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From Okey Sampson, Umuahia
Governor Alex Otti has urged the UOO conglomerate and other businesses that left Abia State over insecurity, particularly in Aba, the state’s commercial hub, to come back now that the state is peaceful.
In late 2009 and 2010, when the late kidnap kingpin, Obioma Nwankwo aka Osisikankwu, held sway, many people, including companies relocated from the state and Aba, in particular, to other parts of the country for safety.
Governor Otti made the appeal in Abia, at the weekend, during activities marking the 70th anniversary of the U.O.O Nigeria Plc.
“I learnt you moved your headquarters from Aba to Lagos as a result of insecurity during the inglorious years of kidnapping in the state.
“Now that peace has returned and the state is safe, coupled with the fact we have provided the enabling environment for business to thrive, I urge UOO and other firms that left, to return their headquarters to Abia”.
Represented by the Director General of Greater Aba Development Authority (GADA), Chief Uche Ukeje, Governor Otti said UOO represents the best of what a business should be, having transcended from the founder, Chief Uche Onyima Okafor, down to the children and grandchildren.
While urging the company to return its headquarters to Abia, the governor expressed the willingness of his administration to partner with the firm in the interest of the state.
Otti informed that his administration has provided the enabling environment for business to thrive in Abia, adding that the government was putting things in place to ensure the population of Aba grows from its present two million to four million in the next few years.
The state Commissioner for Industries and SMEs, Chief Mike Akpara, and his Trade and Commerce counterpart, Dr. (Mrs) Salome Obiukwu, stated that the government is prepared to assist UOO in resuscitating some of their industries that are not presently doing well.
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The commissioners said UOO is the type of company the Abia government would like to partner to create jobs for the teeming youths in the state. They commended the founder for what he was able to achieve during his lifetime and the children for continuing from where their father stopped.
Representative of the Commissioner for Lands and the Chief Registrar of Deeds in the Ministry, Chaka Chukwumereije, commended the firm for always adhering to government’s regulation when it comes to property registration and regularisation.
Chukwumereije advised property owners in the state to embrace the prompt signing of C of Os by Governor Otti to register their properties.
The President, Aba Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (ACCIMA), Mazi Jude Nwosu, represented by Cletus Ekpo, said the Chamber was advocating for what he described as entity content, whereby firms are structured in a way they should outlive their founders as in the case of UOO.
Chairman of UOO Nigeria Plc, Edozie Okafor, had earlier described how his father, at the age of 13, used an initial capital of 18 shillings and four pence to build what has, today, become a thriving conglomerate.
“By today’s standards, that amount would appear insignificant, but history teaches us that greatness is never determined by the size of one’s beginning, rather, it is determined by the size of one’s vision”.
Okafor disclosed that UOO, which formally began business on January 8, 1956, had, within years of its establishment, turned into a conglomerate of over 10 firms.
“From the 60’s to 70’s, this brand was a household name in Eastern and Western Nigeria. This was more than a commercial transaction, it was a declaration of confidence. It demonstrated that an indigenous Nigerian entrepreneur could compete with professionalism on the international stage”.
Okafor, who proudly announced that the company has grown beyond one generation, one family, and one era, said it yet maintained its values of integrity, excellence, innovation, service, and resilience.
