Two weeks ago, in his lodge in Abuja, Governor Dave Nweze Umahi, seated in his living room looked calm and relaxed.
That was just a day after the Supreme Court settled the debacle of his candidacy. Yes, at the courts below, he had not got adverse verdicts, but the ultimate court is the major decider of what carries the day at last.
Challenges by defeated candidates of the mandate of an incumbent are always major obstacles for those in office. They cause serious distractions where the incumbent works like not being sure of what to do for being unsure of whether he stays or leaves.
But that day, a day after the judgment that finally settled the dispute of electoral victory, Umahi sat at ease as if thinking on how best to navigate in office now, facing the reality of his sure mandate.
He felt elated as visitors came in to congratulate him on the victory. It was possible what was going on in his mind was how best to handle leadership. With the administration and tenure just some months short of the first full year, Umahi must have laid out his plans on what exactly comes next.
According to the Commissioner for Finance in his government, Dr. Dennis Ekumankama, the governor had been waiting for the final word by the Supreme Court, but did not sit idle while the waiting lasted. “He had been at work because his administrative policy is making the best use of the time you have now, no matter how short. So work had been on. Right now, it would pick up at a faster pace.”
To get down to the basics, he explained that already Umahi has left his marks all over the state and with the litigation out of the way, he would use the dry season to move faster and cover some ground especially in constructions. He disclosed that he was actually in Abuja not for the judgment but on economic drive as he had been discussing and meeting with agencies and organisations that would align with his economic plans and get the right things done.
Capital city facelift
“The Abakaliki you knew last month is not the same as today,” a resident of the capital city had told Daily Sun last month. True to his word, another resident confirmed that Abakaliki under Umahi has become a different place.
“There is hardly any street in the city that has not got resurfacing of the road. Even those that had in the past been constructed have been rehabilitated and all the streets wear new looks with streetlights that illuminate the city and make it look wonderful at night.”
Even in a city where people that don’t think ahead concluded as part of politics that Abakaliki has no traffic pressure and might also have little need for roads expansion, Umahi last year, just a little after coming to power saw otherwise and commenced the construction of three major flyovers in the city. These are located at the major junctions and road intersections where traffic even now is already annoying.
Today, those three bridges, according to residents and the company handling the construction, have gone to about 90 per cent completion and would soon, later this year, be commissioned for use.
Asphalting of the Abakaliki streets has been the most celebrated move by the governor as all residents agree that their city is fast assuming a capital city status. One of the residents and a lecturer at the Ebonyi State University said in excitement that he would not believe it is true that on his street, a busy one, Udemezue, he could drive home without encountering a haze of dust. He said: “I am not a politician, and it is beyond politics, but the fact is that Umahi has started and largely completed the construction of most of the streets of the city. We never imagined that would be possible in the near future and the pace of the work has been commendable.”
Education
In education development, Ebonyi remains the baby of the South East region. But that has not left Ebonyi as the least in the nation. Last week, the West African Examination Council (WAEC) published the statistics for last year’s senior secondary examination. That was the first WAEC examination Umahi’s administration supervised and it turned out good. Ebonyi placed 10th among the 36 states and was actually the last of the South East states where Abia and Anambra took first and second positions respectively. Imo was the 5th and Enugu also took the 9th position.
As this record is commendable for a state erroneously seen as backward in education, kudos should go to the governor and even past governors that have taken the state to such standing. But a greater task facing Umahi is how to ensure that Ebonyi comes to the top spot and won’t remain the least of the South East states.
It is a challenge that comes in two ways for him – to increase and improve in quality and as well as quantity. Let there be deliberate policy of the administration to grow the state’s school enrollment digit every year and also stand firm in shoring up the standards.
And the fact we must not run away from is that because of the economy level of the state, about 93 per cent WAEC enrolment is from public schools. That makes it the more commending and tasking to do better in making the public schools directly under Umahi’s supervision better and aiming for the best place.
Economy
Ebonyi is rated among the poorest of the 36 states. But that rating based on hard facts is one of the worst of ironies in Nigeria. The state might be small in landmass, but it is dense in natural endowment. From oil and gas to solid minerals, many of them already tapped, Ebonyi is one of the few states in Nigeria that boast of preponderance of natural resources. The state has at least 24 solid minerals ranging from gold, silver, limestone etc in ample commercial quantities. It is therefore unacceptable that Ebonyi should remain a poor state.
