Boniface Okoro in Umuahia
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate for the 2027 elections in Abia State, Dr. Kelechi Anosike, has promised to build a world-class Common Facility Centre (CFC) in Aba to boost the leather and garment clusters.
Anosike made the promise in Aba when he met with representatives of the Leather and Garment Clusters, comprising over 200,000 members, as part of his ongoing campaign tour of the commercial city.
He said the proposed CFC would be a solar-powered industrial and technical hub equipped with world-class machines to enable Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), especially young tailors, shoemakers and garment makers who lack capital, to produce international-standard finished products.
According to him, “The model would replicate what the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) did in Abuja, where tailors register their materials, pay a token of N5,000, now N10,000, to access all machines in the centre to finish jobs for their customers and keep the proceeds.
“I said we will set up a solar-powered centre with all kinds of world-class machines. Like what SMEDAN did in Abuja-on the tailoring aspect.”
The PDP candidate recalled that a similar facility built in Aba in 2008 by the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) in partnership with the federal and Abia State Governments was abused, vandalised and eventually abandoned by successive administrations, thereby defeating its empowerment purpose.
He said his administration would bring back the concept as a deliberate empowerment strategy, stressing that apart from the CFC, his government would establish a Traders Microfinance Bank to provide interest-free loans and grants to traders and clusters to scale up production and reduce dependence on imports.
Anosike argued that while white-collar jobs are limited, thousands of SMEs can be created if government partners traders to produce locally made goods for which Nigeria spends over $10 to $20 billion annually importing, despite having the raw materials in abundance.
Anchoring his campaign on what he termed ‘productive welfarism’, the governorship hopeful said his mission is encapsulated in the slogan ‘Aruo Uzo, Aruo Afo’ (build roads, build people), insisting that infrastructure is meaningless if the people are not alive and economically empowered to use it.
“I’m a welfarist, and welfarism is not to give you handouts; it’s to empower you to support the state. It is called productive welfarism,” he declared.
He criticised what he described as anti-people taxes on the poor, vowing to abolish them, and lamented that despite the increase in federal allocation to Abia State from about N3.5 billion to about N40 billion monthly, there was “zero welfare” to cushion the effects of subsidy removal.
In his remarks, the National Secretary of Aba Leather and Garment Clusters, Mr. Ken Anyanwu, said the delegation came to introduce the over 200,000-member body to the candidate and to seek a more detailed engagement on how to upgrade the clusters to world-class status.
Anyanwu, who doubled as cooperative president, said Aba leather and garment products are number one in Africa, lamenting that while other countries are wooing Aba artisans, successive Abia State Governments have neglected them.
According to him, SMEs remain the pivot of economic growth and should be prioritised by any people-oriented government, pledging the support of the members. He stressed that Anosike’s manifesto holds the key for the clusters.
Those at the event included Abia State PDP Deputy Chairman and senatorial candidate for Abia South, Chinyere Onuoha; Aba North/Aba South federal constituency, Bob Ajuzieogu; the Aba Central House of Assembly candidate, Anastasia Uchenna; Hon. Daniel Ajunwa (Obere Agu), and other House of Assembly candidates for the state constituencies. They all urged the people of the state to vote for the PDP in 2026.
Also speaking, the state Director, National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Chris -Monike Chika, appealed to all political parties to ensure the safety of the corps members before, during and after elections in the state, urging them to treat them like their own children.