Aba Mega Mall to generate 100,000 jobs on completion

…as first phase generated over 5,000 direct jobs

Aba Mega Mall, an innovation in shopping experi- ence in South-East and South-South regions of Nigeria, has been projected to generate about 100,000 jobs on completion.

The first phase of the proj- ect, which has been com- pleted and commissioned, generated over 5,000 direct jobs and indirect employment in excess of 30,000.

Paul Obanua, group man- aging director, Greenfield As- sets Limited, an infrastructure development firm, promoter of the mall, said each of the 1,000 stores that make up the first phase of the project em- ployed at least three people and other supportive staff that make each store work.

According to him, each store is supported by at least 10 people, so you can as well say that 1,000 stores can con- veniently employ a minimum of 10,000 people.

“So, by the time we finish the 10,000 stores, with luxury mall, cinema, dry port and a five-star hotel, Aba Mega Mall will be providing over 100,000 jobs, “ he said.

Aba Mega Mall, touted to be the biggest mall in Africa, will have a hundred-thousand square metre shopping space.

It will be the first mall with a dry port in the South-East re- gion of Nigeria and the entire Africa.

The dry port, which will be a 30,000 square metre bonded warehouse, would afford the South-East people the oppor- tunity of getting their goods in on time, and thereby mitigat- ing against delays due to port congestion at the nation’s various sea ports.

The mall will also offer good storage facilities – au- tomated climate controlled warehousing facility, thereby making it a one-stop shop; as it will also boast of a 100- room hotel, coming up in the second phase of the project.

A business resort will also evolve out of this facility, to be known as “Aba Business Resort.” Another aspect of this project is that people can shop online.

What that means is that if you cannot physi- cally come down to the mall to shop, you can shop online from wherever you are in the country, Obanua said.

Even if you are in Lagos or Abuja, you can shop from any shop in mall and it will be delivered to you at your location.

Thus, the e-commerce enablement and other intelligent technologies will make the mall the first purpose-built smart mall in the world.

On the choice of Aba for the project, the Greenfield Assets boss said the viability of the city was instrumental to his firm’s decision to site the project in the commercial city.

According to him, we look at the potential of Nigerian cit- ies, and you cannot have sus- tainable development when it is not commercially viable.

So, we created Aba Mega Mall to stimulate urban renewal of this city and we believe that other investors will come into this city and take a cue from what we are doing and provide other infrastructure here, he said.

GODFREY OFURUM, Aba