A new Enugu State beyond 2023 is possible with a private sector driven economy – Peter Mbah and Ifeanyi Ossai, a perfect combination for the job.
Most observers of Enugu politics and social commentators were not entirely as surprised as they were by the emergence of business mogul, an industrialist and philanthropist, Peter Mbah as the flagbearer of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Barr. Ifeanyi Ossai, another business mogul as his running mate for the 2023 governorship election race in the state, which can best be described as a combination of two perfect gentlemen.
As it is established; the combination of Mbah and Ossai is not a push-over and, though the polls are too far off to tell.
Mbah have some weight behind him – talk of the outgoing governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, former Governor of old Anambra State, Senator Jim Nwobodo, Senator Chimaroke Nnamani, former Guber Aspirants in Enugu, amongst others – and the ever-increasing goodwill of the people of Enugu State.
But, beyond the public relations stunt being pulled in the name of Mbah and the drive to sell him to the electorate before the elections, who is he and what can the people of Enugu expect from him if he does, eventually, emerge governor in 2023?
Now, that’s the big question.
In the beginning:
Mbah is the celebrated CEO of Pinnacle Oil & Gas. Truth be told, the behemoth the company is today cannot be compared to the one it was when it began in a studio apartment in Victoria Island, Lagos.
In a recent interview with Thisday, Mbah said, “All I had then was just two guys; my secretary and my dispatch man. That was essentially how we started and what we did was largely the buying and selling of petroleum products. We bought and sold products from the terminals and we also got involved in looking at the movement of the market onscreen.”
Even then, looking this lowly beginning, he had a vision of where he wanted to take his company to. He was definite.
“We were clear from the outset, even from that humble beginning. We made our mission clear; which was to distribute petroleum products at a price that is unbeatable in the market. Also, we envisioned that we were going to play a dominant role in the petroleum products market in Nigeria. In the course of growth, the only thing that changed was that we moved the word ‘Nigeria’ to Africa. It got to a point where we felt that the Nigerian market was not going to be our limit, we started looking to be dominant on the continent.”
Who can deny that Mbah’s vision of dominance has come true? He was undaunted in his planning, execution and continuity while staring factors that could discourage him in the face.
“The downstream oil and gas industry – was a matured market and we already had dominant players. The market was already distributed. The big players had already captured their shares in the market. The question then for us was: how do you become a dominant player in an already matured market? If you were dealing with an evolving market, a nascent market, it’s easier because everybody is struggling for market size and companies are trying to capture different segments of the market. But that wasn’t where we were. We were in a market in which companies had taken their positions and captured their various sizes.
“All we needed was disruptive ideas and planning. In the end, we decided to eliminate multiple cargo handling which was the reason for the sub-optimisation of the whole process. We created an offshore intake facility, or if you will, what is also described as the single point mooring (SPM) and conventional buoy mooring (CBM) systems – which were like open seaports in the middle of the sea, only that we had to lay a subsea pipeline network of about 40 kilometres. We tied in the pipes connecting to the terminals and hooked them up to the manifold of the vessels in the seabed. It was a clincher for us.”
It was such an arduous work while it was ongoing. Many companies cashed in on the brisk business but Pinnacle was committed to doing this, to get an edge.
“It was going to be a quantum leap once we got it right. So, we persevered, we carried on.”
By March 2021, it was done and one of the mooring facilities went operational. By the time September came around, the vision which took a lot of resources and planning had come to fruition.
“What we had envisioned became a reality,” he sighed.
Even though his company has become one of the market leaders in its niche by both share and volume, Mab and his horde are not sitting on their laurels.
Thrust into the klieg lights of politics, Mbah has left many wondering why he wants to wade into what they call the ‘murky waters’.
Mbah never fails to remind all who ask that he has been a man-manager for most of his life, has been saddled with making difficult decisions and has had to be in the forefront. Surely, the art of governing is a different kettle of fish but, for a man like Mbah, he is driven by the challenge of being in forefront of transcending values.
“I think that is the delight of any CEO playing in a space where you are relevant and not just being relevant but where you have taken the number one position. So, to see that you are leaving all that to go into the uncharted waters or if you will, the murky waters of politics, you must have something driving you. Maybe, I should share some of those drivers. I’m largely driven by transcendent values.”
And what does this mean for Ndi Enugu, who are concerned about their administrators and what lies in store for them?
Just as it was back in the days of his little beginning, nothing has changed for Mbah. He’ll approach things on the uncharted waters of politics the same way he did to issues when he was still a young entrepreneur striking out.
Many will call his vision grandiose. It makes no difference to him. What’s more, he has a path to that vision.
“My vision is clear. I envision an Enugu State that is going to become one of the top three states in the country in terms of gross domestic product (GDP). I also envision an Enugu State where we will achieve a zero per cent rate in our poverty headcount index. What that means is that we currently have a GDP size of $4.4 billion, and if we are going to be one of the top three states in the country, it means we have to grow our GDP to a minimum of $30 billion. I’m sure you would also think it’s crazy.”
Who made entrepreneurs astute politicians? No one, perhaps. But who said they could not be astute administrators? What more could a good politician ask for?
“But before you jump into a conclusion, this is not a loose speech. It is what I did in the private sector. During one of our strategy retreat sessions, where we brought in some resource people to train us on strategy. We expressed to them how we wanted to grow our revenue then, from N29 billion to N600 billion annually and they thought it was mad, that it was only crazy people that could imagine such a thing because you don’t grow at that rate. If you did a 10 per cent growth rate, you are a first-star company.
“But growing from N29 billion to N600 billion is like growing at more than 150 per cent per annum. We did that. Today, we have beaten that number. We are not even at N600 billion. Today, we are well above that.
