Excerpts”
Sir, I must confess, I am dazed by what I’m seeing here. Who’s the brain behind Aba Mega Mall Ltd?
(Laughing) Ok, Aba Mega Mall Ltd is a brainchild of Greenfield Assets Ltd; Greenfield Assets Ltd is actually the developer of Aba Mega Mall Ltd.
You say the developer of …?
(Cutting me off) Developer of Aba Mega Mall Ltd.
Is this their first project?
No. Greenfield has various projects in the South East. We have projects across virtually from Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom – road proj­ects, other infrastructure projects, and power projects in the South-East. And we have some buildings that we’ve done in Abuja, Lagos and indeed all round the country but mostly in the South-East.
Apart from Aba Mega Mall, can you mention specifically any of the proj­ects you have done?
Yes. Before we even go too far, Greenfield is responsible for the 13-kilometre road that leads to the ex-President’s home i.e. 13 kilometres to Otuoke. That’s one of the projects we have in Bayelsa. We’re also responsible for that of bul­let-proofing of NNPC Towers in Abuja.
Ok. So, the whole building is bullet –proofed?
Yes. Anti-shatter glass actually that’s what it’s called. Anti-shatter proofing so that there wouldn’t be any breakages.
What is the concept behind this Aba Mega Mall?
Aba Mega Mall is a concept to move the open-market system into more refined, clean­er, managed spaces. It is just an aspect of what is trending today. It actually represents, gives us an idea and its reflections of the direction Greenfield wants to go.
Greenfield is particularly interested in urban renewal. Our vision is to renew urban centres, improve communities and restart economic ac­tivities in those cities. Our passion beyond Aba Mega Mall is urban renewal. Greenfield is a company focused primarily on urban renewal.
This is your first mega project in this type?
Yes. It is our first flagship project, urban re­newal project among many others that are al­ready on different stages of development. We’re looking at doing the Port Harcourt Enugu-Ex­pressway; we’re about to conclude on what is required to do the Port Harcourt-Enugu axis.
We’re also working with Abia State govern­ment – we started with the out-gone govern­ment and we will continue with current gov­ernment to develop a special economic zone in Aba that would have pharmaceutical industries, leather industry (leader cluster) and of course we already have a very strong industry in leath­er – a 60,000-member leather cluster in Aba. And we actually have the mandate with this government to develop a cluster for the leather industry. We’re also working towards develop­ing and industrial cluster for metal industry and the plastic industry.
We’re also looking at the fertilizer, pet­rol-chemical direction as well. We just want to set up a manufacturing cluster where the capacity of Igbo people would be encouraged in the manufacturing area. We want to provide the right environment, the right specifications and the co-ordinating support that is required to enable the South-East and South-South love for industry to be actualized. Our vision is to actually drive this economic empowerment for the South-East through provision of infra­structure, all kinds of infrastructure that would now encourage or release the passion that the Igbo man already has. It’s not that we’re trying to develop something that is not there already. What we’re trying to do is to create the enabling infrastructure that would jump-start and encour­age business activities in Aba. You know Aba people love buying and selling a lot. They have the capacity and also Aba is a very interesting position.
How are these projects funded?
We have our own money. Then we have also partnerships with some foreign investors; then we have our local banks. That’s the structure we have on ground for funding the projects.
What is the worth or projected cost of the Aba Mega Mall project?
Aba Mega Mall is a $300 million project. But we projected that by the date of completion, we would have expended over $300 million.
On Aba Mega Mall alone?
Yes.
Not N300 million, but $300 million?
Yes, it’s a $300 million project.
Is this the total assets of Green­fields Assets Ltd that you are proj­ect or just investment into Aba Mega Mull. I just want to be doubly sure that am hearing right.
No-no-no. That’s the investment we want to bring unto Aba – the total investment we want to bring into that cluster, that Aba Mega Mall.
The industries, the industrial clus­ters you’re talking about including pharmaceutical industries, and so on, are they going to be within the Aba Mega Mall?
No. This is a special economic float. We’re working on identifying at large, we’re talking about 2,000 hectares to 5,000 hectares of land going beyond what we have now. So, for the special economic zone we’re looking at the belt around Imo River where we can also have a waterway.
