Former Aviation Minister, who is a contender in the November 18 Anambra State Governorship election, Chief Osita Chidoka has mapped out rapid infrastructural and policy interventions to boost manufacturing activities in Nnewi, as part of his plans to re-position the town as the industrial nerve centre of the country.

While commissioning his campaign offices in Nnewi on Thursday, Chidoka disclosed that he had already perfected plans and processes to stimulate a 24-hour production economy in the area.

He said that with the current level of government neglect, there was no way the industries in Nnewi could meet their desired targets. He said that given the dearth of critical infrastructure in the area, adequate security was required to support a 24-hour shift production. The lack of that infrastructure, he observed, had resulted in heavy financial burden on investors and retarded production, adding that the time had come for strategic intervention.

Stating that the current system did not have the capacity and creativity to address the issues, the former Corps Marshal of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) said his government would enact policies to shift market emphasis to locally manufactured goods thereby making local production attractive, cost-effective and profitable.

He said a boost in the production capacity of factories in Nnewi would create more employment for the youth, enhance ancillary businesses, and lift the economy of the people of the state.

For the industries in Nnewi to perform optimally, Chidoka said that government must strategically step in on issues of pro-local production policies, power, access roads, waste disposal, manpower development, funding windows, market openings as well as adequate security.

“A situation where factories shut down after dark for lack of adequate security does not encourage industrial growth. The Toyota factory in Japan does not shut down once it is dark; they work for 24 hours. When our factories run for 24 hours, they will have the capacity to employ more people, their production capacity will increase; that would mean more opportunity for ancillary businesses and more money for our people.

“Government must therefore stop paying lip service to manufacturers in Nnewi. We must partner with them to make Nnewi the industrial nerve-centre of the nation,” he said.

Also commissioning his campaign office in Ukpor, Nnewi South Local Government, Chidoka lamented that the area had suffered neglect and failed promises by government but assured that his administration would be community based. He promised Ukpor adequate representation in his government to ensure that projects with direct bearing on the welfare of the people would be urgently addressed.

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