Continued... Despite the paucity of funds, we were still able to meet our statutory and contractual obligations. Do I need to shy away from the fact that hundreds of communities had no electricity and pipe-borne water, school buildings were dilapidated and abandoned; facilities in existing health facilities were insufficient, while those available had no operable staff and equipment? The State Teaching Hospital was like a cottage hospital, not to talk of the palpable state of fear among the citizens of the state, occasioned by frightening rates of crimes. Enyimba Football Club of Aba faced relegation from the elite division to the second division. This was the situation on ground when we assumed office in May 1999. That is not all: The Enyimba City – the biggest commercial centre in Africa, which is also called the Japan of Africa – was a shadow of its old self. In fact, it looked like a deserted city as its residents wallowed in self-pity and abandonment. There was also no single state-of-the-art conference centre anywhere in the state, except the Okpara Auditorium (which lacked the necessary facilities for conferences and other formal events). It was in this state of hopelessness and despair that our ship of redemption berthed in Abia State. The few days I stayed in the state before my inauguration revealed the rot in the state and the urgent need to hit the ground running. So, from day one, it was business till the chapter of our administration closed formally in the midnight of May 28, 2007. I must not fail to express deep gratitude to God for the vision and courage to achieve the much we did in spite of obvious impediments in our way. We thank the well-meaning people of Abia State that believed in us and voted us into power. It was their love and support for our government that made us go into covenant with them. The covenant was hinged on the fear of God and respect for human dignity and life. In any case, every person who was resident in Abia State in the period I was governor would recall with little effort that we worked assiduously to reposition the state and make it the economic hub of Nigeria, nay Africa. Even a blind man saw the transformation of the state from obscurity to global preeminence. We took Abia State to every nook and cranny of the universe, attracting investors and other partners in development, who brought in their investments with confidence. Aside the economic package for the development of Abia State, we paid serious attention to security of lives and property. Our thinking was that no reasonable investor would come to a state that was unsecure. The plan we set in place for security was unparalleled. Kidnappers and other hoodlums scampered for safety. In fact, Abia State was adjudged one of the securest states in Nigeria. Security was such that no single case of kidnapping or political killing was recorded throughout the eight years we served. I could count about five brother-governors that approached us then to copy our security master plan. The success we made of security was hinged on a simple formula: Design a strategy that would nip crimes in the bud. In short, we took the war to the criminals and made the state inhabitable for them. We also considered the personnel that would execute the plan and reasoned that the best way to get the best out of them was to motivate them. Apart from providing them vehicles and communication gadgets and occasional monetary rewards, we also put in place an insurance scheme that insured each of the 3000 policemen posted to our state. These incentives indubitably fired their morale and made them ready to sacrifice their lives in defence of the state and its people. We kept faith with our covenant with the police – to cater to their welfare. This manifested when we lost a policeman on essential duty. His family was instantly handed his insurance benefit of N10 million. According to available records, it was the first time any state in Nigeria could do such a thing. As people went about their legitimate businesses without fear, life started booming all over the state. In less than two months in office, we had succeeded in clearing the two-month salary arrears owed the workers by the previous administration and established a system that ensured that workers got their entitlements every 25th of the month. We kept faith with this plan until our exit. When we had achieved the plan for regular payment of salaries, we then turned to pensions and gratuities. We were not deterred by the many years of arrears owed. We started somewhere, hoping to settle a reasonable percentage of the arrears before our tenure ran out. And so it happened. By the time we left office, only an infinitesimal percentage of persons were yet to receive their gratuities. It is important to state here that throughout our tenure, there was no single industrial action by workers in the state. There was harmony between the workers and government.
Posted on: Sat, 13 Sep 2014 20:48:19 +0000
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