Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo State has declared that the state is ready for local and foreign investments, citing Imo’s Plan to skill its youth, create jobs and win over investors.
Imo State proactively woos investors with the “Imo Is Ready. Invest In Imo” campaign. Officials behind the push say the state’s most durable asset for investors is not its gas reserves or its road network, but the tens of thousands of young people it has spent years training for a digital economy.
The campaign, visible across the state, represents one of the more structured sub-national investment pitches currently active in Nigeria. Speaking at the third edition of Invest Lagos 3.0, themed “Lagos: The Business Gateway to Africa,” held at Eko Hotel and Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos, on Monday, Uzodimma said Imo had repositioned itself as one of Nigeria’s emerging investment destinations.
The governor said his administration abandoned the old model of government-driven enterprises and embraced private sector-led growth by creating an enabling environment for businesses to thrive.
The clearest expression of the state’s human capital bet is a programme called Imo Digital City. The government says it has trained over 65,000 young people through the initiative, building a pool of digital and technical skills targeted at the technology and services sectors the state is actively courting. If that number is accurate and the skills are employer-ready, it represents a meaningful labour market intervention in a region where youth unemployment has historically been high and outward migration persistent.
