When Peter Ndubuisi Mbah announced during his inauguration on May 29, 2023 that it is going to be ‘business unusual’ some persons thought it was just one of those political catch-phrases thrown around as psychological sops to fire up the expectant masses at Okpara Square. But by Tuesday, May 31, 2023, it has become clear that with the pair of Mbah and Ossai, the era of demagogic opiums was gone. While Executive Orders are coming in salvos, actions are following in their barrages.
First, Mbah appointed Professor Chidi Onyia as the SSG. I encountered Prof. Onyia in 2010 at UNN when I was commencing my MA programme. He was the expert hired by the University of Nigeria, Nsukka to deliver Orientation Lecture to fresh postgraduate students. And he made a good job of it!
For more than two hours, he held us spell-bound at Princess Alexandria Auditorium of UNN. Then he was Dr. Onyia. A global scholar, an immense intellectual, infinitely exposed – erudite, deep, with a magisterial academic power. With this singular appointment Mbah has created an intellectual atmosphere as well as delivered an unmistakeable message: no more recycling of grasping, avaricious politicians.
And then the elephant in the room! The Monday Sit-at-Home in the South-East States, which has morphed into a menace trammelling our entrepreneurial freedom and business growth in Igbo-land. Here, he displayed political deftness. Instead of ramming a fiat down our throat, he extended a hand of fellowship to our brothers and sisters. I understand he is exploring ways to synergise with his colleague-Governors to bring our brother home. May we all join him in our prayers so he will succeed.
Then the Albatross in Enugu metropolis - Water! I don’t know any issue that causes as much distress and misery to Enugu people as water. Mbah’s manifesto places premium on tackling this long-standing, intractable challenge. He has faced it squarely.
When I read that Dr Andreas Gebauer has been asked to take charge of Water Co-operation and Enugu State Waste Management Authority (ESWAMA), I quickly scanned Mbah’s social media handle. There is no such update. Yet, a number of persons have expressed concern as to why Mbah would cede such pivotal areas to a foreigner, and wondered whether there is no Enugu man that can superintend.
And I ask: what exactly is the colour of our problem? Is this a case of limited exposure or sheer mischief? In a world that has become a global village, are there still folks that would want Enugu State to be closeted and shackled away in economic and developmental isolationism? Isn’t surprising that in spite of our age-old suffering on the hands of incompetent politicians some of us still prefer Peter Mbah to continue to sustain and nourish the old-fashioned, elephantine, unenterprising status quo?
There are countless Chinese citizens providing various services in the US, the most technologically advanced country in the world today. A number of cities in the UK depend on German companies for electric power, yet UK is a first-rate country, in terms of technology, and boasts of the oldest democracy in the world.
The present Rector of the University of Aberdeen in the UK is an Igbo woman, Martina Chukwuma-Ezike. In 2022, Elizabeth Truss (a core white woman) spent 49 days in office as the Prime Minister of the UK, and was shoved aside, and replaced by a British-Indian, Rishi Sunak. Truss’ initial bumbling steps with the economy cost her the job. The US allowed Emegwali into their country, and he changed the history of computer technology. Who is reaping the profit today? Again I ask: what exactly is the colour of our problem?
There is nobody who is running a family in Enugu metropolis, and who has endured so much distress because of water scarcity, and who has had to bathe with bottled water or satchet water that will give a hoot about the racial origin of the expert providing the solution. If a man is caught up in a burning house, does he sit back to cherry-pick who should rescue him?
Interestingly, the few persons who are squawking about an outsider taking our jobs are from Chijioke Edoga’s camp. This is telling. Prior to the election, I repeatedly warned Enugu people that Edoga represents nothing but the drab, immiserating, economic laziness that has immersed all of us in an economic pariah for decades.
It is not surprising, therefore, that the early opposition to our economic redemption is coming from his camp? What kind of sadistic joy do Edoga and his ilk derive from our impoverishment and suffering? Edoga bumbled around for decades in politics without any tangible results, isn’t it just fair that he should yield ground to superior brains?
Mbah and Ossai epitomise the political avant garde that has eluded us since 1999. In comparison to them, Edoga represents an out-dated piece of political anachronism. Can someone advise him to stop distracting us with his pointless and ill-fated litigations? Having lost every other opening, he is clinging to NYSC. And some folks believe he has a case. Imagine! Someone must be extremely daft to entertain even a fleeting doubt that Peter Mbah duly completed his NYSC.
We want innovations in every area, in waste management and all! Let’s be clear Peter Mbah and Ifeanyi Ossai are not going to carry waste from Enugu city to deposit in dump-sites, where it will constitute health hazard. No! They are moving towards Renewable Energy.
The waste that disgusts all of us today will soon begin to create an economic value chain that will astonish us. What is waste today will presently metamorphose into non-fossil fuel such as bio-fuel and bio-gas, including plastic products. If Dr Andreas Gebauer has the expertise to engender such a breakthrough, let him carry on by all mean. As Nsukka people would say, whoever marries my daughter is my in-law.
Of all the first-time Governors sworn into Office barely a week ago, Mbah is one of the few who are already pursuing a developmental sign-post. Within the first week he dashed across various locations in the State, where our minerals were being plundered, and he warned the criminals to stay off.
Need I tell you that Chijioke Edoga was the Commissioner for Environment for close to eight years, and looked away while the pillaging of our collective patrimony went on unchecked? Need I also tell you that it has been established that some of our politicians were in cahoots with the boys, who were looting our minerals? By the time the wind blows, Enugu people will see how despicable some of our coveted politicians are. For now, let them keep grandstanding.
With the way Mbah and Ossai are going, Chijioke Edoga will likely fade away from memory in the next one month. Within one week the dividends of our votes are already cascading down to us. We reject any litigatory shenanigans that will sneak Edoga into Lion Building. We have suffered enough!
God bless Mbah and Ossai!
God bless Coal City State!
Dr Hyginus Eze