“I always say to people ‘before you jump into a conclusion as to whether it’s possible to grow the Enugu economy from $4.4 billion to $30 billion, you have to look at what we have done in the private sector to give credence to what we are saying’.
“It will not require incremental growth but it will require taking disruptive decisions, doing creative things, making Enugu State the preferred destination for investors, for businesses, for living and also for tourism. Whatever we are going to do in Enugu State will be world-class – whether it’s the enablers, the pillars of our development, education or healthcare services, they will be world-class. And we know that some of the things we have to enable investors and businesses to be attracted to Enugu is the ease of doing business. I have been an investor and I invested huge in Lagos State, as you can see from what we built. I know where the pains are for investors.”
Mbah comes across as a practical man, strategy-wise.
“I know those things to enable so that investors will rush and be queuing to come to Enugu State, whether it’s the ease of obtaining your construction permit, the ease of obtaining your registration of property, the ease of enforcement of contracts, the ease of setting up the business and also the subunits from a government philosophy point of view.”
“Also, we intend to be transparent to make sure that people have access to information about what we are doing. So, we are committed to making sure that our budget is known and monitored (by government agencies, NGOs, CSOs etc) so that we do not come across as an island.
We are an integral part of the society, so we have to ensure that people know and understand what the government is doing.”
Mbah foresees an abundantly rich and sustainable Enugu under his watch. It is easy to write it off as the verbose promise of one who wants to be governor but he wants to be trusted wholly.
“Enugu has huge mineral resources. We have limestone, gladstone, gemstones, alum and coal deposits in commercial quantity. Also, we have oil fields owned by the state – and those owned by other states and Enugu – which a lot of people know nothing about. A lot of people don’t know that. We will aim to get that part of our economy activated.
But Mbah has no interest in engineering a one-man show. He has vowed to include everyone, as far as the state is concerned.
Mbah agrees that the task can be tricky.
“Tricky but possible. I have to manage my board and ensure we practice effective corporate governance. In doing that, I sell my project to my board and negotiate with them from the viewpoint of what is good for the company. So, to that end, I don’t think the – lawmakers, especially (the State House of Assembly Members) – are radically different. You will need to engage, get the people and other institutions of government that you need to carry along and help them understand your priorities. Most importantly, that you are interested in working as a team.
So, having meticulously x-rayed Barr. Peter Mbah’s exemplary leadership qualities, administrative credentials, peaceful disposition and maturity in handling team work, excellent management of funds in the private sector, proposed economic strategy and his planned approach to poverty alleviation through improved GDP, multi-faceted economic engagements, capacity maximisation, human capital development, youth reorientation, grass-roots development initiative – with direct bearing on the less privileged and the downtrodden – I hereby resolved to stand with Mbah and Ossai 2023, to work for them and to go any length with the duo, until their vision and mission is accomplished in Enugu State.
In terms of social contracts, the question for power determines the principles in the bargain and the truth that makes men free is that which most people would prefer not to hear.
The question is, who do we make captain of the ship; the most popular man or the one that understands the art of navigation? Whichever one you choose, Mbah and Ossai is the combination of the two.
It has been proved time and time again that the only path to true human development and liberation is the decision of a leader to transform the lives of others – by repositioning or restructuring the leadership spectrum through an all-inclusive participation in governance.
Naturally, when a great leader emerges, the forces that beset mankind stand still and the people respond with an inexplicable jubilation over the arrival of unique and uncommon being.
Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi’s administration in Enugu State has indeed layed the foundation that has influences policies with direct bearing on the socio-economic well-being of the people.
Ugwuanyi’s administration has boosted employment opportunities for the good people of the state and improved Enugu State internally-generated revenue (IGR), and has opened up the rural areas through its rural development drive, thereby checking unnecessary rural urban migration.
Despite the recession that visited his administration from the onset in 2015, and the devastating effects of COVID-19 pandemic on the world’s economy with its multiplier consequences on countries like Nigeria that depend on the sales of crude oil in the international market, some states in Nigeria couldn’t afford to pay salaries of workers due to the fall in the oil price which affected their monthly allocations, but in all these Gov. Ugwuanyi pays salaries and allowances of all workers and public servants in the state.
As it stands presently, the good people of the state need no weatherman to tell them which way the wind blows.
I, Humphrey Onyima wish to crave the indulgence of all and sundry, to state unequivocally, that the Executive Governor of Enugu State, Rt. Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwanyi is, indeed, an uncommon, historical leader; a governor that has revamped the state’s comatose private sector, resuscitated our abandoned rural areas that once served as criminal hideous and death traps, introduced direct-community-development-fund, repositioned our Education and Healthcare Sectors to some extent.
The Sports industry has improved which helped Rangers International FC reclaim its lost glory after 35 years, localizes governance, taken the dividends of democracy to the down-trodden; a man who has been tested, trusted and to whom the well-being of Ndi Enugu can be entrusted.
Yesterday, we talked about the golden era anchored on Ugwuanyi’s administration; but today, we are seeking to advance the golden era, i.e, the forward-thinking era, enshrined on the popular slogan known as “Tomorrow Is Here”.
“Tomorrow Is Here” is an ideology of a movement, which reflects the obvious fact that Today is that Tomorrow we talked about Yesterday, I am not talking rhetoric; this is reality.
To the traducers who take canny delight in playing politics of calumny in Enugu State, they can be rest assured in the fact that they will be defeated. And for those who share in the positive dreams and aspirations of a better tomorrow, I salute you with fraternal greetings.
Let the good people of Enugu State enthusiastically visualise the future of Enugu State with Mbah and Ossai come 2023 – the future of Enugu State anchored on Private Sector Driven Economy.
Hon. Humphrey Onyima is the Publisher/CEO of Leadership SCORECARD Magazine, And the Director General of Enugu West General Assembly, (EWGA).
