By Dr Reuben Onyishi
(Ugoachataberu)
It has been an eventful three years of exceptional service delivery to the people of Enugu State by the Mbah Administration. The people of Enugu State for whom these services are rendered can surely attest to it. They can attest to the fact that since the creation of old Anambra State, no man, living or dead, has done, within a short while, what Mbah has done for the people. Mbah has in three years done what could have taken any other administration at least over eight years to do. In three years, Mbah has caused to bear over 3000 projects in Enugu State, some completed and some ongoing.
Mbah’s development trajectory cuts across all sectors of the state. His projects are multimodal and multisectoral. Before coming on board, Mbah had unveiled his manifesto on 22nd October, 2022, where he extempore, speaking for over two hours, reeled out his governance objectives. He sifted the Enugu economy from the nave to the chap, and provided solutions to all the problems identified. But the skeptics did not believe him. Someone who sat beside me said that should he do 10 per cent of all he had said, then Enugu would be the best for it. Many doubted it, not because they hated development, they just could not contain within their imagination how a politician would do all Mbah had promised.
Today, I am sure that if we were to gather again to assess Mbah’s performance in three years, the man who sat beside me would shout ‘Eurka’. He would caper and dance around in earnest appreciation of the deliverables Mbah has wrought in so short a while. He would shout Uhuru to economic emancipation seen in the utter transformation of Enugu State. He would marvel at the many projects of the Mbah Administration and wonder by what magic finger Mbah has woven these intricate patterns. He would realize that the integrated productive sector that would yield much revenue for the state have all been realized. Today, the state’s IGR whose paucity was deemed normal for a civil service state has risen to unimaginable quantum leap. Who would have thought that Enugu without oil derivatives can rake in N406 billion in its annual IGR? From N26.8 billion in 2022, Mbah has caused the IGR to rise astronomically to N406 billion in 2025 and eyes N870 billion in 2026. This is huge and a product of creative financial intelligence on the part of the governor.
The man who sat beside me at the Peter Mbah Auditorium of the Law Faculty of Godfrey Okoye University would also caper and dance at the fact that What Mbah promised to do in the social sector, as hugely unthinkable as it was then, has not only been achieved but also surpassed. Education has got the largest chunk of the state’s annual budget in three years- about 33 per cent. This is seen in the 267 smart schools built in all the 260 wards in the state and more. There are yet the type 2 hospitals built in the 260 wards of the state. At the tertiary level of healthcare, the upgrade of the Science University of Medical and Applied Sciences’ (SUMAS’) College of Medicine to a teaching hospital and the various interventions at ESUT Teaching Hospital at Parklane with state-of-art facilities, leading to the increase of the number of students for admission at the college to 350 by Medical and Dental Councils of Nigeria, the highest in any state hospital, are topnotch. There is the Enugu International Hospital, a world-class medical intervention billed for commissioning in a few week’s time. The hospital has the capacity to handle serious medical issues such as cardiology, oncology, neurology, endocrinology, dermatology and so on. With this, Enugu is become a medical hub in Africa. What we hitherto medically sought in India, Uk and the rest of the world is here. Indeed tomorrow is here.
Road infrastructure is yet another sector where the Mbah Administration has discharged itself creditably. Over 1,500 kilometers of roads have been constructed and paved. All the roads in Enugu have been flagged off for paving. Almost all street in Enugu have been paved. Emene, Thinker’s Corner, New Haven, Trans Ekulu, Abakpa, Nike Road, New Layout, Achara Layout, Uwani, Agbani Road, Garki, Ugwuaji, Monarch, Maryland, to mention no more, have all received Mbah’s touch. Many roads in these places have been paved. Mbah is also connecting the three senatorial zones for seamless access. The Opi-Ugwuogo- Abakpa-Peanox Road is being dualized, the Owo-Ubahu- Amankanu-Isi Uzo-Obollo Afor dual carriage way, running into over 40 kilometers, connecting Enugu East to North is almost completed. The Ama-Olo-Iwollo-Ezeagu-Imulokpa Road also connecting Enugu West to Enugu North is also ongoing. So many rural roads have been done while work is ongoing in many other places. Alas! What do we say to all this? We can authoritatively say that Enugu has got a governor who matches his words with action.
In the annals of of the projects are the revamping of state owned moribund assets. Such assets as Hotel Presidential, United Palm Products Limited, Sunrise Flour Mills, Nigergas, Enugu International Conference Centre, and so on have all been revamped and these are high revenue yielding assets. This is in addition to the new Enugu smart city, a new city that would rank with any known city in the world. The city would have vitality bay, artificial sea, skyscrapers, conduit gas supply, high internet network for unrestrained access, just note whatever it takes to build a new city and you would be guided and pointed to it. Mbah dreams big and brings what appears surreal into practical reality.
Before now, we did not have Enugu Air; now we have Enugu Air. Before now, we had no interchange terminals; now we have it at Holy Ghost, Nsukka, Abakpa and Garki, and more to come at 4-Corner, Emene, Awgu, Obollo Afor, to mention but four. Before now, we had no CNG buses; now we have them and they convey Ndi Enugu to their destination at cheaper rates. The electric taxi is on ground, and the transport sector is being overhauled to give Enugu new ambience and breath of fresh air.
One other area where Mbah has shown exceptional capacity is in the security sector. Recall that before Mbah came on board, Enugu State and South East were under siege by nonstate actors and their unknown gunmen who terrorized and killed the people. Monday sit-at-home was all the rage. The economy of Enugu State and South East had gone comatose as billions of naira were being lost, as the people, for fear of being killed, stayed at home on Monday.. The very first day Mbah took over power as the governor of Enugu State, he put an end to Monday sit-at-home. He pursued it with courage and vigour, and against all odds and threat, prevailed. He set up the DRS with initial 150 vehicles with installed AI-embedded cameras with capacity for facial and plate number recognition. He also built the command and control centre at Government House Enugu from where the entire Enugu State is being monitored. Meanwhile, cameras with AI-facilities have been strategically positioned here and there in the state. These cameras communicate among themselves at the speed of lightening. Mbah also set up the Security Trust Fund, which recently provided two supersonic drones among other things to the state to enable surveillance and make for easy policing. What Mbah has done in security is world-class. Today, it has paid off as Enugu is arguably the safest and most peaceful state in Nigeria.
No one can capture in a small space as this what manner of services Mbah has rendered to the people of Enugu State. Mbah is multisectoral in his approach. No aspect of governance is lacking in adequacy and effectiveness. Mbah was prepared for the job, and today it reflect in the governance of the people. Enugu is in auto-cruise and the people, Ndi Enugu, could not have asked for anyone else. As the elections are hard by, Ndi Enugu shall vote Mbah again that he may continue the good work he has begun and round it off to a convenient stopping point. God bless Peter Ndubuisi Mbah. Indeed, tomorrow is here.
