Think home, Obiano woos Igbo investors

Willie Obiano, Anambra state governor, has appealed to Igbo investors to invest in their homeland.

In 2015, Obiano established the Anambra state investment promotion and protection agency (ANSIPPA), a service centre that facilitates business partnership between the state and private investors.

This agency, which is headed by Joe Ekwunife, provides information, support and guidance to prospective investors, implements aftercare strategy and also provides a project equity contribution in the form of land, other intangibles and basic infrastructure such as access roads, in order to ease the burden on investment in the state.

A number of indigenous investors, as documented in ANSIPPA brochure, have benefited from this arrangement. These include, Coscharis Farms limited, promoted by  Cosmas Maduka, with investment of $120m; Falcon Corporation Limited, which invested $ 100m; Joseph Agro Limited ($150m), Cardinal Developers ($98m); and Richbon Nigeria Limited, with an investment of $70m.

On October 3, Nnaemeka Achebe, Obi of Onitsha, will deliver a lecture entitled: ‘Think Nigeria, invest in Anambra’, as part of activities to mark the 25th anniversary of the state.

According to the organising committee of ‘Anambra at 25’, headed by Nkem Okeke, deputy governor, the lecture is fashioned to woo Anambra citizens and other people from the southeast geopolitical zone to invest in the state.

The lecture will kick off the second phase of the anniversary celebration, which started with a world press conference addressed by the governor on August 26.

This second phase of the four-month long anniversary celebration programme, according to the coordinator of the event, Emeka Okonkwo, will draw attention to the “rich tourism potential of Anambra state, especially in this period of economic difficulty which calls for diversification and creativity in the revenue drive of the state”.