By Onyekachi C Ugwu
Time, they say changes everything. There comes a time a society needs to retool and rejig its leadership. The purpose is to engender the kind of development the moment demands. United States of America is a perfect example of a society that does this constantly. From their democratic experience we can see that once nation’s economy is threatened and needed to sail back to its commanding heights in the world, the voting behaviour of the people is altered to usher in the Democrats into power. Conversely, when their economy stabilizes and there is urgency to consolidate their national security, have more aggressive foreign policy and checkmate threats of terrorism the people appear to favour the Republicans.
In the last Governorship election, Enugu State people demonstrated their desire for another giant leap forward at a time the nation was facing a state of utter discomfiture. Yes, the national economy had nosedived, no thanks to the recent economic depression, the effect of the COVID 19 pandemic that shut down world economy, and of course the monumental corruption that have defined the true condition of our national life. Enugu State like every other state in the country was being buffeted by diverse economic challenges. The choice would have been to be unconcerned and vote for a candidate that was one of the regular guys in our political space or go for a successful manager of men and resources who combined innovative ideas with radical leadership. Such person would be a Gadfly to sting and activate the momentum of quick recovery and a transcendental growth.
Obviously desiring a Gadfly over the regulars, the good people of the state voted in Dr. Peter Ndubuisi Mbah to lead the state into a new chapter. They couldn’t have made a better choice.
As widely anticipated, the Governor swung into action on his first day in office, signing into law three critical Executive Orders intended to signpost his leadership direction. Such audacity of leadership!. Yes, the most audacious of leadership attracts followership of even naysayers so much so that even the most virulent of the critics of political leaders have come to agree with that Dr. Peter Ndubuisi Mbah is disruptively disrupting the status quo of inertia which has over the years stunted growth across the states in the nation by engaging all the dynamics that shape and agitate the momentum of transformational and exponential growth.
Enugu indeed made a perfect choice and is therefore on the march to many lofty and endearing democracy deliverable that are traceable, measurable and testable while accountability and transparency became the defining hallmarks.
The coming of Dr. Peter Ndubuisi Mbah to office as the fourth Executive Governor of Enugu State since the return of democracy in 1999 embodies with it a new hope and new feeling of trust. More followers from among the organised private sector, the academia, the technocrats who have all the while stood aloof are beginning to join in support of the government. It can safely be said that with a tested and trusted captain on the deck no passenger would wish to be left behind. They are assured of a safe and eventful ride.
Testifying to the veracity of the above observation, Dr. Peter Ndubuisi Mbah led administration took the world by storm, and hosted within 100 days in office, the Enugu State Economic and investment Stakeholders Roundtable in its multi- pronged drive to migrate Enugu State from a paltry Gross Domestic Product of $4billion to an astonishing $30bn through a conscious and well layered economic development masterplan targeting investment, plugging leakages and employing accountability and transparency.
The administration has taken a bold step towards the actualisation of a $30 billion economy in the next four to eight years, as the state successfully hosted an inaugural Enugu State Investment and Economic Growth Stakeholders Roundtable. The Governor, Dr Peter Mbah used the occasion to unveil 30 investment opportunities worth over $2.1 billion, which it said were projects that would directly impact the lives of the people and change the economic fortunes of the state.
The event which saw a large turn out from the community of investors, development bankers, international development agencies and other critical stakeholders, including the Government of the United Kingdom (UK), the World Bank, African Export-Import Bank (AfriExim), African Development Bank (AfDB), United Kingdom Department for Business and Trade, and the Infrastructure Credit Guarantee Company was a true demonstration of the Governor’s determination to transform the state.
Prior to hosting the investment roundtable, the Governor had taken very bold steps to address the challenges of insecurity in the state in his clear understanding that economic development of any sort is almost an impossibility in an environment of insecurity. This sums up why he had faced the issue of insecurity in the state squarely by tackling relentlessly the proscription of the unlawful Monday Sit-at-Home order in Enugu State. The government was resolute in making sure that such obnoxious order was eradicated it from our state and that the state has made tremendous progress in this regard is to say the least true.
To consolidate on the progress so far the administration boosted security presence in Enugu State, working with the Nigerian Police, the Army and all other security forces in addition to launching the Distress Response Squad (DRS) in the state, procured a number of vehicles to enhance its effectiveness and mobility. But the government aren’t are stopping at this as it went on to commence the rollout of a statewide CCTV camera network which will provide 24/7 surveillance of the state, and inform swift security response to any breach of peace anywhere in the state. In this same vein, the administration is in advanced stages of establishing a Security Trust Fund to make our heightened security posture more sustainable in the long term. This is what is meant by knowing the problem, having the solutions and having the political will to bring same to pass.
