Responding to a Twitter user who sought to know the roles he played previously as a private employer of labour or as a manager to address the issues of unemployment in Abia state and Nigeria at large, and how he would optimise the massive SMEs in Abia state, Dr. Alex Otti responded thus:
“When I headed Diamond Bank (now merged with Access) we embarked on something banks were not known for: massive support to MSMEs. We had always known that quite unlike the belief that this segment of the market was risky, MSMEs had better repayment records than most of the big businesses and people . That intervention helped many of the SMEs across the country to expand. Expansions also led to massive job creation. Our performance attracted support from IFC and Shell Petroleum in terms of funding.
I also led an aggressive branch expansion across the country, including our own Abia, which generated employment across the branches.
To optimize the SME in Abia state, we will be intentional about creating a business-friendly environment. Building Infrastructure. Stopping multiple taxation that stifles businesses. I’m very much interested in creating jobs.
At over 50%, our unemployment figure is alarming. It is even more than the national average of 33%.
Apart from that, we will create an investment fund for Abia youths. Those who learned trades without means of starting up will access the funds.
We want to also ensure no single well managed business shuts down under my watch. We can’t be seeking to end this embarrassing unemployment figure and allow businesses shut down.
We will help them in all the ways we can, to remain operational. We will also help to create thousands of new SMEs with our investment fund”.
Alex Otti’s plans and programs for Ndi Abia are neither vague nor utopian. They are also not a creation of idealism, rather practicalized and proven sound economic policies birthed by skills and managerial acumen that gave room for massive and impactful results.
Alex Otti strongly believes that it’s easier to do it in Abia than it was in the corporate world, because the potentials that are found in human and material resources in Abia require someone that’s experienced in human and financial management, and above all, it requires someone who is very disciplined and determined to tap them for the development of Abia and its people.
What Alex Otti is coming with is not known here, because we have not had a government that cared to look internally and explore the very rich potentials of Ndi Abia for the development of the state.
Voting Alex Otti and Labour Party is akin to igniting an economic resurgence that would rewrite the history of Abia nay South East.
Ndi Abia…..Weep No More, Help Is On The Way.
The Alex Otti Media Team
21-10-2022.
