By Samuel Ogenyi, Uyo
Akwa Ibom State Government is set to complete the construction of a set of model industries in its quest to drive and encourage the growth of small and medium scale industries in the state.
The model conglomerate is made up of pencil, plastic, paper and toothpick factories with the plastic factory having the capacity to produce 1,750 plastic buckets daily.
Conducting newsmen round the site of the Industries recently, state commissioner for Industry, Trade and Investment Prince Ukpong Akpabio said the Dakadda Cottage Industries floated by the state government has the capacity to produce 1750 plastic buckets daily.
This is in addition to thousands of daily production of pencils, toothpicks and a multi million Naira paper plant with a capacity to produce thousands of rolls of tissue paper band and other sundry consumables to satisfy the daily needs of the people.
He listed products manufactured in the factory as pencils for Nursery/Primary Schools, plastic buckets of all sizes , toothpicks, sanitary papers and Exercise books among others .
The tootpick, tissue and pencil factories Akpabio said would utilize bamboo as their major raw material and would help in running the factories at a sustainable cost as they would be sourced locally.
In addition, the factories would jointly make use of one power source in order to reduce the cost of operations which in turn would increase their competitiveness in the market.
Akpabio advised critics to stop making comparison of the present administration of Governor Udom Emmanuel and the past government in the state as the later has re-positioned the state economy for the future .
” In Agriculture, Gov, Udom has done more than 70 per cent but the previous administrations scored zero. Governor Udom us known for industrialization and Investment. Even if you use other ways to look at this administration, Udom will still win first position.
“I am talking from experience, I was there in Attah’s administration and even Akpabio and I am here in Udom’s administration. Udom has consciously worked on the attitude of an Akwa Ibom man. Anyone who needs anything from.the government comes with a proposal. This industry is a product of my proposal to the Governor.” He said
He said the expanded factory which would be commissioned during the state anniversary in September would commence training of Akwa Ibom indigenes to take over production process of the company from Chinese nationals as a means for industrialization of the state.
The Dakkada Cottage Industries, formerly AKEES factory, conceived to be a model and a hub for small scale industries has in the past suffered some setbacks before the recent restoration and expansion initiative.
Issues of mismanagement leading to non profitability, staff redundancy and loss of motivation due to backlog of unpaid salaries meant that a project that was conceived to incubate and train aspiring industrialists suddenly became a burden to government.
However this new initiative by the state government coming with a sustainable strategy would restore hope in a project believed to nurture and train upcoming industrialists in the state.
