Securing Sustainable Long-term Commercial Status for Abia State
Emmanuel Ogbonnaya
While the name Abia may not easily resonate with a lot of foreigners as one of the 36 states in Nigeria, a vast majority of these same people especially those in the commerce sector, would instantly recognise the name Aba, as a commercial city, located in south-eastern Nigeria, home to hardworking indigenous Igbo people.
Aba is known for its bustling industry of craftsmen and artisans of high quality and creative fabrics and foot wears, but not too long ago, a lot of people became concerned for obvious reasons, over the seeming non-development and near state of comatose that had overtaken this commercial nerve centre –Aba.
In essence, the term “Aba made” a household parlance in the country almost became synonymous with low quality goods that were lacking in quality finish.
The negative narrative as all negatives are wont to do, almost eclipsed the true picture of things on ground, nearly eroding the reputation of talented artisans and craftsmen who were unable to project the products of their unregulated sectors.
Survival by subterfuge
Interestingly, Aba’s industrial image continuously deteriorated despite a booming local and export trade which went underreported. Many boutiques in the country as well as droves of traders from neighbouring African countries were still buying fabrics and foot wears from Aba despite the name shaming.
Finding the false negative image quite uncomfortable for business, many quality producers devised ingenious ways of moving their inventory, such as falsely embossing their products with Made in Italy, EU, Vietnam, China stamps. As opposed to proudly having Made-in-Aba stamps on their beautiful crafts.
Efforts by concerned individuals and governments to return Aba to its pride of place has taken varied forms, such as of investment summits; government recognition and proper organisation of established trade and artisanal associations, especially the foot wear and fabric makers who it must be said, have carved an iconic niche for themselves in the continent, but still lag a yard or two behind, in terms of top notch global competitiveness.
Walking the talk
Kudos should be given to the current administration of Dr Okezie Ikpeazu, the executive governor of Abia State, who it appears finally found a sustainable way to preserve and promote the ingenuity of Abians and make them globally competitive.
Governor Ikpeazu often described as the number one #MadeInAba Ambassador for keeping to his promise of wearing only items of clothing Made in Abia State and marketing it everywhere.
From the moment he assumed office in his first term, Ikpeazu unrelentingly displayed an uncommon determination to polish and put on display, the industriousness of Aba artisans and possibly mainstream their competitive strain.
Ikpeazu, besides proudly putting their wares on full strategic display in the Government State House Umuahia and Liaison offices nationwide, where every visitor would see, also marketed and secured contracts at federal levels for kitting of the nation’s security agencies.
He further sponsored a significant number of exceptionally skilled artisans to study quality control and world-class finishing in leading production countries worldwide and procured sophisticated production equipment to enable them mass produce and scale up operations.
Not satisfied with the short and medium term gains, Gov Ikpeazu has gone a major significant step further in ensuring that these gains are truly sustained in the long term, not just for these Made-in-Aba champions, but for the entire state and industrious people of Abia.
Last week, he officially created the Abia State Marketing and Quality Management Agency, after the House of Assembly passed a Bill in its favour, to kick-start a Made-in-Abia revolution with full force.
While one can authoritatively say that Aba’s industrious artisans played a significant part in the inspiration behind this new agency, the governor as chief executive of the state, controlling an aerial view, saw that tucked away from immediate public view, were other kicking economic sectors, especially crop production, which has long existed but feebly failed to substantively expand and compete globally.
He thus mandated the Agency to work on firstly, expanding existing markets and finding new markets for all goods produced across the entire Abia State. And secondly, outline and enforce quality standards for all of these goods.
Hitting the ground running
Speaking after receiving the instruments of office, the newly appointed Director General of the Agency, Barr Sam Hart, a front-line enthusiast and Made-in-Aba marketer, outlined some of the interesting steps the agency will engage in line with its mandate, to include serving as aggregators for producers and traders based in Abia State.
“You already know of a number of products #MadeInAbia, chiefly, leather and garments but we are much more than that. We have the unique Akwette fabric produced in Akwette. Succulent Cashew in Umunneochi/Uturu, Rice in Bende/Isuikwuato, high grade palms and cassava, etc.
“We will go to the hinterlands and buy up agro products produced by our farmers and resell it in the cities of Abia State and beyond. That way, our farmers are guaranteed off-take of their products which increases productivity and profitability.
Hart also stated that the agency will be accessible to serve those needing products and services from Abia State with #MadeInAbia shops at airports nationwide.
“We will launch two before the end of the year, so you can walk in and pick up your garments, fabrics, shoes, bags, belts, etc all #MadeInAbia.
“We will sign up with existing online platforms selling products to place #MadeInAbia products on their site while we work on our own robust online platform. We are in discussion with a few already. More are welcome,” he said.
Maintaining quality standards
According to Hart, the Law setting up the agency empowers it to shut down production centres that do not conform to its quality standards.
“We will guarantee the quality standards of goods produced in Abia State. If it comes from Abia State, then it has passed minimum quality checks.
“We will establish and maintain a robust relationship with Federal Agencies that engage in Standardization, Trade Facilitation and market access so we can get the best deals available for #MadeInAbia producers.
“All sectors will experience dedicated quality monitoring. We will visit abattoirs and other food supply and retail outlets to enforce quality. We will place Certificates of Quality compliance renewable quarterly after checks to ensure that standards are maintained” Hart stated.
Meanwhile, he has urged service producers and manufacturers to come forward and register their businesses on a Yellow Page being compiled by the agency.