Abia State Government has announced its decision to work with the Abia State Diaspora Commission in launching Abia based entrepreneurs and their local contents, such as food, textiles, leather materials into the United States markets in 2026.
Speaking with Newsmen on Monday, after a crucial meeting held in Government House Umuahia with some Abia entrepreneurs, the Chairman, Abia State Diaspora Commission, Mr Okey Agbara noted that, in the past years, Ghana has been the gateway for African Growth Opportunity Act (AGOA), and has been coming down to Nigeria to buy the products they sell to other parts of the country, including the United States.
Mr Agbara assured that the state government is going to collaborate with African Growth Opportunity Act (AGOA) and Civil Society Organisations to train local entrepreneurs packaging and meeting the specifications in the United States and other countries.
“Today, I have learned that our people sell for nothing to Ghana. And Ghana is benefiting from the hard work of our people at Aba.
“That had to stop. We have negotiated with AGOA. They have agreed to create a hub here at Aba as a West African hub here at Aba instead of Ghana. Because this is where the product is coming from.
“We are dedicated to make sure that we are going to do things that will happen or bring new life to our people back home. We are going to bring AGOA and CSO into Abia State” Agbara assured.
Mr. Agbara, who thanked the Governor for creating enabling environment for businesses to thrive, noted that after the Governor had created the Abia State Diaspaora Commission, the members of the commission created Abia State Global Chamber of Commerce to connect the people to markets across the globe.
Also speaking, the Chairman of the Abia Global Chamber of Commerce, Engineer James Umekwe
explained that the commission is committed to promoting the local contents and bringing them into the U.S market,
“What we have been trying to do is to bring the Nigerian and the Abia State, in particular, entrepreneurs and business people over to the U.S, and have access to the U.S. market.
“And we want to do this by introducing what we called the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). That is an act that was enacted by the President of the U.S., backed by President Clinton, and has been authorised by every other President.
“The most important part of that act is to bring products that are made in all these African countries, bring them to the U.S, have access to the U.S market, free of tariff.
“We want to make sure that if you are into textile, clothes, you are in the leather industry, from just farmers, everything that you can produce with much of the local content, that we can bring it into the U.S” Umekwe pointed out.
He thanked Governor Otti for what he has been doing and what he is here to do for them, particularly, the support he has been giving them and appreciated the partnership the Abia Diaspora Commission is bringing to Abia entrepreneurs.
Contributing, an Aba based entrepreneur and founder of Proud of Abia production, Mr Amaobi Nwanagu said that they are paying attention to local content, with a lot of local content that they want to use to make Abia state and Nigeria proud.
Mr Nwanagu, who is also a member of the first cohort of Aba Export Growth Lab, a business hub where entrepreneurs are being packaged and getting ready to be taken to the world said they have a lot products in Abia.
” I am here with the members of the first cohort of Aba Export Group Lab. For me, I see this meeting as part of the packaging that we are going through.
“I see it as part of the export readiness. We are being made ready to take on the whole world. We can do it. We have a lot here in Abia state, here in Nigeria, to take on the whole world.
“We have the capacity. We have the entrepreneurs. We have the manpower. We have the creativity.
We have the knowledge. What we just need is what is going on now, the packaging. That is coming from our able Governor, Dr. Alex Chioma Otti”, Mr Nwanagu noted.
