*BY RICHARD ODU*
The recent call by the Imo State House of Assembly for the revitalisation of the ceramics factory in Ezinnachi Okigwe evokes sweet memories of the state’s golden pasts. That was when the first civilian governor of Imo, the late Chief Sam Onunaka Mbakwe, was on the saddle as governor.
Having found himself at the helm of affairs in a state struggling to rise from the ruins of the civil war barely nine years back, Dee Sam had armed himself with a brilliant formula for the industrialization of the state. The policy had ensured that every local government in the old Imo State, comprising the present Abia and a part of Ebonyi, got at least one industry.
Although he was in the opposition party at that time, he pursued this dream so doggedly that in his four years of governance, a good number of the factories had taken off.
The policy took into consideration the peculiarities of the areas where the industries were to be sited in terms of available raw materials. That was how the ceramics factory fell on Okigwe’s soil which had abundant clay deposits.
Among the factories that hit the ground running were the Aluminum Extrusion factory (ALEX) in Inyishi, Ikeduru, the Rasin Paints factory at Aboh Mbaise, the Avutu Poultry at Avutu Obowo, the Standard Shoe factory in Owerri Municipal, as well as the bicycle and motorcycle assembly plant at Naze, Owerri North.
While these were fully functional and turning out quality products, the Tiles factory at Nsu, Isiala Mbano and the Cardboard and packaging factory Owerre-Ebiri Orlu, among others, were warming up to take off. Indeed, the Mbakwe administration had robust plans for an independent power plant which had been brought into the state and situated at Amaraku in Isiala Mbano.
Unfortunately, the bold move by the Avutu Obowo-born lawyer aimed at improving the economy and productivity of the state while also ensuring availability of jobs was truncated by the military government.
Although the few that had gained roots before the 1984 military interregnum moved on with business thereafter, they did not last long enough to make the desired impact as some adverse policies of the succeeding military administration brought them down. Specifically, the military rewrote the articles of association of the existing companies and allocated majority shares to their families and cronies.
By the time they were gone 14 years later, much damage had been done. The administration of Chief Achike Udenwa which took over in Imo State in 1999 did so much to salvage the state. First, it focused on infrastructure, especially the provision of roads and electricity in the rural areas which were the prerequisites for a smooth rural industrialisation. It attempted to set the path to agrarian revolution when it invited the Songhai Farms into the state and actually gave civil servants the gift of home-grown rice in one of the Christmas periods during the administration. After Udenwa, there was another catastrophic movement down the declivity in that direction.
It is in the light of this glowing history of the state that we must welcome the call for the case of Ezinnachi clay and ceramics factory to be revisited. However, it might be more gainful to revisit these moribund industries holistically instead of isolating them.
Just days after the Ezinnachi factory came to the floor of the House, Hon. Dominic Ezerioha drew the attention of the government to another massive expanse of land in Oru Local Government acquired by the Amadi Ikwechegh administration for a flour mill but is today lying fallow. He called for the use of the land for an agro-related enterprise if the flourmill is no longer feasible.
It is commendable that the Imo State House of Assembly is bringing up these issues that directly touch the people’s economic welfare. Under a defined public-private partnership and with a good deal of political will, the industrialisation plans laid out by Mbakwe could still be realized for the state.
Somehow, the attention of the present generation of youths, born in the Internet era and seen today as Gen Zee, appears to be focused on Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and its offshoot called Artificial Intelligence. We understand that the nation must keep with the trends. However, although ICT plays a role in boosting commerce and industry, it is not a primary input in the production chain. It might give the youths lots of money in services and trade but certainly not lots of food and other essential items. ICT cannot give us the rich poultry produce that was generated at Avutu some years ago. It would not till the soil and plant the crops that feed the nation.Not long ago, the Imo State Government retrieved the Standard Shoe factory in Owerri from the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) by paying a debt of N1.6 billion owed by the company. This company is yet to justify the huge funds expended to revitalize it.To solve the unemployment problem, the state must return full circle to the Mbakwe industrialisation template and begin to find a way to implement the one-local-government-one-factory policy. This should be under a public-private partnership. World over, experience has shown that government is a bad manager of businesses. There are the demons called nepotism, corruption, cronyism. There is a very little regard for the sustained growth of an establishment being managed by an unsteady and amorphous group called government.Yet, no one can take away the fact that government lays down the policies, as well as statutes that drive the industries. They also are, in the case of Nigeria, the sole repositories of large funds required for the establishment of industries. Therefore, it is more suitable for the government to act as catalysts in the business of setting up productivity-oriented businesses and, after the establishment, pass it on to the private sector on some arrangements of either joint ownership or outright sale. That parlance that government has no business doing business is real.
Had all the seeds planted by Mbakwe been allowed to germinate, the story of Imo State would have been told differently today. It is much likely that the provision of jobs and the improvement on the standard of living of the youths in the state would make them think less of crime and so improve the security situation.
