The Anambra State Executive Council (ANSEC) has repositioned the Anambra State Investment Promotion and Protection Agency (ANSIPPA) as a new for-profit corporation, the Anambra Development and Investment Corporation (ADIC).
ANSEC Chairman Governor Soludo signed the development, ending many years of talks on ANSIPPA’s full transition to ADIC. The new corporation will be an incorporated for-profit entity, wholly owned by the State Government, set up to access creative funding schemes to help drive economic development.
The ADIC is also an extensive entity built to expand ANSIPPA’s scope to undertake key phases of project development, such as conceptualisation, design, bankability, structuring, and financing.
The repositioning of the Anambra’s apex investment promotion body is more of an upgrade than its outright dissolution. The New ADIC vehicle gives the entity more room to operate and a clear incentive to become for-profit.
Before this development, ANSIPPA was already heavily involved in strategic capital projects in the state. The Ikenga Mall in the capital city of Awka is one such project and represents a government-backed venture into large-scale retail.
Current CEO of the Southeast Development Commission and former ANSIPPA boss Mark Okoye confirmed that ANSIPPA, as a standalone entity, was quite effective in its own way.
According to him, Anambra secured over $500 million in investments at its economic summit, with commitments in healthcare, tourism, natural gas networks, and urban development.
The ADIC will take over as the state’s major investment promotion body, aiming to attract Foreign Direct Investment and Local Investment to its Host state. The Soludo administration has been marked by capital projects in new areas such as leisure and retail.
The majority of capital projects were executed by indigenous contractors with very little action from the Foreign community.
