No Member Of My Delegation Was Arrested In China – Ortom



Samuel Ortom, Benue State governor, fresh from a business and investment forum in China had an interaction with select journalists, where he spoke on the gains of his trip and solution to  Fulani herdsmen and farmers’ attacks, among other issues. EJIKEME OMENAZU brings the excerpts:
You just turned 56. How do you feel attaining this age?
I thank the Almighty God and I appreciate my people from the land of my birth in Guma Local Government and then the Benue people. They have made me proud and I appreciate God for lifting me from humble beginnings to where I am today. I am humbled and whatever I am today, I’ll continue to impact on the lives of Benue people and Nigerians. What I can do to add value to the lives of our people is a very big challenge to me. My worry has always been how to alleviate the sufferings of the people; how to add to the development of Benue State and Nigeria. I want to assure the people that I’ll continue to do my best to add value to their lives.
You just returned from a trip to China. What would you say are the gains of the trip?
Yes, I attended a business forum organised by the Nigerian Governors Forum. Fifteen Nigerian governors attended, including me, attended, with the Chinese businessmen. You will appreciate that China is moving at a very fast speed that requires Nigeria to take a cue from it. We were all developing countries in the 70s. Nigeria has to copy from China today, as we copied from other parts of the world. We have so much to learn from them, their resilience, hard work, discipline, their patriotism, putting their country first before any other thing. There is so much that we can learn from the Chinese. This is in line with my development agenda, especially the area of industrialisation.
Industrialisation remains the key to development for the Third World. Jobs will be created, wealth will be created as well as other massive opportunities as in China. China, with its massive population, has been able to engage its people through industrialization. We can take a cue from them. One thing that I  intend to replicate in Benue is that the Chinese business community, the government and the party have a common agenda of adding value and developing the economy and welfare of the people of China.
While in China, we met with several business communities and signed several Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs). We also agreed on partnership between our cities, especially Makurdi city and a city in China. We agreed on transfer technology to our people. We agreed on opening up our untapped resources for the Chinese business community who are advanced in terms of technology to develop agriculture, mining and other untapped resources that we have here. Even in culture and tourism, we have a lot to learn based on their expertise. So, the trip went on very well. It was my initiative when I was Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment to organise a forum in Guangzhou, China and today it is progressing. Last year, we hosted the North Central Zonal meeting and this year we were able to host the entire Nigeria Governors Forum. Each state that went there had something to take home. We had a lot to take home in agriculture, business, industry and so on. So, I am fulfilled that this forum yielded better results more than ever.
While you were away, one of your commissioners was reportedly arrested in China. Could you clear the air on that?
I do not recognise social media as an authentic source of news. I have withdrawn from Facebook. I do not patronise activities of illegal sources on social media. If I go to the internet, I can browse what reputable national papers are saying. If any of the media gives me story about myself or Nigeria, I listen. There is no iota of truth that any member of my delegation was arrested in China. We passed through the Immigration, the Customs and as we came back, we passed through Immigration again and every member of my delegation returned with me. There was no interruption of any our activities throughout our stay. We visited other provinces, not just in Guandong province, where we went. We visited other provinces. I went to two other provinces and my commissioners went to two other, including Beijing and Shanghai and they came back. So, the story was false. I advise people who want to confirm any information about this government or about Samuel Ortom to contact our media team or the office in Government House, The Situation Room. We have already established that and will make it available to people who are interested in knowing the truth about us. The people I went with are quite disciplined, highly educated and they know what to do. They respect the law and so there couldn’t have been anything like that.

POSTED BY:OPUOMONI PRIYE
DATE:04/28/2017

0 comments:

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)