Enugu Governor hails GOCOP’s choice of theme for 1st Annual Conference; Outlines efforts towards diversifying State’s economy

Goodwill message to members of The Guild of Corporate Online Publishers (GOCOP) on the occasion of their First Annual Conference at Renaissance Hotel, Isaac John Street, Ikeja GRA, Lagos.

As the Guild of Corporate Online Publishers (GOCOP) holds its First Annual Conference/ election of officers today (Thursday), the governor of Enugu State, Rt. Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, heartily sends his good will message to the members of the Guild who are  responsible operators of the respected new media platforms across our dear nation. His Excellency is excited by the prospect of your conference delivering to the nation, emerging road maps on how to tame the current heady economic crisis plaguing the country since the theme of the conference is “Sustaining Growth through Diversification of the Economy”.

In line with your thoughtful decision to delve into this crisis pulling at the very epicentre of the nation’s survival, the administration of Governor Ugwuanyi has since its inception continued to explore avenues to grow the very lean financial base of the state which is about the third from the bottom in terms of receipts from the Federation Account. One of such steps taken so far is the drive for investors from within and outside the country, a reason the governor led a delegation of state officials on an economic mission to Dublin, Ireland early in 2016.

Following from this first step, the administration had also floated an economic summit during which prospective investors thronged the event and brainstormed on myriads of huge business potentials in the state. At the moment, a good number of investors are at various stages of actualizing their moves to float business ventures in the state while some have actually begun processes of setting up their infrastructure bases.

Yet, our best strategy from the onset has been to run a very frugal system based on fiscal discipline at all levels of government. Hence, irrespective of the overriding problem of inability of many state governments to pay salaries and meet up with other responsibilities of governance, Enugu State government has continued to pay salaries and pensions between the 23^rd and 25^th of every month. The Ugwuanyi administration has also done considerably well in infrastructure development as it has begun its plan to create more urban centres and break the jinx of having Enugu remaining as a one-city state. The result of this exhibition of utmost responsible disposition in handling the finances of the state has, of course, earned the governor awards and plaudits from organizations, groups and individuals.

One other major step taken so far by this administration is the reinforcement of the state’s internally-generated revenue machinery by bringing in professionals to run the affairs of the Inland Revenue Board. So far, it has upped the ante in revenue generation beyond the imagination of close observers of that sector of the state economy, making it possible for the state to continue to meet up its obligations at the level it has done so far.

His Excellency urges you to hold a rancour-free election while wishing that this important topic of sustaining growth through diversification of the economy be discussed exhaustively. Happy deliberations.

Sent by Uwakwe Abugu

Chief Press Secretary to the Governor