The Ebonyi State Governor, Engr. David Umahi, has said that his policies and programmes aimed at promoting locally produced goods have led to no capital flight in the state.

He stated this during a dinner organised for retired permanent secretaries, chairmen and members of boards, commissions, parastatals, Local Government Advisory Committee, former accountants- general as well as ex-auditors-general at the Governor’s Lodge, Abakaliki, on Sunday.

Umahi, in a statement on Tuesday by his Chief Press Secretary, Emma Anya, said that most of the construction jobs in the state were being carried out the state Ministry of Work, the state’s construction firms and indigenous contractors.

The governor, who added that he was elated that most of the jobs conformed to all the required standards, called for optimal performance of indigenous contractors to enable them continue to enjoy his government’s patronage.

He said: “We are determined that any infrastructure we are doing should have a minimum life span of 50 years. That’s how to grow.

“We are saying that the only way we can introduce stomach infrastructure is through patronage not by sharing money. If a job that is supposed to be done by outsiders is done by our people, then they have to do well and they have to earn the interest and so funds will be circulated.

“If you check very well and say that Nigerians are happy, you really need to come to Ebonyi State. Our people are testifying. The moment you enter Ebonyi, there is air of freedom and there is air of happiness. People don’t really talk about recession. The truth is that we have a lot of programmes and projects. People buy sand locally, people buy chipping locally, people buy rod locally and over 90% of our jobs are being done by our people and so there is no capital flight.”

While he maintained that he bore no grudges against anybody after the election, he warned against “deceiving ourselves with politics.”

The governor called on the people to join hands to move the state forward, stressing that Ebonyi was in a hurry to develop like the states in the South-West.

Umahi added: “As a child of God, I bear no grudges against anybody at all. So, let’s come together as one people and work together. You see, we use politics to deceive ourselves. The moment election ends, some people start another one. Such people that do that are people that don’t know God.

“We need to do politics only six months and the rest should be work, work and work. If you go to South-West, you can see that all the states are moving forward. Lagos is about having an Atlantic City and that is about one of the biggest cities in West Africa.

“We have to develop our agriculture, we have to develop our indigenous technology. So our wish and position are that we have indigenous technology developed in Ebonyi State which we can export to other parts of the country and beyond. We have to develop our mineral resources too.”

He announced that some changes would be made in boards and commissions and the appointment of three retired permanent secretaries as Senior Technical Assistants.

Update news