From Okey Sampson, Umuahia
An aeronautic engineer and investor from Thailand, Asia, Mr Rachan Fakmeh said his country was ready to not only cultivate rice on 22 hectares of land using drone technology but also was prepared to transfer rice planting technology to the people of Abia State.
Fakmeh stated this at the palace of Eze Igwe Ojike at Nkwebi Ohafia, in Ohafia Local Government of Abia while participating at an economic summit tagged, “Quinquennium Conference”, packaged with the aim of putting Ohafia LGA on the world map of economic development.
Fakmeh added that with advanced technology and the presence of a river, no matter how low, rice would be harvested in large quantities in Ohafia soon.
According to him, the Thailand Embassy in Nigeria is willing to partner with the Ohafia monarchs to ensure that rice is produced as it is done in the Asian country.
Speaking, Eze Ojike, the immediate past chairman, Ohafia LGA Traditional Rulers Council said he invited some foreign and local investors for the exploration, dredging and expansion of the Uduma River in the town for a hydroelectric project, rice cultivation and exploitation of the river’s aquatic life.
Eze Ojike disclosed that Ohafia monarchs under the aegis of the Ohafia Traditional Rulers Council have established a microfinance bank to offer low interest rates for residents of the city.
He revealed that the traditional rulers of the Ohafia clan have moved beyond the cultural routine of only deciding traditional cases in their palaces, to developing their areas economically and socially, adding that the projects will lead to the transformation of Ohafia and other neighbouring towns into a modern city like Dubai.
According to him, the Quinquennium Conference is an economic gathering of royal fathers from the area that is held every five years and its objective is to enable monarchs to brainstorm and come up with diverse ways of making both the Ohafia clan and the entire Ohafia LGA the Dubai of Nigeria just like the Arabs did for Dubai in the 1970s.
The five-year conference, he explained, was started in 2017, pointing out that it could not be held in 2022 due to some factors that included the focus on the 2023 elections.
On how to involve the Abia State government to key into the various projects, Eze Ojike said the government has expressed deep interest in the programmes of the monarchs and expressed optimism Government was going to make positive input.
Secretary to the Conference and Secretary of Ohafia LGA Council of Traditional Rulers, Eze (Dr) Ezera Uduma Ezera outlined other projects being put together by the conference to include, huge business model, setting up of Ohafia Diaspora Board, registration of village/town unions, setting up of centre for the study of Ohafia culture and also appreciation of the noble roles played by their forebears as well as past elder statesmen of Ohafia origin, in addition to building regional markets in the area.
Others, according to him, are the setting up of a multimillion medical consortium which will house hospitals, clinics and health centres, which he said will be the first of its kind in sub-Saharan Africa.
A university don and Vice Chancellor of Akaeze University, Ebonyi State, Prof I. U. Kalu who gave a lecture, contended that the era of monarchs sitting in their palaces to pour libation and do other mundane things has gone, stressing that in this modern era, traditional rulers are expected to explore and establish projects that will be of immense economic value in their communities.
He explained that monarch should work hard to harness and use what they have in their domain to get what will be beneficial to their communities, even as he described this method as an Artificial Intelligence (AI) technique.
Similarly, an expert in hydroelectricity, Odo Ijere from the Techno Consult, Lagos, explained that not only the Uduma River will be of immense benefit in the dredging project; other rivers in Ohafia can still be converted to dams for the hydroelectricity project.
Earlier, the chairman, Ohafia Traditional Rulers Council, Eze Ukoha Kalu Ukoha had stated that the projects would be of immense benefit to not only the Ohafia people but to every community in Abia State and beyond that keys into it.