The Lagos US Consulate Political and Economic Section chief, Mike Ervin has said his country is seeking expanded bilateral trade and investment in Nigeria to ensure prosperity of both countries.
Mr Ervin, whose area of jurisdiction covers the 17 southern states, stated this when he paid Abia State governor, Alex Otti a courtesy visit with his team during a working tour of the state.
“Our top job, more than any other, is to seek ways to expand bilateral trade and investment and expand shared prosperity between our people,” according to him.
The chief, who said the people of both countries share a long history of partnership, added that his county’s secretary of State, Anthony Blinkin highlighted the position during his recent visit to Nigeria.
“He spoke very eloquently and strongly on the significance and importance of the US-Nigeria bilateral relationship and our desire is to seek ways of expanding that relationship to build prosperity for our people.”
In his response, Otti highlighted a number of challenges confronting the state especially the business sector to include access to finance, power and logistics support in the area of digital economy among others.
He expressed the hope that the issue of power supply in Aba is expected to end soon with the commissioning of the Geometric Power Company plant slated for Monday, February 26 by the presidency.
Dr Otti, while noting that the state prides itself as a major trading and industrial hub in the country, added that Aba has over 50,000 shoe manufacturers and is also strong in fabrics and garment productions.
The governor further explained that In the past the state had “suffered quite some setbacks because of infrastructure decay, you really can not do much when infrastructure is not there.”
“And that is why when we came, we started pursuing the rejuvenation and rehabilitation of infrastructure in particular, roads, drainages, not forgetting security,” said Otti, who has been on the seat for eight months.
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