It does appear that the long-awaited centralisation of the Nigerian youth in the National Project of Development is finally here. Tellingly, the Coal City State seems poised to take the front stage in this respect.
When the Vice-Chancellor of Godfrey University, Prof. Christian Anieke, took the stage to deliver the citation on Peter Ndubuisi Mbah, his inaugural sentences set the tone for the day. He revealed to the pleasant surprise of the audience that the Auditorium in which we were seated was built single-handed by Peter Mbah, and that Mbah has been a long-standing supporter of youth development projects in the University. He went on to list a litany of intervention projects for the school by Peter Mbah. These revelations gained extra traction because If Mbah did not emerge the Guber Candidate of PDP for 2023, these things probably would never come to the public domain.
Is this why Enugu youths are spiritually attuned to Mbah? Is that the reason for this automatised love for the PDP Guber Candidate among Enugu youths? Demographically speaking, Enugu youths would always outnumber any other age group, wherever Peter Mbah makes an appearance. It happened again on Thursday October 13, 2022 when he presented his manifesto. The programme was slated for 11am. But as early as 7am young people were already scrambling, jostling and shoving for seating space. Peter Mbah’s manifesto, however, repaid them abundantly for their love and fidelity.
What Peter Mbah unfolded is a youth-dominated agenda. From Agro-allied industrialisation to ICT, education, tourism, and creative industry, the Enugu youth is the focus. He marshalled out what he referred to as a ‘Catch-them-Young’ programme in which his Government will invest abundantly in the child at the impressionable age so that at the age of 12 the individual would have cultivated a vocational skill that will help him or her make an informed decision about the direction of his or her future.
In fact, the State House of Assembly will make a law to make skills acquisition compulsory for every 18 year old. This will not only complement, but also reinforce the State Universal Basic Education, which already makes the first nine years of education – Primary 1 to Junior Secondary - compulsory and free for everyone.
Peter Mbah has a panoramic package for youth development. His plan to establish Specialised Centres for STEM Courses is not only radically new, but also has the potentiality to revolutionise education in the State. STEM is an acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. If you are not amazed by his innovative ideas, I am. Here, we have an extraordinary man – roundly educated and encyclopaedically brilliant. His ideas are as freshly-minted as new dollar bills. The insight, power and logic of his thoughts are astonishing.
For example, STEM Courses have a lion-share of most of the funding opportunities for scholarships abroad, especially in the US. In fact, SCHLUMBERGER FOUNDATION FACULTY FOR THE FUTURE is probably the best-paying scholarship that target women in developing countries. They only provide funding for women in STEM Disciplines.
As I pen down these lines the closing date for 2022 application is November 11. Peter Mbah is aware of these opportunities, and he is leading Enugu youths towards them. When they say that with Peter Mbah a NEW ENUGU IS HERE, it is not a joke. He is not your regular, every day politician with pedestrian ideas, he is rather a long-standing youth-developer with sophisticated ideas.
It must be a rare and extreme case of self-sadism for an Enugu youth to pitch his or her tent with a politician/politicians, who have been in the Corridors of Power for more than thirty years and who has/have for those donkey years done nothing to challenge and rein in the miasma of joblessness and the menace of poverty that are as pervasive as they are destructive of the talents of youths.
Peter Mbah refers to the Enugu youth as an asset, but he also rightly observes that he or she is an asset that lies docile. Sadly, age has a way of laying waste assets that are unutilised.
Whether it is his plan about Agro-allied industrial centres in the four Zones of the State, or the plan to build hyper-scale tier 4 data centres that can attract the likes of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, or the establishment of Cinema Parks of Disneyland standard or Movie Academies to develop and harness creative talents, Peter Mbah is all about the youth.
How can someone present you all these opportunities, yet you are pitching tent with those who have been part of the Cabal that forged the chain holding you down? How can someone regale you with cock and bull stories and recruit you to join a fight you know nothing about? Even if you have a grouse with PDP, is Peter Mbah PDP?
I thought there is a consensus among Nigerian citizens to commit our PVCs to Candidates based on their individual capacity? Peter Mbah is our prayer answered. God forbid that we will allow this opportunity to slip by and throng back to church to pray for a good leader!
God bless Enugu State!
May God guide and prosper the MBAH/OSSAI Project!
Dr Hyginus Eze
