Abia state to provide land as Hungarian firm invests $1.5 million to boost manufacturing?

The Abia State Governor, Alex Otti, has approved for the state to initiate talks with Hungarian company Ortoprofil regarding the establishment of a manufacturing facility within the state. 

Nairametrics learns that Ortoprofil plans to invest 1.5 million dollars in Abia state to produce prosthetics, shoes, raw materials and others through a form of partnership. 

The Chief Press Secretary (CPS) to the Governor, Kazie Uko, announced this development in a statement on Monday. 

The decision follows a meeting between senior officials from Abia State Government, headed by the Governor, and high-ranking representatives of the Hungarian Government, led by Mr Gabor Kruss, Deputy Ambassador of the Embassy of Hungary in Nigeria, over the weekend.

Collaboration on manufacturing
 
Uko mentioned that Governor Otti welcomed the Hungarian delegation, who arrived with various proposals spanning various sectors involving Ortoprofil.

The Hungarian team expressed their interest in forming partnerships and collaborating with the Abia State Government across various sectors such as Energy, Health, Education, Agriculture, Sports, and the provision of clean drinking water.

Ortoprofil is a Hungarian medical service provider which operates its subsidiary dedicated to producing tailor-made prosthetics, limb prostheses, body-powered devices, electronic and mechanical wheelchairs, as well as orthopaedic and therapeutic footwear, along with insoles for flat-foot and diabetic foot conditions.

The Chief Press Secretary concluded on establishing a partnership with the firm after discussions were made with Ambassador Kruss and Judith Beres, the Economic Counselor at the Embassy of Hungary in Nigeria, the Abia Government delegation, which included Dr Chimezie Ukaegbu, Commissioner for Trade, Commerce and Industry; Prof Uche Eme-Uche, Commissioner for Education; and Dr Ngozi Okoronkwo, Commissioner for Health.

Facilitating development in Abia

Governor Otti spoke saying, “The first time we met, we talked about cooperation in the area of healthcare development. I know that you spent over a million dollars retrofitting St. Charles Hospital in Anambra. We will be very interested in that kind of cooperation.

“The Ortoprofil manufacturing plant has been approved. The details will be worked out. I will direct the Commissioner for Trade, Commerce and Industry to liaise with the Commissioner for Lands, who is not here right now so that we can provide the half hectare of land for them anywhere they choose”.
“We would provide the land without asking for payment for it; that will be our contribution”

“For us there are two important things, the production that is happening here and the creation of jobs for our people. The production increases our GDP and hopefully our Internally Generated Revenue.”

Governor Otti said the government would also be looking at opportunities in the area of education.
The governor also spoke on supporting innovative youths to create jobs.

He said: “The area of scholarship is also something we want to take advantage of. We have a lot of our young people with various initiatives, they are inventors and very innovative in thinking even if they didn’t go to proper school. We will encourage them to go to school. They are better inventors when they go to school.”