Governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Enugu State, Dr Peter Mbah, has promised to arrest “brain and muscle drain” among the youths in the state and attract foreign direct and domestic investments as well as discourage multiple taxation through sweeping, innovative economic policies if elected governor.
At an interactive town hall meeting organised by the Enugu Sports Club, Mbah stated that his economic model had been designed to deviate from the established convention, which saw the state’s economy growing incrementally over the past decades, in order to accelerate exponential economic growth that will turn around the economic fortunes of the state.
Mbah, while reacting to the barrage of questions from members of the sports club that included captains of industry, university professors, international consultants, environmental experts, medical specialists, engineers, among others, held them spellbound when he noted that the state under his leadership would activate new structures that are averse to convention where government will depend less on federal allocations by harnessing the abundant resources and other potentials through public-private-sector partnerships that will move the state away from public sector to private-sector-driven economy.
While pledging that his administration would make the state a destination for investment, progress and development for the youths to realise their potentials through training in skills acquisition, vocational trainings, technology, and further empowering them with one hundred billion naira start-up capital, Dr. Mbah expressed confidence that his planned Tier 4 hyper scale carrier/cloud neutral data center in Enugu will equip youths with the infrastructure to acquire knowledge in ICT, artificial intelligence, robotics, and mechatronics that will enable them compete globally.
The oil and gas magnate said his proposed $30 billion economy within eight years of his government is achievable with constructive investment through the attraction of a large market enabled by vibrant workforce and massive infrastructure that will make the state an eco-friendly business environment, and heavy concentration on key productivity sectors and other cross-cutting programmes as espoused in his manifesto.
Underscoring the strategic place of agriculture in driving the state’s economy, he reiterated that the state has sufficient arable land for mechanised agriculture, saying agro-allied processing industries would be established across different communities which will migrate agriculture from subsistence to profitable commercialised business ventures, and displace the existing pipeline mode of farming with a new platform structure.
The PDP gubernatorial flagbearer also re-echoed his plan to create different economic zones in the three senatorial zones by deliberate policy of comparative advantage, adding that the energy and mineral sector will be given priority. This, he assured, will enable industries to source their raw materials locally, process them into finished goods for export and generate huge revenue for both investors and workers.
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