Taking an ambitious path to the case of attracting external capital, the administration has repositioned the state in its relationship with key development partners like the World Bank, AFD (the French Development Agency), and opened the door to new funding for the state’s projects. It is in line with this new posture, that the government has recently paid a share of the funding for the International Fund For Agricultural Development (IFAD) Value Chain Development Programme of agricultural value chains totaling N274 million, which will facilitate the receipt of up to N1.2 billion from IFAD for developing agricultural markets and increasing market access for smallholder farmers and small to medium-scale agro-processors. This ambitious step presents to us an administration that is in a hurry to radically transform the lives of our rural people through agriculture, through enhancing smallholder productivity; thereby increasing the volume and quality of marketable produce. This of course will come by way of strengthening farmers’ organizations as well as supporting smallholder production.
Further to this, the administration has also met all obligations, regarding joining the World Bank Livestock Productivity and Resilience Support project (L-PRES) which is a 6-year project aimed at improving livestock productivity, resilience and commercialization of selected value chains to strengthen the state’s capacity to respond to crises or emergency. This programme is expected to attract up to $10 million into Enugu’s livestock value chain over the planned period.
It is not out of place to say that the Governor has a growth mindset as this continue to underline each step his administration ha taken so far. At its heart, a growth mindset of opportunity is an entrepreneurial mindset. This is all about putting ones focus on the process of how to achieve his ambitions, given the starting point, and how to overcome hurdles as they are encountered. Dr Mbah is no doubt a planner who understands challenges and ha this mindset of confronting the challenges headlong.
Knowing that women are challenged and vulnerable in the development index, he has set his mind on remedying this gap. To this extent, the State has under him met all the obligations for joining the Nigeria for Women Project, including committing over N400 million as counterpart funding for the project which is a strategic long term partnership between the Federal Government and the World Bank to support the government’s goal of ensuring gender equality. This arrangement will result in the inflow of up to $10 million into Enugu State over the planned period for the execution of projects to boost the economic capacity of our women in Enugu State and consequently our households.
Placing huge emphasis on economic development through Agriculture, the Governor Mbah led government considers the sector as a major plank in his economic growth plan, and in line with this, the administration has also started making significant progress in the sector via commencing the formation of the Enugu State Agricultural Land Bank where the plan is to ultimately set aside up to 300,000 hectares of land for agricultural use. Land is currently being earmarked under a partnership with willing communities across selected local governments and surveyed for this purpose. Planting of cassava under the pilot scheme of the Cassava to Ethanol program in Aninri, Nkanu East and Uzo-Uwani has commenced in earnest. This is a partnership with Biosources & Technologies Limited aimed at developing the bio-economy sector of Enugu State.
That water is life is a time tested truth. Successive administrations have not been able to overcome the intractable water problem, despite all efforts put in place. Water has only been available within some isolated areas in Enugu Metropolis. Knowing the serious challenge this poses, Dr Mbah gone full blast to end the scourge. In this regards the government has made extensive progress in meeting its promise to provide water to Ndi Enugu. It is noteworthy that the administration upon its inauguration commenced the production of over 25 million litres of water daily at the Ninth Mile location, which is the most the state has achieved in the last 20 years. The administration is therefore poised to have up to 70 million liters daily by the end of next October. At this rate, the state is ahead of the curve in its race to deliver water to Ndi Enugu by the end of November which will mark 180 days since the inauguration in line with the campaign promise. It is also gratifying to note that reticulation of pipes and repair of damaged existing pipes are ongoing with areas like Abakpa, new haven, Ọgui Road and Presidential road already having their taps running.
Another very important area this administration is already making road is the power and energy sector. Determined to ensure that energy supply will not continue to be a set back in running business in the state, the administration to ensure constant supply and management of Energy has successfully signed into law the Enugu State Power Law, which domesticates the Electricity Act 2023 and now gives the state regulatory power to establish an Enugu State Electricity Market, and to attract investors to expand power generation and distribution across the state. This is even as the administration has developed the Enugu State Electricity Policy which contains the Enugu State Electricity market design and participants. It goes without saying that these achievements are a critical step in the effort to industrialize the state. This is because there cannot be any sustainable industry in the absence of affordable power supply.
Underscoring the importance of network of urban and rural roads, the state Government has earmarked for immediate construction
In the next few weeks 81 roads across the state with at least two fly over bridges (at Abakpa and Holy Ghost-Ogbete-Old Park axis) as well as seven priority roads, many of which are going to be built anew. It is on the wing of these that the administration present the Supplementary budget to Enugu State House of Assembly which has already been passed into law.
It is therefore heartwarming that Enugu is unarguably on the path of speedy development as expected by the Choice of Dr. Mbah whose exploits in the private sectors ranks among the models in management. It was expected that he will bring his expertise to bear on the desire for more accelerated growth. In this wise he is not failing. And of course he has no such negative energy for failure.
