By Steve Oruruo
Style they say is the man. But most often, the aggregation and discernment of style hinges largely on the variables of locus, focus and of course, the depth of perception. The future of a multicultural nation like Nigeria depends on interjections to interrogate the political nuances, intricacies, complexities, struggles, hopes and unbearable injustices in everyday conversations. When education is secular and broad- based, it helps to create shared social perspective. Today, the Nigerian populace has finally woken up.
Unabated inflation, astronomical exchange rates, looming food crisis, unbridled violence, multifarious security threats, renewed religious intolerance in an otherwise secular country, escalating banditry, desecration of hallowed religious fortresses, sustained secessionist agitation , pervasive inept and bigoted leadership, engraved corrupt practices, ethnic chauvinism, lopsided appointments without recourse to federal character and elitist deceit of the poorer majority conspire to elevate the misery index of an already brutally traumatized and dehumanized populace, while foisting and recycling some political bandits on the leadership space. Nigerians are tired of the old order.
Those who can wriggle out of the present socio-political cum economic quagmire or manage to eke out mere subsistence now, seriously worry about leaving behind for their children a country mired in old, divisive, restive, centrifugal, primordial and sectarian barriers; where human blood is no longer sacrosanct, where untimely death has become timely and where the very existence of God is threatened by extremities of unbridled calamities. Scary!! A branch of the political class in conjunction with their cohorts, have contrived to tie their legs on the corruption pedal. But corruption is not a Nigerian invention. You may credit the British and their surrogates with that. What we have incredibly patented however, are crass impunity, clairvoyant thievery, heroic tribalism and an amazing capacity for subjectivization of truth, all wrapped in a national preoccupation with vacuous religiosity.
The recent “dolarization” of various party primaries especially the conventions, is a clear indication that a few people are holding the rest of the populace and the nation hostage, inexplicably, with their very own self-defeatist acquiescence. Conventions that latently and egregiously ignored the need for national integration and cohesion; as well as sensitivity to the mood of the nation, while surreptitiously fanning the embers of sustained segregation, mutual distrust, and alienation of the Southeast from the national political grid could hardly be said to be savoury. Yet, the tragedy of the Pyrrhic victories is that even the delegates too ironically expect the best governance from a warped, jaundiced and compromised leadership recruitment process.But that is only one side of the prism.
As the nation celebrates the gains of democracy, some level of introspection becomes imperative. Philosophical reflections, rational appraisals, objective criticisms, sentimental commentaries, and acerbic slanders; the 7-year tenure of the Executive Governor of Enugu State, His Excellency, Rt. Hon. Ifeanyi Lawrence Ugwuanyi has seen it all, consistent with the chief servant’s vehement and unflappable belief in unadulterated democracy where no voice is silenced and people to whom power belongs, are totally free to express their idiosyncrasies. For the sake of rationality and logic, it is apposite to establish a background and context for this discourse. When Ndi- Enugu put Governor Ugwuanyi in office in 2015, the odds were stacked against him – the Nigerian economy was neck-deep in a headstrong recession and on a downward spiral, the state’s internally generated revenue (IGR) profile was epileptic, many sectors of the economy were stagnant and gasping for air, a plethora of key infrastructures were decrepit, and the rural populace deeply yearned for respite from years of neglect and ostracization.
Deviating markedly from the shenanigans typical of the Nigerian political sphere – the likes of blame-trading, subterfuges and theatrical lachrymal dwelling on inherited misfortunes and bad omens, both real and imaginary – Governor Ugwuanyi took full responsibility and committed himself to complete reform, rebirth and trendsetting.
The Governor’s reclamation of the Lion mandate in 2019 in historic fashion was followed by a global pandemic. Despite concerted efforts to contain it, the disease spread across continents, leaving in its wake millions of dead bodies, uncountable numbers of medically disabled persons, crippled institutions and systems, fear, mutual distrust and anxieties. This presented Governor Ugwuanyi with a new formidable challenge no mortal had foreseen or was prepared for. Much worse than the prevailing circumstances when he took office for the first time in 2015, the situation was dire and demanded the extraordinary. The state’s economy which had begun to awake in flamboyance, thanks to the Governor’s magic wand, was dealt a heavy blow. Governor Ugwuanyi, once again, took full responsibility and continued to captain the ship which he steadied amidst the turbulence.
A lot has been written and said about His Excellency Rt. Hon. Ifeanyi Lawrence Ugwuanyi and his two-term administration as Governor of Enugu state. An overwhelming majority of these have been rational and objective portrayals of massive strides in all sectors of human endeavor, against a backdrop of untoward conspiracies of naysayers, obstructionists and the doomed realities which bedeviled the political and socioeconomic milieu. Some have bordered on fair criticisms of seldom bouts of lapses stemming from sheer human limitations, intractable circumstances and contingencies. At the other end of the spectrum, the Ugwuanyi government has faced a few pernicious attempts to bring it into disrepute, poorly executed with blatant and insipid mendacities, half-truths, twisted fallacies and outright rebellion. Whichever side you have been on in the past 7 years and going forward, being sincere to ourselves, we can all agree to some undeniable truths about the Ugwuanyi era. Enugu state under Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi has witnessed enormous advances on most of the fronts – Infrastructure, political administration, security, education, health and human capital development.
