TheCable

Peter Mbah, governor of Enugu, says he will grow the state economy and mitigate poverty.

Mbah spoke on Monday at the Okpara Square, Enugu, when he was sworn in as the governor of the state.

The governor said he had traversed the nooks and crannies of the state and understands the challenges facing citizens and how to tackle them. 

Mbah said he would create employment opportunities in the state to curtail the growing number of youths leaving the country to seek greener pastures abroad.

“We want to expose our youths to the skills required to grasp the emerging future and create opportunities for the genius in them to flourish. We also want to invoke and instil in them the can-do spirit that is innate in the Igbo man,” he said.

“Enugu will rubbish Japa, not by legislation but by creatively addressing the challenges to the future of our youths. We will equip our youths with e-commerce, fintech and cyber-security skills, such that they will become globally interconnected and can indeed ‘Japa’ worldwide by providing services online through their e-commerce skills.”

Mbah said he was “pregnant” with ideas on how to rescue youths in the state from the threats “against our existence”, adding that he would be “operating from the vantage of transcendental values” and not narrow interests.

“That is what we are driven by. I will not let you down. We believe that the only purpose of leadership is to bring the best out of every one of us. You are why all these are possible.”

‘WE’LL PURSUE UNRIVALLED ECONOMIC GROWTH’ 

Mbah said his administration would “pursue” economic growth that is unrivalled in the country by “invoking” enterprise spirit, creative energy and remarkable industry on the streets of Enugu to create a difference in governance.

“We will pursue economic growth that is unrivalled in this part of the country. We will tap into the limitless resources of the private sector to provide world-class infrastructure and productive sector growth. We will retool and re-energise our agriculture/agro-allied sector. We will unlock our rural economy through the implementation of special economic zones and special agro-allied processing zones.

The governor said his government, in partnership with the private sector and other development financial institutions, would provide N100 billion for our SMEs.

He said in the area of information and communication technology (ICT), his administration would provide a tier four hyper-scale data centre to attract hyper-scale businesses like Amazon, Google, Netflix, Tik Tok and Microsoft.

“Our creative industry will be lifted from its old glory and be positioned as a driver of our developmental dream. We will set up a film village and, working with stakeholders in the industry, ensure that our state becomes the destination of choice for tourists, attracting not less than three million visitors each year,” he added.