I want to put Anambra on the world map - Ubah

The Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Cap­ital Oil and Gas Servic­es Limited, Dr. Patrick Ifeanyi Ubah, has unveiled his plan to put Anambra State on the glob­al map.

In a chat on Monday with journalists in his Umuanuka, Otolo-Nnewi residence, Ubah said he wants to replicate the Dubai, United Arab Emirate (UAE) development magic in his home state through mas­sive investments.

Ubah, who is also the Pub­lisher of The AUTHORITY Newspapers, pointed out that the welfare of the people of the state is paramount to him and has therefore resolved to give something back to the society.

He said: “God has planted something in me that whatever I touch must turn to gold and it is my desire to positively impact my people. I see money every­where; I see money every day, so it is my desire and determi­nation to use that creative pow­er to empower my people.

“I am one of the most af­fluent personalities in Nige­ria today but at a point in my life, I never believe I could have N5,000 but now the story has changed for the better; we talk in millions today if not billions; the only way to show gratitude to God is to extend his good­ness upon me to others.

“Go to any village in Anam­bra State; I make bold to claim that none of them can compare with Umuanuka, if there is any tell me. If we have done that in my village, what do you think of the world we are trying to build for the state? We have seen Ja­pan, we have seen Dubai; it is my intention to replicate what I have seen in those places here.

“At 21, I built my own house here, it’s a storey building; I got married to a rich man’s daugh­ter when my father’s house was even a mud house, but she left her father’s house and accept­ed me. It is all about being fo­cused and determined to suc­ceed. I am determined to put Anambra State on the world map,” he reiterated.

The business mogul, sports administrator and promot­er, added that he has always been interested in adding val­ue to Anambra in everything he does.

According to him, he decid­ed to invest in football, build a games village, float a newspaper (which is doing very well by all standards) and also set up two Frequency Modulation (FM) radio stations as part of his de­termination to bring innova­tions into the print journalism and broadcasting.

The publisher said that he is prepared to employ 774 blog­gers in all the local government areas of the federation so that The AUTHORITY Newspaper can be better equipped to do an on-the-spot reporting.

Ubah said he is making youth empowerment and em­ployment his focus because of his realisation that a lot of evil is pervading the society due to idleness, stressing that an idle hand will automatically be the devil’s workshop.

He said: “Things are so hard for people in Nigeria and it is our desire to alleviate their suf­ferings through what we are do­ing; imagine a graduate of 10 years coming to beg to be our vendor. If that man fails to get the job, only God knows what will follow next. We intend to give hope to the hopeless.”

On FC Ifeanyi Ubah, he said that the club has become a brand in just a year because of a lot innovation he has brought into the Anambra Warriors.

“Anambra families will soon start producing football­ers for the world through the academy we are setting up; we intend to partner with Europe­an and Asian clubs and in the process top flight players will be attracted to come and play in Anambra State.

“Players in the academy will have opportunity to learn and play football, study for­eign languages so that even if they fail to play football later in life, they can become ambassa­dors and be useful, not only to themselves but the entire soci­ety,” he said.

Ubah, who is also the Chairman of the Anambra State Football Association, said he intends to institute en­trepreneurship youth summit once work is completed at the Games Village in Nnewi to give budding and youthful entrepre­neurs opportunity to do things in a better way.

He said that he had tak­en the Anambra FA to a befit­ting secretariat as soon as he was elected its chairman, not­ing that youth football, wom­en football, traders’ tournament and other activities that will positively engage the Anambra youths would soon be unfolded.