The Governor of Abia State, Alex Otti, says his administration is open to robust partnerships that would lead to the growth of the various sectors of the state’s economy.
He spoke on Wednesday when he met with the Polish Ambassador to Nigeria, Her Excellency, Mrs Joana Tarnawska, who paid him an official visit.
Otti said he was glad that the Polish Government was willing to partner with Abia State and assured the Ambassador that there cannot be a better State to partner with than Abia.
His words: “There can’t be a better State to partner with than Abia, and I say that for a lot of reasons. In terms of agriculture, we are very big.
“In terms of education, our dreams are very big, and we believe that by the time we are done, we will actually be exporting education, if there is something like that, as an industry to the world.”
Otti disclosed that there are close to 1,000 public schools in the state, explaining that the government is looking at standardising the entire education spectrum, from primary to secondary through tertiary levels.
He further announced that his government had set a minimum standard to be adhered to by all the public and private schools in the state, stressing that his administration is very passionate about education.
According to Abia helmsman, “We are very passionate about education. We are doing the same for healthcare and security; those are very critical.
“Those are the areas where people may be tempted to ignore but they are so important to every other thing we are discussing with respect to development,” he stated.
Governor Otti equally informed that Aba is an industrial hub for the entire southeast, endowed with creative potentials, maintaining that with more support from the government, entrepreneurs will do more and even produce products that can compete favourably in the international market.
Earlier, Mrs Tarnawska, who disclosed that the visit was her first to the South East, said that there was a lot that could be done together between Nigeria and Poland.
She partly stated: “Nigeria is a country of great opportunities and potentials. We would like to tap into that potential and look for new avenues of cooperation between Poland and Nigeria and in particular your state.
“Last year, the President of Poland visited Nigeria, we signed an MoU on cooperation in agriculture. And I hope that we can, on this basis, develop even closer ties with Nigeria and with Abia State.”
