rivers State, even that he (Amaechi) had buttressed that the tumultuous situation in the state before he assumed office on October 25th 2007, is once again suitable for business and investment.

Having two corporate bodies already signed Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) with the state government for the construction of a housing project and a business and entertainment centre in Port Harcourt, Amaechi had said his administration's policy is to engage in Private-Public-Partnership (PPP) arrangements where the government would create an enabling environment and allow private businesses to operate efficiently. And the state government had already started talking to many interested parties who are keen to invest in the proposed energy city near Onne, and the greater Port Harcourt area. The construction of a Port Harcourt Ring Road is another project that currently requires investment. And Prince Tonye Princewill, the Action Congress (AC) leader in the state is making frantic efforts in traveling to Europe to contact investors to come and invest in the state. Nwuke should gird his clothing firmly to embrace the growth of Rivers State manufacturing sector as vital for the state to realize its dream of becoming one of the Nigeria's 36 states first economies by the year 2020.But this dream may not be achieved if Nwuke does not bring about a new manufacturing strategy for the state government.

Over the years, things were not the way they are supposed to be but gradually we are beginning to get it right, said the now ex-Federal Minister of Commerce and Industry, Engr. Charles Chukwuma Ugwu, January 2008; the Industrial Training Fund (ITF) is the key to the success of the parks, clusters, enterprise zones and incubators. The ITF is expected to come up with a genuine module for the private sector regarding the cluster concept. We are also trying to get the ITF involved in the training modules for the human resource development, which is an important aspect of industrial growth. Vision 2020 can only be actualized through industrial development. We have to produce; we cannot continue to be a consuming nation. The federal government is also looking at different policies on energy which will stimulate the concept of clustering. We are talking about providing gas turbine plants, especially in the southern areas, which will generate between 50 to 100 megawatts very quickly in order to attract industries to the cluster. This is a much better strategy than what we had in the past where people in rural areas had to depend on generators as a power source - Nigeria cannot be competitive with generators.

However, many Nigerians know that the realization of the Vision 2020-2020 will depend on the sector enhancing on the limited resources to perfect growth instead of periscoping on diverse angles which will make growth of the state's economy static. Nwuke should at least make sure that industrial-avenue is made available at list ONE industry to be shared by three or four local Government Areas (LGAs) out of the 23 LGAs that are in the state.

The first platform is to establish at least one industrial park in every geo-political zone. I am talking about areas of between 30 and 50 square kilometers which will link three or four states together with regard to industry. Each industry must be as the other, there should be changes. For example, there could be a livestock here, while the other on minerals. Nwuke should understand that Industrialization is the key to wealth creation, poverty alleviation and employment in any organized environment. The whole thing happening in the capital market, experts say, is gambling, a nation or state has to produce. Production gives a people an advantage. For example, a country like China, in her trade in October 2007, had trade surplus over a billion dollars. This was she was producing.

In 2008, the Federal Ministry of Commerce and Industry agitated in its THIRD PLATFORM to create enterprise zones which will operate in local government areas. The idea behind the enterprise zones was to group those involved in smaller, informal activities together. According to the ministry's boss, Eng. Charles Ugwu, this will include furniture makers, welders, block makers, all those you see clogging the streets. The Ministry plans on taking them out of the streets and establish them on a piece of land - anything between 30 and 200 hectares - with water, electricity, security, fencing, police and other services. These enterprise zones will therefore scale up the informal sector to increase competitiveness.

Likewise, the Rivers State Ministry of Commerce and Industry can do the same, at least, by helping people to establish on their ideas. These ideas will provide new businesses in the state. Not necessarily for only people who have just graduated from university and have ideas they want to develop, but other geniuses in the state. What shall be done with the currently cluster of petrochemicals developing around Onne that included the Fertilizer Company, Eleme Perochemical, which was taken over by Indorama, and Port Harcourt refinery? When would Rivers State eventually become a hub for petrochemical companies in Nigeria?

Odimegwu Onwumere is the Founder of Poet Against Child Abuse (PACA) Rivers State. +2348032552855. apoet_25@yahoo.com