Diamond Bank invests over N30bn in Aba Power Plant
Diamond Bank Plc said it has invested over N30 billion in a geometric power project in Aba that will generate sustainable power supply for the industrial city all year round.
Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the bank, Dr. Alex Otti disclosed this in his opening remarks as chairman of the First- Made- in Abia Products Exhibition which opened recently in Umuahia, Abia state.
The theme of the exhibition was promoting made in Abia products for accelerated economic development.
The plant would ensure entrepreneurs in Aba and environs can produce goods at full capacity and at a reduced cost and it will be commissioned at the end of the year he said 'I'm aware that there are well over 60,000 shoe makers in Aba but they have challenges of producing at full capacity because of irregular supply of electricity, adding that as soon as the new plant is commissioned , Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) would switch off in the area because the new plant will be able to generate sustainable electricity for 365 days yearly.'
Otti who commended Governor Theodore Orji for the initiative, noted that with this exhibition, 'Abia has shown itself is a producing state,' remarking that Rome was not built in a day and if the exhibition is sustained over time, there would be significant improvement in some of the inventions made by the people.
The Otti remarked that people used to look down on products from China, Japan and Korea as inferior but today everything they use in their homes are made from those countries, adding that there is need to encourage and support the enterprising people of Abia to achieve this same feat because no society can develop without production.
He said the best type of trading is value-chain trading, whereby people sell what they produce and not just buying and selling, remarking that there is need to encourage entrepreneurs in the state to showcase their products.
In his keynote address, Governor Theodore Orji commended the initiative put together by the office of his wife that culminated in the public-private partnership to holistically address the issue of industrialisation of the state which is also tied to his administration legacy projects.