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By Chukwudi Nweje
Abia State Governor-Elect, Dr. Alex Otti, Tuesday named a team of professionals and technocrats in business, economics, entrepreneurship, and politics as members of the Transition Council (TC) that will help to articulate a policy document that would forge a direction and developmental agenda for Abia, in line with his vision for the state.
He also noted that Aba the commercial city of the state would play a focal role in his administration.
The council chaired by Victor Onyenkpa, Partner, and Chief Operating officer (COO) at KPMG will be inaugurated in Aba on April 15.
Other members of the TC include Ifueko Omogui Okauru, former Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), who will serve as cochair, with Arunma Oteh, former Director General of Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), who is also former Treasurer and Vice President of the World Bank and currently a Director at FSD Africa, an international development agency focused primarily on financial markets in sub-Saharan Africa as a member.
Other members include Prof Ndubuisi Ekekwe, a Nigerian-born inventor who helped Apple design a semiconductor for the iPhone; Mr Uche Orji, the immediate past CEO of Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA); Victor Okoronkwo, GMD of Aiteo Oil and Gas; Mr. Frank Nneji, Founder of ABC Transport Company; and Ide John Udeagbala, an Aba-based business mogul.
The TC will interphase with the outgoing government of Dr Okezie Ikpeazu until Dr Otti’s formal assumption of office on May 29.
A statement Tuesday signed by Kazie Uko on behalf of the TC noted that Dr Otti chose Aba for the inauguration of the council in line with his promise during the campaigns that he would create a ministry for Aba, to take charge of the urban and physical renewal of the once foremost commercial and industrial hub of South East Nigeria.
The statement said, “The choice of Aba, the commercial nerve centre of Abia State, for the inauguration of the Council is strategic as well as significant with the Enyimba City being the centrepiece of the incoming Alex Otti government’s economic and infrastructural development plan.
