BUILDING ABIA ECONOMY THROUGH DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY
By Emeka Nwosu, PhD.
Abia State, under the visionary leadership of Dr. Alex Chioma Otti, is poised to regain its lost glory and lead the way amongst the comity of States as it embraces digital technology as the tool for economic transformation. It is not just enough to conceive of development in terms of brick and mortar or human capital empowerment alone. Many societies, mainly in the Western Hemisphere, have gone beyond that especially in this era of Artificial Intelligence.
Innovative and creative leaders are already thinking of how to leverage on the rapidly unfolding revolution in digital technology to advance the frontiers of development in their domains. It is instructive to note that Dr. Otti is not left out in this regard. He is convinced that the future belongs to digital technology and innovation. Any society that fails to embrace the new trend would miss out in in the 4th global revolution that is centred on Information Communication Technology
(ICT).
Africa having sadly missed out in the previous revolutions (agricultural and industrial) that changed the course of history, it would be lamentably tragic for us to be left behind again in the ongoing digital revolution. Governor Otti of Abia is not one to let this happen. He has declared his commitment to ensure that the economy of the State is driven by digital technology and innovation.
While addressing a delegation of investors from the West India Asian Cable Company (WIACC), a broadband company led and introduced to the State by the General Overseer of Omega Ministries, HRM Apostle Chibuzo Gift Chinyere, recently, the Governor stated that his administration was committed to partnering with serious-minded companies towards achieving a digital and technology-driven economy for the State.
While describing broadband technology as critical to the economic prosperity and transformation of the State, Governor Otti said that his administration already had a major plan for the infrastructure in the State, adding that apart from the commissioning of the Geometric Power Plant in Aba, he was gradually tackling some of the infrastructural issues that were discouraging investors from coming to invest in the State.
Dr. Otti disclosed that the Geometric Power Plant with 188 megawatts capacity was expandable and capable of covering the whole of Abia and beyond, and noted that he held discussions with the owners of the plant a few weeks ago on the need for the company to expand power beyond the Aba ringed fence area to other parts of Abia State.
His words: “In terms of infrastructure, I think we have a robust plan infrastructure-wise. We may have had our issues in the past and in Aba alone, the Geometric facility has the capacity of 188 megawatts and its expandable, and the discussion we had last week with the CEO of Geometric Power is to the fact that we need to start doing something to expand the capacity from Osisioma into everywhere in the State and beyond.
“So, reaching Owaza will be a piece of cake and Ukwa West where the Industrial Park is located is part of the jurisdiction of Geometric Power. So, I am encouraging the Power Company to increase their generation beyond the present LGAs”.
If the laudable plans of the Governor, through his hard work and perseverance, become a reality, he would have succeeded in leap-frogging Abia into the innovative world in which technology has become the potent pathway to economic and social transformation. Dr. Otti had told his audience that he was working towards achieving an Abia where people would sit in the comfort of their homes and earn a living, leveraging on the opportunities offered by such ICT giants like Google and Amazon.
It takes a dream and vision to lift a society up and launch it on the path of glory. That is why we are told by philosophers that ideas rule the world. Most men in history who impacted profoundly on their generations and societies were great thinkers who neither took No for an answer nor thought that any idea was impossible to actualize.
It took the vision and dream of one man, Lee Kuan Yew, to transform a resource-poor island, Singapore, into a First World. The same applies to United Arab Emirates, where it took the vision of the founding leader, Sheikh Rashid Al-Maktoum, to transform an arid desert land into the enthralling magic land it has become. Today, Dubai is a destination of choice by tourists all over the world and those seeking a life of value and essence. Coming nearer home, the former Premier of Eastern Nigeria, Dr. Michael Iheonukara Okpara dreamt of an Eastern Nigeria that would lead the rest of Nigeria and Africa in the field of agriculture and industrialization. Within only six years in office, he had already accomplished that dream before the civil war set in. Part of that dream was to turn the entire geographical belt from Enugu through Umuahia, Aba and Port Harcourt into a huge industrial conurbation. But for the war, that dream which was conceived after the Rhur-Westphalia Industrial complex in Germany would have been realized.
Governor Otti has demonstrated vision and shown that he can walk the talk. The conception of the Abia Industrial and Innovation Park (AIIP) and its location in Owaza, the oil and gas-rich zone of the State is a masterstroke which has the potential of transforming the economic fortunes of the State and her peoples. With constant electric power from Geometric and the broadband technology Otti is bringing on board, Abia is being positioned for future greatness and limitless possibilities. A new Abia has, indeed, come!
Dr. Nwosu, a Public Policy Analyst, writes from Umuahia.
Email: cdnwosu2@gmail.com