The special economic zone is a totally dif­ferent project apart from Aba Mega Mall. Aba Mega Mall is what will take $300 million be­cause a lot is going to happen. We’re going to have a licence for a dry port; it is going to be a full-fledged dry port in the Mall. That will make Aba Mega Mall the first mall in the world to have a dry port.
Aba Mega Mall is going to have a 100 to 200 – room hotel, with a 5-Star status. We will have a luxury mall, an amusement park, children’s area, big-screen cinema, facilities and indepen­dent power plant to provide a 24-hour and 24/7 power supply. We’re going to manage the facil­ities plus adequate space for parking all around.
How many stores are you looking at?
We’re looking at 10,000 stores. It may be more but we’re looking at a minimum of 10,000 stores.
You have space for them?
Yes. We have more than enough space for them.
Do you think Aba has the capacity and the economy to drive your proj­ect?
Aba, as a city, has the human resource and the drive; the people are resilient and have the drive we need as a catalyst to handle the project. Aba, as a city, cannot handle it alone; Aba, for instance is a city of about 5 million to 10 million persons and we’re talking about an investment that is way beyond that number.
Aba as we know, is already a centre of trade and commerce for the entire states that I men­tioned – Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Imo etc, all of them derive their trade and commerce from Aba. Again, Aba has the ability and capac­ity to go beyond becoming a centre for trade and commerce and also for manufacturing for Nigerian and West Africa.
It’s not rocket science, the day is already here. Our mission is to provide the enabling environment to jump-start what is already here. People ask why not Lagos, why not Abuja and we ask: why not Aba? People also ask why not take this beautiful thing to Port Harcourt or to Ibadan? These people are totally wrong in our own understanding. You can start the process of restarting an economy when the fundamentals are there. In this case, the fundamentals are so ripe; Aba is overwhelmingly ripe for industrial­ization and to champion the industrialization of the South-East, Nigeria and also affect the West African states.
So, the question should be: why not Aba? Aba should be the place where it would happen because it has all these things in place. All we need is something to mix all of these together in the same centre. In Aba we have people who do leather works that you cannot match. We have people that manufacture basic metal works that produce all sorts of equipment, they’re here. Moreover, to trade is a skill, everybody cannot trade. But here in Aba, they can buy and sell and look out for products that people want and then sell them at a profit.
We’re not trying to force something new into Aba. We’re actually trying to highlight what is already here. And some people say there is no tribe or no ethnic group that is not represented in Aba – Anambra, Imo, Ebonyi etc, whatever it is they’re all here. If you go to Ariaria, you would see the best of Igbo men and women gathered together trying to drive trade. So, in our eyes, Aba is just like Lagos where you have every ethnic representation. I don’t want to say “No man’s land” but basically we’re saying every­body is here and we’re all here with our best. For what Lagos represents in Nigeria, Aba can represent to the South-East and also to Nigeria, and even to West Africa. That’s over view; that’s our vision for Aba.
This will attract a lot of Igbo in the Diaspora. You have the capaci­ty, from what I have seen on ground and what you’ve been explaining to me. So, what really motivated you to come to Aba, apart from the economic aspect?
Another thing if you ask me, apart from the fact that I grew up in Aba here, I had my early education here, my boss would have gone to an­other direction. He would have gone to Abuja; he could have gone to Port Harcourt. So, having grown up here, I was able to convince my boss, so to speak, that this city is viable.
If you ask me, the principal reason, is that Aba requires urgent renewal. At some point Aba was touted as the “Japan of Africa” and the owners of Greenfield believe that Aba can come back and take that status of the “Japan of Africa”. Aba has the capacity as I have always empha­sised to assume that status. It has potentials and it requires help.
We’re not looking for where it is finished and done. We’re looking for areas where there is still a huge gap and people are hungry. We want to maximize their skills. When we came here and reviewed the factors particularly in terms of skill and location, Aba came up tops. Our project therefore is to affect so many lives and rebuild the community and also to encourage other in­vestors and other industries to come to Aba. I’m sure that if we had only one company in Nnewi for instance, nobody will know Nnewi as a cen­tre of manufacturing. But for the fact we have several industries coming together in one loca­tion it all adds up and gives everybody presence.
So, we’re excited to see other companies coming to Aba contrary to what people may think. It’s all going to the same direction; there’s so much to do.