By Adadareporters
In his bid to ensure security of lives and property in Enugu State, Gov Peter Mba says plans are on to install statewide closed-circuit televisions.
Mba stated this in his address to mark his 100 days in office.
According to him, “Economic development of any sort is almost an impossibility in an environment of insecurity. This was why we faced insecurity in the state squarely. We tackled relentlessly the proscription of the unlawful Monday sit-at-home order in Enugu State. We were resolute in making sure that we eradicate it from our state. As we all can see, we have made tremendous progress in this regard.
“We have also backed up this thrust by boosting security presence in Enugu State working with the Nigeria Police, the army and all other security forces. We have launched the Distress Response Squad in the state and have already procured a number of vehicles to enhance their effectiveness and mobility.
“We are not stopping at this as we are about to commence the rollout of a statewide CCTV camera network which will provide 247 surveillance of the state and inform swift security response to any breach of peace anywhere in our state. Also, we are in the advanced stages of establishing a Security Trust Fund to make our heightened security posture more sustainable in the long term.”
On how to improve the economy of the state, he said, “We have successfully signed into law the Enugu State Power law, which domesticates the Electricity Act 2023 and now gives the state regulatory power to establish an Enugu State Electricity Market and to attract investors to expand power generation and distribution across the state.
“In addition to this, we have developed the Enugu State Electricity Policy which contains the Enugu State Electricity market design and participants. It goes without saying that these achievements are a critical step in the effort to industrialize our state. This is because there cannot be any sustainable industry in the absence of affordable power supply.
“We also promised to hold, within 100 days in office, an investors’ roundtable in Enugu attracting investors from all over the world. Last week, on September 1, we held a hugely successful roundtable which attracted the best of the private sector and the development partner sector with the likes of AfDB, AFREXIM, FCDO, the World Bank etc. in attendance. While the roundtable is not an end in itself, it signposts Enugu’s seriousness about the race to attract private capital into the State. It also marks the beginning of the process of working with the investment world to curate our project pipeline, with the aim of preparing them for investment in the not distant future.
“Related to the matter of attracting external capital, we have repositioned the state in its relationship with key development partners like the World Bank, AFD (the French Development Agency) and opened the door to new funding for the State’s projects. In line with this new posture, we have
“We recently paid our share of the funding for the International Fund For Agricultural Development (IFAD) Value Chain Development Programme development of agricultural value chains totaling N274m, which will facilitate the receipt of up to N1.2billion from IFAD for developing agricultural markets and increasing market access for smallholder farmers and small to medium-scale agro-processors. It will also enhance smallholder productivity – and thus increasing the volume and quality of marketable produce – by strengthening farmers’ organizations as well as supporting smallholder production.
“We have also met all our obligations regarding joining the World Bank Livestock Productivity and Resilience Support project (L-PRES), a 6-year project aimed at improving livestock productivity, resilience and commercialization of selected value chains to strengthen the country’s capacity to respond to crises or emergency. This programme is expected to attract up to $10m into Enugu’s livestock value chain over the planned period
“We have met all the obligations for joining the Nigeria for Women project, including committing over N400m as our counterpart funding for the project which is a strategic long term partnership between the Federal Government and the World Bank to support the Government’s goal of ensuring gender equality. This arrangement will result in the inflow of up to $10m to Enugu State over the planned period for the execution of projects to boost the economic capacity of our women in Enugu State and consequently our households.”
