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From Idu Jude, Abuja
The Enugu State Labour Party (LP) Deputy Governorship candidate and the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Barrister Ken Asogwa, has thrown a political jab at Governor Peter Mbah, asking him to provide drinking water for the residents rather than an airline which, according to him, is meant for the elite.
Asogwa said the incoming administration, under the Labour Party, within 100 days in office, would pay the Enugu State counterpart funding to conclude the abandoned Adada Dam project targeted at ending water scarcity.
In an exclusive interview with Daily Sun, Barrister Asowga rued what he described as the cosmetic leadership and failure of both past and present leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) who failed to pay the counterpart funding that stalled the full completion of the dam project since 2021.
The Adada Dam was designed to provide water for the entire Enugu North, the food basket of the South East in commercial agriculture.
“You see, the Adada Dam project is one of the projects that sits right inside my heart. I want to tell you a story: in 2021, during the administration of Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, the Federal Ministry of Water Resources went into a partnership with the Enugu State government on how to revive Adada Dam, and the ministry was supposed to provide 75 percent of the funding for the completion of the project, while the Enugu State counterpart funding was supposed to be 25 percent. But, did you know what happened? The Ministry of Water Resources has succeeded in meeting 60 percent of its own bargain as of today, while the Enugu State government has not dropped a dime till today. They have not met one percent of their counterpart funding. This happened under Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi in 2021. “And when Peter Mbah’s administration took over, yours sincerely, as the Chief of Staff to former Senator Okey Ezea, I’m privy that when he assumed office as Senator representing Enugu North, the first official letter he wrote was to Governor Peter Mbah drawing his attention to that after writing to the Federal Ministry of Water Resources to understand why the project was abandoned, and the ministry replied that it has made about 60 percent of its counterpart funding and that the Senator should use his good offices, as a Senator representing the Enugu North, to find out why the state government had not committed nothing regarding the agreement. As I speak, the answer to that letter may not be worth the governor’s ink.”
Further lamenting over the “cosmetic and white elephant projects” in Enugu State, the LP deputy governorship candidate added that another cosmetic project like the Smart School project has collapsed “since it was conceived on falsehood.”
“As I speak to you, today, he has built smart schools in all 300-and-something wards in the state, and not up to five are fully functioning. What are we talking about? A debt of billions of naira went down the drain, and that is why a friend of his, who is called Suji Moto, came and he was awarded a contract for the smart school. The man bolted because he realised that it was an avenue to share money with the boys. And, now, the state is borrowing money here and there while people are suffering.”
Barrister Asowga said that if elected, the Labour Party administration would first of all look at the strengths and weaknesses of the state. He stressed on the state’s abiding strength and economic comparative advantage in commercial agriculture.
“Need I remind anyone that Uzo-Uwanui Local Government is positioned as the food basket of the South East; if that potential is well harnessed, as a precursor to that, Adada Dam has to be fixed because it will supply water throughout Enugu North for seasonal commercial farming.
“As a straight answer, what my administration will do is to ensure that there is regular water supply around the state to revitalise the agricultural potential of the state. Enugu State, the pride of average Igbo, today, still has water tankers around the city, as it is done in the villages. Tell me, which state capital in Nigeria still has water tankers supplying water to residents, except Enugu. Water supply is not rocket science; no, you can’t be floating an airline when the people lack drinking water supply. Cambodia is where it is today, because of rice farming and agriculture. Even the Netherlands, as we know it, today, is because of agriculture. So we can be the food basket of the South East without being overly dependent on food coming in from northern Nigeria”.
On the plan for the 2027 campaign and grassroots mobilisation, the deputy governorship candidate added, “I have said it, time and time again, that our party doesn’t have the financial war chest that you can get elsewhere, like the ruling APC in the state, because they have stolen enough.
“Yes, they amassed so much money meant for the development of the state. And they have deep pockets to spend, but ours is that we have not stolen from the system, and we don’t have the deep pockets to execute an extravagant campaign, but we have been able to devise a strategy that meets our target.
“We have been able to devise a campaign that is much more far reaching than what you can get elsewhere, but cost-effective”.
He said he did not want to unveil the manifesto yet as part of the strategies, adding that the Labour Party was aware of the Electoral Act and would not overshoot the N3 billion threshold for campaign expenditure.
While assessing the present administration of Enugu State, Asogwa noted that the test of the food is in the eating, stressing that, “the only measure for whether the government in Enugu State has done well is in juxtaposing what has been collected and the work done or what is on the ground”.
“This administration, according to the revenue mobilisation and fiscal mobilisation, has been pushing out how much the federal government has given to a state. And Enugu State has collected over N1.2 trillion in less than three years”.
He claimed that there is no place across Enugu State where clear-cut development has taken place when juxtaposed with the federal allocations and IGR of the state.
“So, is it pertinent to say that what we see on the ground is measurable with revenue collection? There is nothing on the ground; is it the floating of an airline? We all know that aircraft are not bought off the shelf, apart from leasing. So what has this government done within three years that gulped this money? Is it payment of salary?”
Barr Asowga stated that he doesn’t need to level allegations for the people to know that money has been stolen from the system.
“You see, another thing is on the side of crass incompetence by the government. Many of us have seen that the government of Enugu State thrives on cosmetic and sound bits of high-sounding investments that don’t bear any fruit or direct impact on the low-trodden.
“The governor said he floated an airline, built an international conference centre, and built five-star hotels. All these are cosmetic and elitist. And I can tell you that Enugu State is a civil service state, and the people are presently suffering from heavy taxation by the administration. Today, it is the fourth among the states with high internal revenue generation. It has never been like this before”.
Meanwhile, Asowga rued the acclaimed urbanisation of every village in Enugu State with the intention to collect tax. He said palm wine tappers, tomato, pepper, and vegetable farmers are heavily taxed in Enugu State.
“How terrible is it for the governor to use the money collected from the poor villagers to float an airline that does not have direct economic impact? What happened to the tax you collected from the rural dwellers? How have you invested in it? Have you done the rural roads leading to the farms? Where are those tomatoes and peppers farmed? “Now tell us what economic impact the airline will have on those who have never seen an airstrip? You floated an airline for the elite to fly and the elite are not the ones you collect the taxes from”.
On insecurity, Asogwa bemoaned fear and perplexity among the rural dwellers who have abandoned their farmlands and communities, owing to the operations of unchecked gunmen across the state.
