The Chairman of Zinox Group, Mr. Leo Stan Ekeh, has declared that Enugu State has the potential of becoming the digital capital of Nigeria and that of West Africa by taking advantage of the limitless opportunities to create digital wealth.
He stated this at the first-ever Enugu State Investment Summit, tagged, ‘Oganiru 2016’, saying that what was required was for the state government to enhance the profile of the numerous resources it already possessed and the comparative advantage it enjoyed in certain areas.
“Enugu enjoys a rare privilege of being an established cosmopolitan city and remotely developed rural areas with minimum infrastructure. It is therefore easier for the government to take ownership.
“The state presently has the largest concentration of ambitious tertiary institutions in the country. You have fibre optic cables laid all over the state. You enjoy cheaper rental cost for quality accommodation, good roads and the general cost of living is less.
“The only thing holding you back is the political will and electric power infrastructure, which you can provide temporarily with generators before partnering to build power plants and you will see this state transforming into a haven for digital wealth creation as well as smart and quality lifestyle in the 21st century,” he said.
Ekeh decried the nonchalant attitude of some South East governors who, according to him, have near zero investment in infrastructure for digital wealth creation in the 21st century.
The digital entrepreneur wondered how leaders in the region intended to create billionaires who would pay taxes in the near future without any form of concrete investment in place for providing opportunities and nurturing the youths.
“I must state here that the Igbo are not ready for digital wealth creation as it is obvious that leaders in the region are not ready to transit to building the knowledge economy which holds the key to achieving this,” he stated.
“Digital wealth is the new mega wealth that rewards the effort in few months or years but you must create solid platforms to uplift your people.
“It is about building creative platforms for our kids and millions of today’s restive youths, which will channel their energies and passion towards what is termed today as true miracle wealth,” he said.
“Increased access to education as captured in the building of a knowledge economy, a clear change of attitude, visualising the bigger picture and liberalising access to information through Information and Communications Technology are core essential requirements to achieving this.
“This is a century of results and not efforts and sincerely, no one was created by God to be poor in this century but government must invest in critical infrastructure for her people to benefit,” he added.
Ekeh, who congratulated the State Governor, IfeanyiUgwuanyi, for initiating the summit, expressed deep concern about the resource gap between the Igbo of his age and the next generation of youths.
He said that many in his generation were able to build and defend their franchises because the economy was transiting in all sectors from analogue to digital, which they were able to key into.
“This is why you will observe that there is no noticeable gap between my generation and when the likes of erstwhile leaders and successful businessmen from the South-East such as Chukwuemeka Odimegwu-Ojukwu, Chief Augustine Ilodibe, Godwin Tabansi, Emmanuel Akwiwu and Ferdinand Anaghara, among others, held sway,” he added. (Punch)
