OCCIMA to play key role to fuse South East chambers of commerce

The Owerri Chamber of Commerce, Industry Mines and Agriculture (OCCIMA) will join hands with its regional parent body, the South East Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (SECCIMA) to ensure that all city chambers in the South East geopolitical zone came under SECCIMA to work together to achieve the aims and objectives of the regional body.

OCCIMA also informed about the reason why it hosted the last quarterly meeting of the regional chamber of commerce (SECCIMA), which held recently at SECCIMA’s regional headquarters in Owerri, Imo State; stating that it was to make sure that all the chambers of commerce in the South East zone solder to get what belongs to them; as they have been marginalized for a long time.

“Owerri hosted the zonal meeting at Aladimma Shopping Mall, where the president, John Udeagbla and all other presidents of city chambers in the South East came around,” said Igwe Christian, OCCIMA president.

He informed that the aim of the meeting was to make sure that South Easterners fuse together to get what belongs to them; especially in the area of chambers of commerce, because they were being marginalized.

Christian told BusinessDay in an exclusive interview in Owerri that it was lamentable that industrialists in the South East geopolitical zone were being marginalization by their Northern counterparts; saying that “our advantages are being taking away by the Northerners and now the Southerners are taking over, trying to alienate.

“Before we were together, but they are alienating themselves, trying to form their own area to get advantage; to make sure that the South Easterners always remained marginalized,” the OCCIMA president said; adding that consequent on the marginalization of industrialists under the umbrella of SECCIMA. We have decided to come together to make our voice heard in the national industrial policy,” Igwe added.

Meanwhile, the SECCIMA has said it would play active role at the forthcoming Anambra trade fair, which comes up on November 25, 2016.

And according to the president of SECCIMA John Udeagbala the trade fair would provide entrepreneurs, manufacturers and other business men and women in the South East region the opportunity to showcase their products and services to those that would come to the fair.