By BARBARA KALU, Port Harcourt –
Chief Executive Officer of Housing & Construction Mayor Limited, My-ACE China, has outlined the necessary steps that must be taken by the Rivers State Government so that the desired benefits of the just-concluded Rivers Economic Summit can be enhanced.
He has also declared that his company is willing to submit itself as a guinea pig to test if Rivers State is really open for business
Speaking in an interview in Port Harcourt, Mr. China, who is better known as the Mayor of Housing, said the most important step was for the government to ensure “clarity of processes and removal of bottlenecks.”
“First of all, the government has to be very mindful of the individuals that will handle whatever agency that will be placed with the responsibility of the resolutions that will come out of this summit. This is because having a clear vision, having clear agenda and clear intentions is one thing but having individuals with the competence, character, and resistance to bribery and other inducement to be able to birth that vision and agenda in practical implication is more important than having those agencies, “ he said.
He recalled that when the administration of former Olusegun Obasanjo wanted to succeed in the fight against face and adulterated drugs, “they put somebody that was non-political in the person of the late Dora Akunyili to head that agency. It was to make sure that political and bureaucratic bottlenecks were removed.”
According to the Mayor of Housing, “this is because you might have agencies for those visions and those agenda, if they are the same political agencies filled with the same bureaucratic bottlenecks of Nigerian agency, you will find that the difficulty of passing through those agencies to get your business through is back to the same old business of difficulty of doing business and the government intention might not get to the real business practitioners.”
- Mr. China and other participants during the Rivers Economic Summit
The other important requirements, according to the Mayor of Housing, include the power of execution by the principal leaders of the state, which is the governor, and the Ease of Doing Business.
He said, “we find that when the principal political actors appoint people of politics to economic positions, they might not have the capacity to make things easy for investors. So, we call for key positions to be manned by hard-nosed technocrats who have no political biases and exposures. Ministries such as for trade, marine economy, blue economy, these should go only to seasoned technocrats from Rivers State. These determine the economy. Look for non-political figures. They are required to deliver value. We investors can feel free to go to them for ease of the business.
On his impression of the two-day economic summit, Mr. China noted that for Governor Sim Fubara to sit down and use his precious time to participants in the event, it showed that he has the intention and commitment to execute everything that was discussed.
“With what I have seen today, I say to investors out there to please watch out for Rivers State. The governor has shown a willingness to execute what was agreed here. I think we can bet on him and test the weather,” he said.
Asked whether there was anything the real estate sector would draw from the blue economy that is now becoming the rave of the moment, Mr. China identified access roads and other infrastructure as some of the limiting factors in real estate.
“You heard about the person who took the waterways and arrived Lagos in 15 minutes instead of three hours. That is what can happen when infrastructure is developed around waters. Properties across waterways will greatly appreciate. The infrastructure around waterways will boost in value and investors will play around it. So, well organized and well harnessed waterways will expose the value of property around them.
“What I am saying is that lands locked for years in the waters will now become very valuable and very useful. Some people will pay anything for houses in beaches. Children like roller-coaster while adults go for boat ride. I will rather pay 10 times to have my house in the beach.”
He expressed delight that different states in Nigeria are now wooing investors to come over, meaning that there is competition.
“Recently, we learnt that Landmark Beach that was lamenting in Lagos has been contacted by Akwa Ibom State government for discussions. If they give him incentives, there will be no Landmark Beach in Lagos but in Akwa Ibom,” he said.
Commenting on his personal interest in Rivers State or in the Economic Summit, Mr. China said: “I am the Mayor of Housing, not the Mayor of Empty Houses. If you build in a location not attractive to migrants, you will end up with empty houses. Part of the passion I have in housing in Rivers State is to reduce the Rivers–Lagos dichotomy especially in estates. We have a lot of expatriates and big shots working in Port Harcourt but living elsewhere especially in Lagos. We want to attract people to live in Port Harcourt and do business.
“Land is no longer in production. It is a finite product. If more people come to Rivers State, it will make my business more viable because first impact would be land to build houses. If people do not come, its not good for me.”
Asked how his company intends to key into the economic policies of the Fubara Administration, Mr, China said “we submit ourselves as guinea pigs to test if rivers is really open for business.”
Elaborating, Mr. Chiana said, “the major thing we are doing as the Mayor of Housing is that we have been on ground so we are going to submit ourselves as the proverbial guinea pig, as the experience of whether the government policies are succeeding or not. We’ve been on ground, we’ve been doing business with the difficulty of doing business.
‘We are now submitting ourselves to the Rivers State government as the guinea pig that will announce to the world when doing business becomes easy, when policies become clear, when the policies are working. So we are submitting g ourselves as a template the success or failure of whatever will be discussed in this summit.
“I already saw a better River State before this summit because I tell people I’m not a politician, I’m probably Nigeria’s first or only valuetician. This is because I only get myself involved in valuetics and not politics. And, one of the things I’ve seen that I am very optimistic about, the post summit era is that, before the summit, the Rivers State governor had every excuse in the world not to have performed or done anything because of the political crisis going on in the State. Instead, he showed he could deliver at least tangible results within that crisis period and that’s how you can test intention of any man.,” he said.
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