Mr. Vishal Jhadav, the Managing Director of Crescendo Worldwide, a diverse FDI consultancy firm based in India, has anticipated that the Enyimba Economic City (ECC) located in Abia State will boost the trade volume between Nigeria and India to $20 billion.
Jhadav shared this information with newsmen in Abuja, at a dinner event organized by the Enyimba Economic Development Company (EEDC), the minds behind ECC, to celebrate his contributions.
- “Today India and Nigeria do about $11 billion volume of trade and it is fluctuating between $11 to $15 billion.
- “So with this new Economic City, we are targeting towards increasing this trade between the two countries to $20 billion.
- “And we are proud to say that there are more than 76 Indian companies, who have registered their interest, setting up their manufacturing facilities inside Enyimba and these companies are from diverse sectors,” he said.
2000 to 3000 New Jobs to be created in ECC
Jhadav said that collaboration with other stakeholders and private sector companies will create about 2000 to 3000 new jobs in Enyimba Economic City.
He further mentioned that these initiatives are expected to generate approximately $400 million in trade and investments, extending their reach to markets across the entire African continent from Nigeria.
He stated that the EEC is poised to present unparalleled investment chances for companies from India and worldwide.
- “We are speaking about companies from manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, automobile, aerospace and medical devices.
- “All mixed sizes of companies, coming together and setting up their factories there, and this will not just for the Nigerian market but for whole African market driving it from Nigeria.
- “Our role as Enyimba Economic City and Chriscendo Worldwide, is that we want to drive this growth, this vision, so that these 76 Indian companies, when they will be functional, and set up their factories, they will create about 2000 to 3000 new jobs.
- “They will have about 400 million dollars of trade and investments; they will extend to the whole of African continent market from Nigeria,” he added.
What you should know
Enyimba Economic City is situated on a 9,803 hectares greenfield special economic zone in Abia State, and it is a Public Private Partnership (PPP) project of Crown Realties Plc, Abia Government and the Federal Government.
- The project is being executed under the Made in Nigeria for Export (MINE) programme of the Federal Government and has currently won validation as the single largest urban development project in Africa.
- It Is a special economic zone that is planned to connect the nine States in the South-East and South-South zones of Nigeria, with a captive population of about 60 million, into a global business hub.
- According to report, AfreximBank is committing a total investment of $150 million in the proposed EEC project, while the Federal Government has handed the management of its 20% equity holding in the project to the Sovereign Wealth Fund.
