Governor Francis Nwifuru has welcomed a leading Nigeraian pharmaceutical firm, Salt City Pharma Park in their bid to establish a mega factory at Ntezi community in the Ishielu Local Government Area of Ebonyi State.
The firm explained that the choice for Ebonyi State for the establishment of Salt City Pharma Park was hinged on availability of needed infrastructure and its discovery the State was a destination for investments.
Chairman of Board of Salt City Pharma Park Development Company and immediate past President of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, Pharmacist Sam Ohuabunwa disclosed this to journalists yesterday after a meeting with Governor Francis Nwifuru, at the Ebonyi State Government House, Abakaliki. He said, “We are here today in conjunction with the Board, our partners and investors to see Governor Nwifuru over the Salt City Pharma Park Development Company. The Salt City Pharma Park is an industrial hub, which is being established at Ntezi community in the Ishielu Local Government Area of Ebonyi State.
“During the tenure of the immediate past Governor of the State, Engr David Umahi the Nigerian Association of Industrial Pharmacists reached an agreement with the government in Joint understanding (or pact) to establish the project. We since have gone ahead after we received the Certificate of Occupancy to do the preliminary work of getting designs, drawings, layout and other geo-technical studies and, we got a 100-hectare park.
He added, “And to be fair to you, we tried to look for opportunities in all the regions of the country (in the six geo-political zones). And to be sincere we saw a few places; and to be truthful, Ebonyi State was more proactive. The then governor, Umahi, was faster in responding to our need and been able to give us reasonable soft-landings. Infact, what he did was to take us to some parts of the town to choose where we wanted. He said there was a place he thought we would have chosen, instead of choosing Ntezi. The choice was neatness to the city of Enugu, which is the capital of the South-East zone and to an airport even before the Ebonyi airport came. These were the things that we considered-beautiful land space, which will be contiguous and accessible. But the then governor’s seriousness and responsiveness gave him an edge over the others at the time.
Governor Nwifuru had in his response said that the firm was most welcome to the State and assured them of conducive business environment. He explained that the State government is disposed to welcoming and partnering genuine investors, pledged to ensure that they would enjoy the peace and hospitality of the State and her people.
