By Prof. Oguejiofo T. Ujam
Why should President Bola Ahmed Tinubu settle for a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) state to begin his nationwide tour and commissioning of projects? That question on the lips of many people has become strident because Governor Peter Mbah is not known for political showmanship.
Anyway, in the United States of America (US), bi-partisanship gestures begin to peal when political leaders across the two major Platforms, the Democratic and Republican Parties want to uphold statesmanship and venerate their country above partisan petty retrogressive squabbles.
Perhaps, it was this beautiful display of statesmanship in presidential democracy that Nigeria’s current leader, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu wants to inculcate in Nigerian politicians. The President described his visit to Enugu State as homecoming.
But, aside from the nicety of bi-partisan understanding, President Tinubu’s choice of Enugu as the commencement state for his country-wide tour has the subtext of presidential acknowledgment of the excellent mix between impactful project conception and responsible implementation by the state governor, Dr. Peter Ndubuisi Mbah.
In a little over 20 months, the Enugu State chief executive has been able to pursue a policy of strict developmental politics at the expense of partisan and electoral considerations. Governor Mbah has become a reference point for focused leadership and responsible mandate delivery thereby justifying the confidence reposed in him by the people.
Starting from the fulfilment of his Mount-Everest-sized promise of providing pipe-borne water to Enugu, the Enugu State helmsman set about the uplift of road and transportation infrastructure even as he revolutionized the provision of qualitative education in the state through his wave-making Smart Schools initiatives.
While all those programmes were unfolding, Mbah crisscrossed many European countries, where his private sector experience came in handy to draw down on some Foreign Direct Investments., the latest of which is the $100million facility from a consortium of Austrian investors to fund the metered reticulation of potable water to various homes in Enugu metropolis and other major urban cities in the state.
In his inimitable quiet approach to superlative project deliveries, Governor Mbah has been developing a new Enugu capital city, which he assured will rival any modern city in advanced countries in terms of its forward-looking climate sustainability provisions. But, as the Mbah administration readies Enugu State for a transition to a new Coal City capital, many abandoned projects are being put back to life.
One of such lofty projects that have received a fresh injection of funds and activity is the iconic Enugu International Conference Centre. Originally designed as a centrally located public facility for conferences some 25 years ago by the administration of Dr. Chimaroke Nnamani, the current administration of Governor Mbah has remodelled the sprawling structure to include a five-star hotel and a shopping mall called Tomorrow-is-Here Mall.
On a recent visit to the state capital, I noticed that work on the project had reached 100 percent completion stage. Could it be that President Tinubu’s visit for the project commissioning has been programmed to market the feat to the international audience? The buzz in town was that the President was also coming to see how far his former neighbour (Dr. Mbah’s firm, the Pinnacle Oil and Gas Limited has its prestigious headquarters in Ikoyi, where the President also resides) is driving development in Enugu State.
Although there was no direct allusion to President Tinubu’s visit, Governor Mbah had in his New Year message disclosed to Enugu people that “in a few days’ time, we will witness the formal commissioning of some major capital projects.”
Some of the projects primed for commissioning according to the Governor include the completed Smart Green Schools; International Conference Centre; Primary Healthcare Centres; several kilometers of urban and rural roads and Bus Terminals.
Governor Mbah had described the eye-popping projects as “just a minuscule representation of our larger vision for Enugu State.” However, talking about the visionary educational turnaround mix of quality and accessibility, the governor stated: “This year, the doors of our Smart Schools will open across the entire state, bringing almost in a literal sense a world of opportunities to our children’s classrooms.
“Through our fully functional Smart Schools, we have caught glimpses of the wholesome transformation that children will experience when exposed to a range of practical and impactful learning.
“We can only marvel at the likely impact, as more students are brought into the pool that guarantees an education that is fit-for-purpose, and a skill set that sufficiently prepares them for the evolving global workplace.
“So, by September, every child from age 3 – 15 in each of our Smart Schools will have access to world-class free education – complemented with a free nourishing meal daily.”
No matter how hard Governor Mbah tries to downplay the political element from his governance style and focused project delivery, his achievements are enough to make him a beautiful bride when the scheming for the 2027 general elections begins.
But, despite Mbah’s superlative mandate delivery, Enugu State’s distracting and destructive opposition continues to busy themselves winking in the dark on how to dim the emerging beauty of Enugu State. It would be interesting to see how these forces of opposition would be dealt with when they line up against the moving train.
This seeming tone of impending contest and speculation may have informed the governor’s decision to assure residents that his administration was not planning to lower speed as it approaches the mid-term of his first four-year tenure.
It is usual for elected representatives, especially first-term state governors, to use the second half of their mandate to oil the machineries for their re-election politics. But, allaying any fears that he intends to travel that route, Governor Mbah in his New Year address remarked that the engine of development will continue its steady and committed run.
“We went through 2024 with the spritely dash of a sprint runner. 2025 will be no different. There would be no slowing down to catch our breath because our strong resolve to transform Enugu State has imbued us with the endurance of a marathon runner.
“The high expectations that have arisen as a result of the successes of the outgoing year are understandable. We cannot afford to temper your expectations with excuses, or by lowering our deliverables.
“So, as we behold the dawn of a New Year, we can be rest assured that there will be no tapering down on the social and economic re-engineering we have set off across Enugu State,” he announced.
No matter how the politicians and citizens may interpret it, President Tinubu’s visit to the Coal City State held some far-reaching socio-political implications for the PDP administration of Dr. Peter Mbah and Enugu State.
Whether Mbah is being wooed to join APC as being speculated or not, President Tinubu’s visit to the state represents an indirect endorsement of the governor’s prodigious achievements in project conception and implementation as well as his prudential allocation and management of funds. The President, himself a former governor, noted that more money has been going into state coffers, stressing that state governors have no excuse not to deliver.
But, truth be told, ever since he declared his administration’s vision of growing the Enugu State economy from its modest $4.4billion to an ambitious $30billion, Governor Mbah has not looked back even though critics argue that the devalued naira puts a question to the real value of the perceived growth.
All said, it might as well be that with the nature and quantum of projects already delivered by his administration, Governor Mbah ranks head and shoulders above his class of 2023 Governors.
President Tinubu alluded to this prominence when he noted that Mbah is a private sector person and expressed the desire for more private sector people to join politics. The President added that Governor Mbah has shown that the Federal Government and sub-nationals can do things together by justifying the huge inflow to states by the projects undertaken by his administration in the last 18 months.
While cutting the tape at the Command and Control Centre, the President praised the Enugu State governor for performing excellently, stressing that commerce is cowardly and will always run away when there is trouble.
Recall that when the Vice President, Senator Kashim Shettima, led the governors on a New Year homage to the President, Tinubu had challenged the state chief executives to forge formidable collaboration with the Federal Government to address the nation’s pressing socio-political challenges.
While urging the governors to do more in the area of agricultural productivity for the country to achieve food security, he assured them that the local government autonomy was not an attempt to divest their constitutional right of oversight.
The President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Mr. Bayo Onanuga, had disclosed in a statement that the President told the governors that they remain “the most important link to Nigeria’s prosperity and development.”
That President Tinubu chose to visit Enugu State after that confidence building meeting in Lagos could be a reflection of the veracity of claims in some quarters that Governor Peter Mbah’s policy and project choices, especially in Progressive Tax System, Agriculture, Education and Local Government autonomy align with the President’s Renewed Hope Agenda for Nigeria.
Whatever be the political interpretation of Mbah’s developmental strides, one indubitable fact is that Enugu people are the winners.
• Prof. Ujam, Dean, School of General Studies, writes from University of Nigeria, Nsukka