From Ogbonnaya Ndukwe, Aba
The Director General, World Trade Organisation (WTO), Dr.Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has urged the incoming administration of Dr. Alex Otti in Abia State, to make Aba, the commercial nerve centre of the state, the focal point of its infrastructural development programme.
She further recommended that urgent attention and investment be made in the health sector to combat the current situation in which more than 90 per cent of pharmaceutical products used in the country presently were being imported.
Okonjo-Iweala, gave the advice while speaking through zoom from her base in in Washington D.C, in the United States of America (USA), as a keynote speaker at the inauguration of the Transitional Council of Abia State Governor-Elect, Dr. Otti in Aba on Friday.
Otti had explained that the Transition Council would help to articulate a policy document that would forge a direction and developmental agenda for Abia in line with his vision for the state.
The team as gathered, will X-ray and cover different dimensions of the massive challenges, staring the incoming government in the face.
“Healthcare must be given urgent attention and investment, in view of the fact that 90 per cent of pharmaceutical products are imported into the country, so it is important to attract pharmaceutical companies to Abia State.
“There must be transparency in Abia’s finances. Abia State must set an example for good governance and financial transparency.”
The WTO Director General recommended further that Otti should look at how to leverage renewable energy in Abia State to create access to power (electricity), adding that households can be powered by renewable energy.
She equally recommended the expansion of the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) base of the state to ensure that the state depends less on Federal Government allocations.
She called on the incoming government to think of disruptive strategies, rather than the traditional way, and urging it to try and attract international businesses into the state, and raise the local supply chain.