Enugu Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (ECCIMA), on Saturday, installed its 16th president, Jasper Nduagwuike, who will paddle the affairs of the Chamber for the next two years.
In his acceptance acceptance speech after his investiture which held at the Bon Sunshine Hotel, Independence Layout, Enugu, Nduagwuike promised to take the Chamber to greater heights.
“In my acceptance speech right after the election, I promised to do three things viz:
(1) My best, (2) Better my best and (3) Bend over backwards to serve you and realize the three objectives this administration has set for itself viz: (1) Relevance, (2) Visibility, and (3) Excellence.
“For too long, our Chamber has been associated with just the organisation of trade fairs as if it is the only known function of the Chamber.
“A Chamber of Commerce looks after the welfare of its members which in my opinion should be the entirety of the organized private sector. We shall therefore reach out to the various Agencies of government to achieve this. We shall reach out to other sectors so as to build trust and ensure that should the need arise our members will feel the impact and protection of our Organization.
The chamber therefore shall help in the training of our members and their staffers. I am glad to inform you that we are not just going to do this, we shall do it having been prepared and made ready by the center for management development which on the 2nd of the February certified us fit after the necessary trainings to inturn train both government and private bodies. Ladies and gentlemen, your Chamber has taken a giant stride towards relevance.
The Chamber is already holding meetings with likeminded organizations to further the ambit of our training bodies not just to ensure that our aim of disseminating knowledge is enhanced, but also that the bulk of such will be to the gain of our members.
To this end therefore, the Pharmacist Emeka Udeze business hub will be opened to the public from Monday the 7th day of February 2022. This donation which unfortunately has been left fallow is for the overall benefit of the Chamber and its activities.
We will also establish after the forth coming trade fair, a directorate of marketing which will sell our activities and also the products and services of our members.
It will also be available for consultancy to help members improve their affairs going forward. Our belief is that our progress is determined by the value we bring to bear in the progress of our members and we are determined to ensure that this target is achieved. Many of our members make very attractive products and offer excellent services in several areas but go without notice. Henceforth the website of the Chamber shall host the activities of its members all that we have we shall give to ensure that members get the very best.
We shall set up on economic think tank which shall reach out to the various governments in the region to ensure that they know the mind of the organized private sector with regards to how the various challenges will be solved.
We look forward to further strengthening our advocacy arm ECOPBA especially its relationship with our international partners so as to return it to the golden path it trod some years back
For the past thirty two years or thereabout we have consistently asked the Federal Government to fully develop the permanent site of the Enugu International Trade Fair Complex. We have hosted the Federal Ministry of Trade & Investment here in Enugu, visited them in Abuja severally but inspite of all promises made, the fair ground has remained just 18% completed while Lagos and Kaduna on the same level with us are 100% completed.
We have therefore decided to take the bull by the horns. We shall devote time and resources to uplifting the infrastructure on the fair ground. We must rise and do things by ourselves when we have been denied. In the course of this Investiture a very brief presentation will be given of where we intend to start from and we plead with you to kindly support us to achieve this laudable goal. We make bold to ask because the few times you have trusted us we have delivered. The three storey ECCIMA Secretariat is an eloquent testimony of our trustworthiness. Just as with that place, those who contribute will have their names written boldly on the plaque and should any one build anything for us, then it would bear the person’s name.
He thanked God and all those who supported him. His words, “I lift him up who after excellent Theo had incorporated me into council used others like Pharm. Ifeanyi Okoye, Pharmacist Emeka Udeze, Rob Anwatu, The Late Jumbo Offor and others to bring me to this pass. I pray He allows me to stick to Him and let the wisdom that will make this journey a resounding success”.
Earlier in his welcome address, the out-gone president, Sir Emeka Nwandu, thanked members for the support given to him during his tenure. He appealed for a greater support for the new president, Nduagwuike.
Nwandu announced that he had earlier, handed over the South -East Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture(SECCIMA) building to the new president.
In his good will message, the President, SECCIMA, Humphrey Ngonadi congratulated the new executive and urged them to take the assignment “as a worthy sacrife for the economic development of Enugu, south east region and Nigeria”.
Others who spoke at the event were president , National Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture( , NACIMA), Idea J.C.Udeagbala.
Enugu state governor, Rt. Hon. (Dr.) Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi was represented at the event by the Permanent Secretary , Ministry of Commerce Dr. Godwin Anigbo. Clergymen, Diplomats, Actors Guild of Nigeria,, Politicians, Academia were among those who graced the occasion.
Nduagwuike was elected along other council executives on the 13th of January.
Highlights of the event were, Keyward award ceremony and induction of new members .
The award recipients included the Vice-Chancellor of Godfrey Okoye University,Enugu, Rev. Fr. Prof Chris Anieke, Business gurus, Cosmas Agu, Everest Okpara, Kinsley Eze and Humphrey Ngonadi.