Harkening to the lamentations of residents whose daily living and well-being were being undermined by seemingly incurable traffic mishaps, Governor Ugwuanyi’s administration recently completed the construction of a flyover bridge at the Nike Lake Road T-junction, built to modern standards. The bridge is equipped with 7 spans, two abutments, a median, dual carriageways, walkways and ramps. This strategic people-driven project, like myriad others before it, will not only ease the pains of millions of residents and adorn the capital’s landscape, but it also further raises the bar of expectations for political leaders in the state and beyond. It is just one on a long list of infrastructures built in the Ugwuanyi era in the metropolises, suburbs and the fringe grassroots.
It is an incontrovertible fact that the grassroots have never had it as good as they have under the administration of Governor Ugwuanyi. A whole demographic of the state, which for years were cut off from the major axis of statehood, have been reconnected to the state’s socio-economic ganglions through arterial road networks and chains of other amenities. The Governor’s aggressive rural development campaign is only matched by his strategic urban renewal effort which has turned the capital city into one of the fastest growing and resilient cities.
Pre-Ugwuanyi era, politics in Enugu state was deeply polarizing and tempestuous, and made enemies of brothers and neighbours. Due to the overabundance of wolves in sheep clothing, who would wrench power with force without the slightest compunction, Governor Ugwuanyi took the reins and began to reengineer the state’s political consciousness, injecting truly progressive ideologies. He strengthened laws designed to keep the system and political actors in check, reunited age-long foes and engendered conciliation and goodwill across warring lines. In addition to dismantling man-made barriers to make the political space inclusive to even the commonest of men and women, Governor Ugwuanyi sanitized the corridors of power by making sure to enlist in his army only upright lieutenants with trusted credentials and a track record of service. These gains in the executive arm are being complemented by giant strides in the judiciary which have now seen a revamp of its systems and institutions; to ensure that justice – a primer for peace and development – is neither delayed nor denied.
Under Governor Ugwuanyi’s watch, the security, education and health sectors have been utterly transformed. Still focusing on verifiable facts, Governor Ugwuanyi assumed his role as the chief security officer of the state with solemn commitment. His approach to securing lives and property has been multifaceted and encompass youth investment, equipping security outfits with vehicles and state-of-the-art gadgets as well as repositioning the neighborhood watch groups. He is one of the first governors in the country to institute and operationalize Forest Guards to smoke out criminal elements from undeveloped forests in the state.
Governor Ugwuanyi has also overhauled the education sector in Enugu state and continues to propel it to astronomical heights through infrastructural reform and innovative policymaking; hopefully the first degree-awarding university in education in the South-East will be completed and stand as one of the Governor’s enduring legacies. Primary and secondary schools in the state have massively benefited from new buildings and facilities, infrastructural rehabilitations, supply of tons of instructional materials and an influx of thousands of new teachers. On the health sector front, several health facilities have been built and many reconstructed in the state since the Ugwuanyi era began. Thanks to Governor Ugwuanyi, COVID-19 met a resilient health sector in Enugu state, lost the war and left an even stronger sector behind.
The Ugwuanyi administration is also famed for human capital development.In Enugu state, the government is the single largest employer of labour, a reality the Governor has remained committed to changing through relentless efforts geared towards economic diversification, stimulating healthy competition in the capitalist market and attracting global investments.
At a grim time in Nigeria when workers were owed months of salaries in most states, Governor Ugwuanyi never defaulted on timely payments. As if that and regular offers of bonus packages weren’t enough, the Governor was among the first to start paying the new N 30,000 minimum wage in the entire country. Governor Ugwuanyi has continued to empower rural farmers through awards of grants and interest-free loans, technical trainings, donation of fertilizers and modern farm implements, and facilitating access to beneficial federal schemes. The Enugu Clean Team initiative brought succour to thousands of families in the state. The recent proliferation of tech-based SMEs in Enugu, which is plugging the state into the global digital grid, is a result of Governor Ugwuanyi’s steadfast investment in ICT training programs leveraging strategic partnerships with the private sector.
”No nation can be really great unless it is great in peace, in industry, integrity and honesty. Skilled intelligence in civic affairs and industrial enterprises alike; the special ability of the artist, the man of letters, the man of science, and the man of business; the rigid determination to wrong no man, and to stand for righteousness-all these are necessary in a great nation.”— Theodore Roosevelt.*
Enugu state is blessed beyond measure to be under the leadership of Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, a truly godly man, a political guru, a kind and just servant, an accomplished lawmaker, a reformer and builder . His legacy in Enugu state will remain nonpareil for generations to come. Under this Colossus of a leader, Enugu state has become great in peace and justice; robust in economic diversity and a state whose priority is the people.
But Hon Barr Peter MBA is obviously the greatest Will that Governor Ugwuanyi has bequeathed to Ndi-Enugu in line with the dictates of God . Mr Mba is a temperate, unassuming, credible, dispassionate, innovative, industrious, firm, selfless and consummate personality. He is renowned for unprecedented triumphs in the realm of creativity. Without any shred of doubt, Mr Peter Mba, from his huge background and verifiable antecedents, will consolidate the movement of this state from a transitional leadership to a transformational and developmental pedestal. No matter whose side you are on, we can all agree that under the watch of Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, Enugu state has truly been in the hands of God.
Steve Oruruo is the Special Adviser to the Governor on Information