One of the high points already recorded for Umahi in less than one year is an elaborate plan to turn agriculture to oil block in the state.
Frankly, if there is a sector Umahi is challenged most in a nation where the national economy is dwindling everyday with the shrinking fortunes of the oil and gas markets, it is in economy. Ebonyi has one of the largest deposits of limestone, reason the cement plant in Nkalagu that has been moribund for years was one of the first and largest in Nigeria. Nobody has stolen the limestone seams of Nkalagu and other parts of the state. The rock that is crushed to yield bitumen is abundant in Abakaliki, Afikpo North, already being tapped by Julius Berger, Edda, not yet tapped and in the abundant deposits of Ishiagu in Ivo.
The federal government has made things better for Umahi to act with the pronouncement late last month by the Minister for Solid Minerals, Kayode Fayemi declaring a softer stance by the FG to allow and relax the laws against states in tapping solid minerals. The new order is that states are at freedom to extract solid minerals for their better economy. It takes just an understanding that has been made less cumbersome for the state to commence extraction on terms agreed to with the FG.
That makes it good for Ebonyi to look inwards and prove to the world that the state can stand on its feet and achieve a reputation in strong and virile economy.
Umahi owes the younger generation of the state a duty of giving the economy a good and firm foundation, create jobs and give it a future by allowing the Nkalagu cement plant or even a new one come on board. It is like the ultimate task of the government of the state. The state needs to grow and also not forget that Ebonyi, though down in economic development in the zone has a big advantage now. When it looks like some South East states are saturated with space and new business spots, Ebonyi looks good for the future business destination of the South East.
With the large market in Abakaliki almost completed by the past administration, Umahi would do well to open that state for business, relax the conditions for land acquisition in Abakaliki and other parts of the state. With good handling of this rare opportunity now, those Igbo business persons facing pressures in some parts of Nigeria, including Lagos can come back with Ebonyi as their destination back home. In fact, Umahi should exploit this opportunity and organize economic parleys with the Igbo economic community in Lagos, Abuja and some other places and convince them with a well mapped out economic park full of attractive incentives to come back to Igbo land, specifically, to Ebonyi and invest.
The state has abundant land that can accommodate at least one million more Igbos from outside Igbo land to live and invest. This opportunity beckons on the state to grow from there.
Human development/politics
Politics generally in Nigeria has been bitter since 1999 – at the federal and state levels. But Ebonyi’s case has not hit the fever level. That does not mean there haven’t been lapses. That is where Umahi has an advantage to make sure that he delivers leadership that is built on equity and unity. No human being loves maltreatment and discrimination. Yes, they had been there in Ebonyi, but not exceptionally so as the same applies in some other states.
Definitely, there were cracks, especially in the politicking that led up to the emergence of Umahi as governor. As a politician, he knows better that the game could gall sometimes. And having emerged, and having gone through the obstacles, he should see all that happened as part of the struggle and whoever providence smiles on should do away with vengeance and retaliation and carry on with leadership as the state is made of one people – Ebonyi citizens.
Good enough, while Daily Sun was there in the lodge of the governor the day after his court victory, a major opponent of his came in. As others still waited, he was almost immediately ushered in to see the governor who later had special and personal audience with him. That sent a signal to Daily Sun on the need and existence of reconciliation among the warring parties in the politics of the state. Umahi needs to sustain and enlarge this move and be at peace with all the people of his state to make a good impact.
Next to that is the need to raise the bar for the younger people through deliberate human resource development. Sometimes, it pains to hear in Abakaliki, what the residents call the Ebonyi Standard. Ebonyi is not a different world from other worlds, and therefore should not operate a peculiar standard unless that is far above the universal standard. Umahi needs to work out human development plans for the younger people that would manage the state tomorrow.
With a good and open mind, a good team and resolute spirit to create the needed difference, now the coast is clear for Governor Umahi to get down to work, do it right and take the state further from the point he met it, and especially in the right direction.
The world watches as he unfolds his agenda for the LGAs, where Daily Sun gathered he already has projects penciled down, especially in infrastructure provision and the development of agriculture.
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