By Sam Ugwuozor
AT Inauguration on May 29, 2015, Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, aka Gburugbu, said to the joyous and exalted gathering of Enugu people “Your Excellency, Distinguished ladies and gentleman, Enugu State under us will pay a special attention to rural development because majority of our people live in the rural areas”. Evidentially today, that statement was not futile, it was not an empty statement, not mere political rhetoric. It turned out a meeting of theory and practice. The Governor simply had worked his talks.
Two years into the administration, it is evidently clear that there is no section of the rural populace in the state that has not witnessed or experienced the governor’s imprint by way of one development project or the other, ranging from construction or rehabilitation of health centres, construction of solar powered boreholes, supply of medical equipments and drugs, renovation of secondary school blocks to extension of electricity. In October 2016 to be precise, the Governor flagged off 35 grassroot projects involving construction of roads and bridges in the 17 Local Government Areas of the state and less that a year after, a few days to the 2017 democracy day celebration he “simultaneously commissioned 26 projects executed, by Government across the state” and in his democracy day speech, affirmed to a joyous and appreciative citizens of his unbending commitment to the infrastructural development of Enugu State, which according to him the “ thrust is to open up the rural areas and catalyze economic growth”.
What the Governor did at Amurri town is demonstrably a case in point in weighing and assessing his commitment to developing the rural communities. Amurri town is in Nkanu West Local Government Area of Enugu State. Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi visited Amurri Community in November 2016 unannounced. It was however, not the first time that a siting Governor of the State visited Amurri. The difference which Ugwuanyi’s visit made is vividly captured by the narrations of a foremost writer, Lewis Obi: According to him, “On Amurrri’s lucky day last November, a Governor arrived without prior notice, with no fanfare, almost silently, catching the town’s folks unawares. There were no dances or welcome addresses or traditional gun solutes. Nothing except the natural welcome smile of a handful of surprised Amurri people who chanced to be around. Governor Ugwuanyi halted at a few village squares to the apprehension of the villagers. They calmed down when he only asked them to name their most immediate need which the State Government might help them with. They all told him “Amurri Road.” Continuing in his arresting narration, Obi in his own words further said; “A few days later, road-building machinery and equipment arrived Amurri Road and work commenced from Agbani end. As the graders and earth-movers worked, Amurri people were simply speechless” (See Daily Sun 18th May, 2017, P14).
It is not just that the Governor had on his own, unannounced and without fanfare visited Amurri, it is more interesting that the project he executed: the Amurri Road, is the choice of the people. This is democracy in action. It is important to note that the event at Amurri is one of such actions in many communities where the Governor had clearly demonstrated his democratic, participative and empowering bents in matters of community development; in other words signposting “that communities are in a better position to determine their development priorities”. This philosophy of development eventually incarnated in the State Governments One Autonomous Community One Project programme of the State Government designed not to “take development to the rural areas and ensure that no section of the state is left out in the development strides that are ongoing”. Under this programme a self governing body of the Royal Fathers, town unions, leaders and town union groups of each autonomous community, would choose and execute a project not exceeding N10 million under the strict supervision of the State Government. With this gesture the people are given the opportunity for participation and self governance at the community level.
Through their direct participation and involvement in this development process the people would autonomously and independently articulate their various needs, prioritize them, mobilize their resources and set out for its realization. This bottom-top approach to development is also another way of recognizing the people’s intellectual capacity and ability in making meaningful contributions in their own affairs. This development approach is in tandem with the United Nations concept of an authentic development process, because according to this world body, it relies”… upon Local Communities as units of action and which attempt to combine outside assistance with organized local self-determination and which correspondingly seeks to stimulate local initiative and leadership as the primary instrument of change….” The democratic, participatory and empowering nature of this community development approach was captured by Anifowoshe, when he said that,…” at the centre of democratic idea is the notion of participation which describes the extent to which individual members of society share, take part, or get-involve in the life of that society”.
Beside, the community development approach represents the traditional Igbo/African, concept of development, embodied in the commonality of spirit, sense of cooperation, solidarity, neighborliness and brotherhood which unfortunately has been ravaged and bastardised by colonialism and capitalism. The joint articulation and execution of a chosen project, if well handled, could also be a peace building project.
The overwhelming joy of the people of Enugu State is that a peace loving democrat is in charge of the affairs of Enugu State. Consequently his concept of democracy is that the people should constitute the foundations of governance. Democracy for him is not only about freedom, equity, justice, respect for human right and the rule of law; it is also about empowering the people and not marginalizing them. That is, democracy, he insists, must enlarge the choices and opportunities of the people; it must provide for their participation and ownership in decisions that affect them.
Dr. Ugwuozor writes from Enugu