Chinese Firm Partners Abia State in a $1.5B Shoe Factory in Aba
Recall the images of Abia State Governor, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu standing in a train in China flying around in social media? Well, the trip to China seem to have paid off and Abians and Nigeria in general will soon benefit the dividends.
His Excellency, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu recently secured a $1.5B partnership project for the establishment of a Shoe Industry in Aba, Abia State.
The governor sealed the deal with Huajian Shoe Industry in Dongguan, Guangzhou, China, in the course of his official visit to China for the 1st Nigeria-China Governors Investment Forum.
According to a press release by his Chief Press Secretary, Enyinnaya Appolos, Ikpeazu secured the agreement after a meeting with Group Chairman of the Huajian Group, Mr. Zhang Huarong.
Appolos added that the Abia-Huajian Shoe Industrial City, will have the capacity to produce 5,000 shoes per day and employ about 10,000 people directly and indirectly.
He added “Abia State Government will provide the land and other investment incentives for the project while the Huajian Group will fund the entire project.”
Mr. Huarong, who noted that Governor Ikpeazu was the 1st Nigerian Leader to visit him, disclosed that the Huajian Group was already employing 6,000 staff and is currently developing a 250 Acre Industrial City in Ethiopia and expressed his eagerness to come to Nigeria.
Huajian Group currently employs about 20,000 staff in China and operates 10,000 shoes per day Factory in Dongguan valued at $2B.
Mr. Huarong assured that he will visit the Governor in Abia before the end of April 2017 for further discussion on the project.
Zhang Huarong, speaking in his office few months back in the southern factory hub of Dongguan, said: ‘Some manufacturers can’t even survive in China anymore. The China market is no longer enough so he feels it is wise for industries to move foreign. Partner with other countries and expand.
Huajian Group is the same company producing Donald Trump’s daughters (Ivanka) shoe line and they are planing on moving it’s production to Ethiopia.
His company has made about 100,000 pairs of Ivanka Trump-branded shoes over the years, according to their spokesman Liu Shiyuan.
In August it filled an order for 20,000 pairs, just weeks after Trump accepted the Republican nomination, with a speech in which he vowed to bring jobs back to the US.
