Ebonyi Central to lose out on Umahi’s industrial clusters

In furtherance to his commitment to fully industrialise Ebonyi State, Governor David Umahi has appointed three Special Assistants to take over the ongoing Industrial Clusters in the three zones of the State.
Umahi had during his first tenure commenced construction work on two out of the three clusters located in the North and South senatorial zones of the State, which are at different stages of completion.
Meanwhile, the cluster for the Central Senatorial zone did not take off because the stakeholders refused to provide the required 100 hectares of land for the project.
Swearing-in the three SAs and six others with three Senior Special Assistants on Tuesday at the Government House, Abakaliki, the Governor specifically charged the SA in charge of the Central Cluster, Edwin Okah, to synergize with the concerned stakeholders to source land for the project.
He maintained that failure of the stakeholders to provide the land would deny them the project, in which case the SA would be redesignated in the next few days.
The Governor, who also swore-in the Chairman and members of the State Secondary Education Board during the event, further charged all the appointees to strive to justify their appointments by being innovative in wealth creation, warning that their appointments were not mere political patronage.
He regretted the non-performance of the former Board, citing it as the reason behind the exclusion of the former Chairman in the new appointment.
He charged the new Board to work in synergy with the Ministry of Education to effectively supervise the Schools under their jurisdiction to achieve the desired excellence in the State’s school system.
Speaking further on the Industrial Clusters, the Governor charged the SAs to establish their offices inside the clusters to ensure that the projects were completed in record time.
He informed that the State was working hard to perfect arrangements with the United Nations International Development Organisation to bring 300 Small and Medium Enterprises into the Clusters, warning the SAs to brace up to the challenge or decline the appointment.
Those sworn in included the former SA to the Governor on House of Assembly matters, Sunday Ugwuocha, who was given SSA on the Environment.
While Chidozie Igwe was designated SA to the Industrial Cluster in the South, Peter Nwogbaga was made in charge of the North, with Elizabeth Ezenyiim sworn-in as the new SEB chairman.
Speaking on behalf of other appointees, Ugwuocha and Ezenyim appreciated the Governor for the privilege to serve, pledging to combine commitment, loyalty and dedication to help Umahi realise his lofty dreams for the State.