29th May is around the corner and it's the appropriate time to assess the performance of an Administration with 21 days to go.
While this Administration is coming to an end, one question I have been bothered with is, "if I wasn't part of this administration, how would I rate it's performance in a clear non-partisan state of mind"?
To answer this question, I had to take a reasonable time to clear my mind and try to see things from everyone else's perspective, lest I make a conclusion from my limited point of view.
To begin with, I had to go back to 2018 before I had anything to do with this Administration. On a radio program, I was asked to name who was the best amongst the then 5 South East Governors. I said without mincing words that it was Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi.
However, that statement didn't go without me being unhappy that he was the best. My view then was that there's a general leadership problem in Igbo Land and there hasn't really been any of the Governors that did something exceptional that was capable of uplifting the Igbo race, and then we had to settle for the one who had done fairly well across all sectors as the best.
That was in comparison to David Umahi who was good infrastructure wise but failed in almost every other sector, a Rochas Okorocha who used State resources to build a University for himself (all talks and no substance), a willy Obiano whose works then were uncountable sign posts of WILLY IS WORKING on dilapidated roads, and Okezie Ikpeazụ, the Onye Ngwa ga edozi who was head of environmental department there but made Aba dirtier. Coupled with the fact that at that point, all of them were heavily owing workers salaries, except Governor Ugwuanyi.
When I bring back that analysis I made in 2018 from a heart drenched in Activism, I get a close idea of how I would rate this Administration if I wasn't part of it.
Taking note of the fact that as at the time I made that analysis, State University of Medicine and Applied Sciences, SUMAS hasn't been conceived, 7 type C hospitals haven't been built, Infectious Diseases Hospital, Colliery Avenue haven't been thought of, State Secretariat Edeoballa, Nsukka Township Stadium, Udi, Agbani, Poly and Enugu Ezike Clinics haven't been built or rebuilt, OHODO Polytechnic haven't been approved, 76 Mobile Police Squadron Ekwegbe haven't been started, likewise several rural and urban roads like the roads in Nike, Ụzọ Uwani, Amurri, Isi Ụzọ and others were not yet approved for construction.
If so much has changed in that five year period, then my analysis must have since taken a different dimension.
Therefore, if I have to rate this Administration if I wasn't part of it, I would rate this Administration first as a Journalist.
I would rate this Administration excellent in freedom of speech, freedom of information and accessibility of information.
Never in the history of Nigeria has any Administration, be it Local, State or Federal Government been this tolerant to what I call *a pandemic of Media Witch-hunt* against an Administration, and not for a second did the man in charge lose his cool, even in the face of bold and brazen outright lies against his person and Administration.
The only thing that would reduce his Mark in this aspect from 100% to 95% is that the governor by nature, is not the talking type, so the media couldn't scoop enough money from public interviews and interactive sessions as frequently done by the likes of Nyesom Wike, Rochas Okorocha, Umahi and others. This part of his personality surely made a lot of media people unhappy.
However, he never failed to clarify issues to them in private whenever they cared to visit.
Secondly, I would rate this Administration as an Indigene of Ekwegbe Ancient Kingdom.
In my lifetime, and in the history of democracy in Enugu State, Governor Ugwuanyi was the first person to see my community as a place Worthy of a Government Institution. Hence, the 76 Mobile Police Squadron was sited in my community. Politically, he ensured that my community had a strong say in his Administration by ensuring that one of us remained in the House of Assembly althrough his tenure, something the Lions and Leopards of my Local Government would never have allowed.
While he also made water available for my community after a long while and an autonomous community underway, there are biting issues of the state of the federal road that passed through my community, for which if I wasn't part of the Administration and understood the intricacies involved in State Government interventions on Federal Roads, Just as Tinubu recently told Wike that he won't see one kobo of refund of money spent of Federal Roads, I would still have wanted an intervention on the road.
So, as an Ekwegbe man, I would rate him 70%.
Thirdly, I would rate Ugwuanyi's Administration as a man from Enugu North Senatorial Zone, who grew up and spent 18 years of his life in Nsukka metropolis.
In this regard, Governor Ugwuanyi is to be rated 95%. The impossibility of transforming every single community in Enugu North was worth took away the 5 marks.
If not, no zone has developed as rapidly as Nsukka in just 8 years.
He totally transformed Enugu North Senatorial Zone and supported the transformation with two new tertiary institutions, an international Conference Center, a State Secretariat, Township Stadium, excellent road networks, traffic lights, hospitals and human empowerment. If Zoning of Guber positions in Enugu State favoured any Zone, it's the Enugu North Senatorial Zone.
Fourthly, I would rate the Ugwuanyi Administration as an ordinary Enugu State Citizen.
Under the Ugwuanyi Administration, Enugu State was not just peaceful and calm but also progressive.
Enugu became the choicest place for people to live in. The environment became such that people came from neighbouring States to come and host their weddings in Enugu. This welcoming environment is inversely leading to a population explosion and rapid increase in house rent.
However, Enugu residents, mostly those who live in the three local governments that make up Enugu City and it's outskirts have seen the perennial water problems remain the same and a decline in the environmental sanitation.
While as a part of the Administration, I know the basic issues that have made these problems to remain, I wouldn't have seen it the same way if I wasn't part of the Administration.
These two issues are what have left the Administration's rating in the eyes of the ordinary Enugu citizen at 65%
Fifthly, I would rate this Administration as a State Government Worker.
At a time of economic recession, widespread hunger and inflation, the ordinary Enugu State Worker would find it difficult not to rate this Administration 100% in worker's welfare.
However, the issue of LGAs not agreeing to join the State Government in paying her workers the new 30,000 minimum wage was what put a strain on that excellent record to bring it to 95%.
Not once in this administration have workers looked for their salaries and didn't see it. Sometimes, they saw extra.
Labour crises was not a thing and strikes sounds like something unrelatable in the state.
Furthermore, I would rate this Administration as a student. Not only have school fees remained stable despite all the economic downturns, but tertiary institutions like IMT and ESCET have seen a total overhaul. Now IMT looks like a Tertiary Institution and not a refugee camp that it used to be like, and ESCET is looking like a Tertiary Institution and not a JAMB lesson center that it used to look like.
This Administration has gone ahead to add three more tertiary institutions, built and rebuilt over 1,700 primary school blocks across the State, and personally, that I am able to round off my M.Sc at this point is because this Administration saw to the withdrawal of ESUT from ASUU's age long unending strikes.
As a Student, this Administration should be around 98% rating.
Lastly, as someone who loves his health, and a longevity Advocate, this Administration has done the most in terms of health and deserves at least, 95% rating.
Having constructed and reconstructed at least one health center in every political ward in the State, built 7 type C hospitals, built a University of Medicine, so to the completion and handover of Enugu's first Oncology Center, built to a standard, the Infectious Diseases Hospital, Colliery Avenue, as well as district hospitals in Udi, Agbani, Poly, Enugu Ezike, Nsukka and other places, plus the proactive measures taken during the COVID-19 pandemic, one would not fail to give this Administration a thumbs up.
In all honesty, this Administration has not done all there needs to be done. There is still a very long way to go, but this Administration has come far enough, considering the amount of fuel in the fuel tank.
I truth, if I wasn't part of this Administration, my rating wouldn't be any much different from what is up there.
So while we wait for another driver to refuel, recharge and resume the Journey on 29th May, this administration should be bid a farewell with appreciation of what has been done and anticipation of what is to come.
Ugwuagbo Emmanuel Chizoba (Zoba De Great) is a Journalist based in Enugu.
