Otti hails new business environment as modern shoe factory set to open

Governor Alex Otti has hailed the new Abia State business environment, stressing that his administration is working very hard to clean up the business environment and make it conducive for new investments.

Otti who said this when he received a group of investors, led by Dr John Nwankwo, Chief Executive Officer of Comfort Stevens, a footwear manufacturing company located in Owerrinta, Isiala-Ngwa South Local Government Area (LGA) said that he is working hard to bring back old ones that had left the state in the past due to unhealthy government policies.

Otti said that capital, by way of investment, is devoid of emotion and sentiment and only goes to places where the environment is conducive for it to thrive and flourish which is why his administration must work hard to ensure investments come to Abia.

According to Otti, “You may choose to relocate abroad in search of capital, but foreign capital will not come until you have created the conditions to attract it.

“No matter how much preaching you do, no matter how much of platitudes, capital has its own sense, it doesn’t have emotion, and it’s not sentimental, it just moves to where the environment has been prepared because the reward for capital is profit.”

Otti who assured the investors that his government would support them in realising their dream of official operation of their factory located in Owerrinta, said he would always align with projects geared towards meeting his agenda of providing job opportunities for the teeming unemployed Abia youth.

“I want to congratulate you for not giving up and I’m happy that you have gotten to this level that you are hopeful of commissioning by December.

“If there’s anything that we can do to support you to make that December a reality, please don’t hesitate to ask,” Otti assured.

Otti underscored the importance of local manufacturing and noted that no country has ever developed on the back of consumption of imported products without production, disclosing that his government is working very hard to support existing businesses and also attract new investors through favourable policies.

Otti added that supporting the Geometric Power company to come on stream and the various infrastructural upgrades going on in the State, including the dualisation of the Imo River-Umuikaa-Umuene road in Isiala-Ngwa South LGA, are all geared towards industrialisation of Abia.

Governor Otti expressed joy that one of the company’s plans is to train and upskill existing local shoe manufacturers in Aba and promised that his Government would partner with the company in that regard.

Dr John Nwankwo, who led the team of visiting investors from the United States of America, China, and Brazil recounted the ugly experience he and his team had gone through under the previous administration in trying to realise their dream of establishing a world-class shoe factory in Abia.

Nwankwo told Otti that, Comfort Stevens, in the last year of the new government has made tremendous progress that they decided on the visit to formally introduce to the Governor their large-scale industrial footwear project, which will be commissioned by December 2024, and thereafter start production.

Nwankwo, who presented different samples of high-quality shoes to the Governor, said that the fifteen thousand daily footwear production capacity factory will not only produce complete shoes but also shoe components such as gum, soles, insoles, and strings, among others.

He said that the mission of the company with its partners from the US, China and Brazil is to produce quality footwear that can compete favourably in the global market, adding that machines for the production of high-quality footwears and its components have arrived its facility in Owerrinta for installation before the end of June.