Nsukka Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NSCCIMA) in Enugu says it is partnering various stakeholders to harness economic opportunities in Nsukka to develop the area.

NSCCIMA director-general Uchenna Nnadị disclosed this in a statement. He said the chamber was mobilising key stakeholders in the public and private sectors to provide the infrastructure and enabling environment to launch investors onto the new diamonds in Nsukka sufficiently.

Mr Nnadi said NSCCIMA’s principal objective was to mobilise SMEs and seek collaboration to make the area an economic hub of agro production, aggregation and processing, and industrialisation for investors, given the honey pot geography of the zone.

According to him, Adada, Ebonyị, Amanyi, Obinna, and Omambara rivers in the zone will provide irrigation for all year-round agro production, water supply and power generation.

Mr Nnadi explained that clusters of traditional commodity markets throughout the zone offered investors the opportunity of a modern and global commodity exchange market, agro aggregation and processing, and industrial parks with the accompanying domestic export warehouse.

The NSCCIMA boss further said there were technical clusters at Umakashi Industrial Layout (Site/Mechanic Village) and Ubolo Aho, together with the University of Nigeria Nsukka, Federal Polytechnic Ohodo, State University of Medical and Applied Sciences (SUMAS), Igbo Eno, Enugu.

Others, like the Maduka University and Iwollo Polytechnic Campus at Ezimo, offered the zone a solid foundation for industrialisation and its own Silicon Valley, he said.

“NSCCIMA will be exploring new town and gown projects with the tertiary institutions to bring about Nsukka Silicon Valley. The geographical gateway status of the zone offers it the special distribution logistic centre in Nigeria, with the potential for a modern trucks transit park and dry port.

“These will receive raw materials for the industry and evacuate the cement from Nigercem and the processed agro products from the area,” Mr Nnadi said.

He said the chamber was mobilising its key stakeholders on strategic bilateral and multilateral engagements with the ministries, departments, agencies and other relevant organisations.

“NSCCIMA will be organising local trade fairs and foreign trade missions for SMEs as well as town and gown programmes with universities and other tertiary educational institutions for the development of entrepreneurship,” Mr Nnadi explained.

(NAN)