Enugu – The Enugu Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (ECCIMA), says Nigerians need sincerity from the newly appointed members of the Federal Executive Council (FEC).
The ECCIMA Director-General and President, Dr Emeka Okereke, spoke on the sideline of assignment of portfolios to the ministers by President Muhammadu Buhari, in Enugu on Wednesday.
Okereke said that the time for politicking had passed, adding that the president had done what he should by assigning the ministers to the areas he felt they would excel.
“The president has done what he should do, but the big deal is for us to see the change.
“It is now time for the president and his cabinet to get down to work because Nigerians will not be too gullible to accept their change mantra,” he said.[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”70560″]According to him, though the president has done the needful, but there is nothing to rejoice yet until the government hit the ground running.
“The inauguration of the FEC is coming late because of the transition from one government to the other. We should learn to have a transition blueprint when the opposition is coming to power.
“That is the reason the economy is down because the president’s team where still studying the handover note which was reportedly given to them late by the past administration,” he said.
Okereke appealed to the Minister of Trade, Investment and Industry, Dr Okechukwu Enelamah, to facilitate the development of the permanent site of the Enugu International Trade Fair.
“It’s a shame, it has taking a long time to develop the complex after the foundation was laid in 1999.
“Nothing tangible has been done at the complex. We are aware that the economy is not in its best shape, but we expect strategic plans to provide infrastructure at the complex.
“The trade fair complex in Kaduna and Lagos did not take this long to complete and we expect this government to do to the South-East what it did to the North and South-West,” he said.
Okereke said that he was optimistic that the complex would be completed by the current administration.
“My optimism is from the fact that the complex in Kaduna was completed by President Muhammadu Buhari when he was Chairman of the Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF).’’
The ECCIMA president appealed to the Federal Government to implement such policies that would boost trade and investment in the country. (NAN)
