By CHARLES IWUOHA

Vice President Kashim Shettima has called on the people of the South East region to take advantage of their huge mineral deposits to drive Industrialization in the country.

The Vice President was speaking at the Vision 2050 South East Stakeholders Forum with the theme, "Charting a shared vision for a sustainable prosperity for South East Nigeria", held at the International Conference Centre Enugu, on Wednesday.

He explained that the Federal Government is committed to regional development anchored on aligning national policy, resources and political will for Southeast Vision 2050.

According to the vice President, the South East is strategic in Federal Governments development initiative because of their entrepreneurial spirits and called on the leaders in region to galvanize support for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu

He used the occasion to applaud Governor Francis Nwifuru of Ebonyi State for his efforts at restoring peace in Amasiri and Oso Edda.

He noted that Governor Nwifuru was matured and unbiased in handling the crisis, expressing confidence that the approach will bring lasting peace to the area.

Speaking on the topic "Feeding and Building the South East Region for Agro and Solid Mineral's led Industrialization", Governor Nwifuru said that Ebonyi State is working deliberately towards harnessing the state's rich mineral deposits to drive national development in general, and the South East region in particular.

He expressed immense gratitude for the President's vision for the federating units, especially the South East evidenced in the creation of the Southeast Development Commission (SEDC).

"Ebonyi State is richly endowed with lead, zinc, limestone, salt and granite "Under a reform-oriented approach, we will shift the emphasis towards formal licensing, investor screening, community engagement and explicit goal of linking extraction to local processing.

"Our roadmap is anchored on strategic vision of establishing at least 2 cement factories.

"We are actualising this vision because of our proximity to cement's raw materials, limestone and gypsum.

"Additionally, we are working towards processing lead, zinc to feed metal fabrication and salt resources to supply food processing and chemical industries,” Nwifuru said.

He commended the commission for the initiative and called on his colleague governors to lend their support for full actualisation of the vision.

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