The Akwa Ibom State government has bought over a private Paint company Peacock Paints factory to save it from collapse and renamed Ibom Paints. The deal was through the Akwa Ibom Investment Corporation or AKICORP.
Governor Pastor Umo Eno has also announced the appointment of Mr Ime Uwah as the Sole Administrator of the Paint factory and declared a State of Emergency on it,saying there will no longer be a board to allow for its sustained smooth operations.
Speaking while inaugurating the factory at Ikot Ekan, Etinan, Governor Umo Eno said, “I have declared a state of emergency on Ibom Paints with the appointment of a sole administrator, Mr. Ime Uwah.
“There will be no more Board and Board members but a sole administrator. He will run this factory because in the last three months he has produced results and I have looked at the account with records of profits and so we will have to continue in that trajectory.
“This is Akwa Ibom funds so we can’t dig a hole and be throwing it, in addition to that this is a legacy and we must sustain it.”
The Governor assured that his administration “will continue to partner with AKICORP to ensure that not only this paint factory but other businesses under their watch succeed.”
Announcing a pickup truck for the paint industry, he mandated that all contracted firms should patronise Ibom paint for model schools, arise homes, primary health centers, and other projects, “so that six months from now we will be talking about expansion”.
He commended the MD of AKICORP and for fulfilling his promise of revamping the facility and urged all to support its growth.
Giving an overview of the paints factory, the Managing Director of Akwa Ibom Investment Corporation, Pastor Imo Abasi Jacob recounted that Governor Eno had given AKICORP, a mandate to restore the factory and that after concerted efforts, a monumental waste was recovered and transformed into a thriving business outfit.
“We are here to celebrate resilience and a man who saw beyond the troubles of what we see today. Our work was mainly refurbishing, recovering and restoration. We went through the entire production lines and salvaged it.
“We brought the by pass, new production lines , we had to put in new lines that comply with modern day manufacturing technology, we had to retool, we had to invest in new raw materials”.
“Your Excellency we have a pile of raw materials that can take us 6-8-months production without any disruption, We had to introduce quality assurance.
“We are glad to mention that this factory is certified by the Standards Organization of Nigeria, SON, we are also undergoing NESREA certification that will be done in no time . We have also involved rebranding.
“We designed a new brand, a new logo and maintained the state color because we want to send a signal to the rest of the world that Ibom brand is a brand to meet.
“We also have put in place a robust digital system that will allow us run this factory without legacy problems of the past. We have put in place Enterprise resource planning ERP to allow us monitor the accounts produced in real time online
“We have also put in place a robust security management system that allows us to view the movements of goods in the factory
“We have discovered that there is a huge production line that can allow us in the next phase to do an industrial paint work, to produce marine paint for coating in the oil and gas industry and even car paints.
