ANAMBRA STATE GOVT CANCELS 20 MOUs—ANSIPPA BOSS

REPORTER: UCHE NDEKE

The Anambra State Government has exited 20 of the 22 Memoranda of Understanding (MOU) signed by the immediate past administration.

The Managing Director, Anambra State Investment Promotion and Protection Agency, (ANSIPPA), Mr. Mark Okoye, made this known during the on-going discussion of the 2023 budget estimate at the State House of Assembly.

According to Mr. Okoye, the previous administration of Governor Willie Obiano signed 42 MOU, which was supervised by ANSIPPA, but most of them could not deliver on the agreement, hence the reason for the Governor Soludo-led administration to terminate 20 of them and take back the land that was offered to them by the government.

Mr. Okoye said presently, five of the remaining 22 investors were working well, 11 have some activities on ground while the remaining 5 are on borderline.

Mr. Okoye, who is a former Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget, said Governor Soludo had given approval for the forensic audit of the investments to provide an independent assessment with strategic recommendations on what to do with the investors.

The ANSIPPA Managing Director said the present administration had concluded plans to create Anambra Development Corporation, which would coordinate and pilot the critical projects captured in the manifesto of the present government.

These include water and transportation, Housing, and Gas to Power plant.

He also hinted that the Anambra State Printing Press would be consessioned for optimal performance.

According to the ANSIPPA boss, some state owned enterprises are running below capacity and need a lot of capital injection, which the state may not be able to do at the moment as it is channeling a lot of resources on road construction, healthcare and education.

He said that some of the enterprises could be run as viable businesses, which was why the government had been exploring privatization and consession of some of them by working with the private sector to bring capital that could be injected into the corporations to get them up and running again.

EDITED BY CHUKWUBUIKE MADU