Nigeria’s desire to become one of the world’s twenty largest economies by the year 2020, is gradually becoming a reality with the choice of a private company, General Electric to establish a $1 billion manufacturing and training facility at the free trade zone, in Calabar, the Cross River State Capital.
The company’s mandate is to encourage the creation of local employment, eliminating imports, thereby leading to a robust Nigerian Economy.
This was disclosed by the company’s President and CEO, GE Nigeria, Lazarus Angbazo, at the foundation-laying ceremony, which was performed by the Nigeria’s Vice President, Namadi Sambo, at the construction site in Calabar.
General Electric (GE’s) is a multi-billion dollar private company whose operations in Nigeria span more than four decades, with numerous customers in both the public and private sectors.
Their portfolio of technology solutions is well aligned with Nigeria’s infrastructure needs, and is poised towards revitalising the nation’s electricity, healthcare, rail transportation, water treatment and the aviation sectors.
The move, according to stakeholders in GE, will further strengthen the improved confidence of Nigeria to boosting local and global business where other African countries would be served.
This milestone goes beyond buildings, as the company will recruit and train all their staff who will be mostly Nigerians on engineering, vocational crafts and management, comprehensive training programmes, technology among others for a period of six months to one year in Calabar for effective delivery.
Vice president, Nmadi Sambo, while laying the foundation, said the operations of GE in Calabar would not only give a boost to the administration’s Transformation Agenda, but would also strengthen the administration’s policies on job creation and wealth generation.
Vice President Sambo noted that the groundbreaking ceremony would also further strengthen the confidence in the Nigerian business environment by both local and foreign investors.
According to the Minister of State, Trade and Investment, Dr. Samuel Ortom, the occasion is a materialisation of a dream conceived between the federal government and GE on the 31st of January this year, when both parties sealed an investment deal of $I billion dollars (N158 billion) on the establishment of a best-in-class assembly in Calabar.
He added that, “it is a demonstration that the current administration was not just interested in investment commitments, but monitoring the processes to the execution stage”.
Governor Liyel Imoke in his speech noted that diversifying the nation’s economy from oil and gas and providing an enabling environment for private sector to thrive, is a sure way to boosting the nation’s economy.
