WIBP to generate 100,000 jobs by 2020

By the year 2020 the Warri Industrial Business Park (WIBP) would have generated about a hundred thousand jobs in the country, especially in Delta State.

Project Director WIBP Ms. Helen Emore said this during the Nigeria-South Africa Chamber of Commerce (N-SACC) breakfast meeting held in Lagos.

WIBP is a project conceived by the Delta State Government in partnership with Arco Petrochemicals and Engineering Limited, as part of the administration’s strategy to implement its infrastructure and economic development agenda.

File Photo: Job seekers

According to Emore, “The impact of WIBP in Delta State as a sub-national, is that there is direct job for people working on the park, we expect that it should create up to 50 thousand jobs, when you look at the size of our park, we have done and extensive study and we anticipate that upon completion, we should have well over 60 thousand people working on that park and leaving on that park, that is the immediate impact.

“When you add the impact on the ecosystem of Warri and Delta State, we will be looking at creating about one hundred (100) thousand fresh jobs within the next seven years in the state.”

She added that the park will further enhance the country’s image, stating, “There is a global misunderstanding of what Nigeria is all about, the world does not understand us and the only way we can change that story is to present to the world specific project and opportunity and that is what WIBP is all about. It now behooves on us as Nigerians to educate the world what Nigeria is about what the opportunities are, how we are going to emerge as a nation, how we are going to accommodate businesses as a nation.”

She hinted that mobile-money is another place to exploit, given that over 50 million Nigerians are potential phone users, which will further drive the financial inclusion plan.

Meanwhile, the park is expected to provide the ideal business environment for stakeholders in the industrial and commercial sectors while providing excellent high-end residential dwellings.