After a harrowing one year in office, characterised by political fireworks occasioned by many court cases and sharp drop in the federal allocation to the state, Governor Okezie Ikpeazu has continued to soldier on. With federal allocation that slumped to its current N1.8billion from the height of N4billion plus, the governor is still determined to redeem his promises to the Abia people. In this chat with ZEBULON AGOMUO last Wednesday in Lagos, Godwin Adindu, the immediate past chief press secretary to the governor, gave Ikpeazu’s scorecard in one year. Excerpts:
The nation’s economy is going south which has affected almost all the states of the federation. May we know how Abia is surviving?
Thank you. It is really a difficult period. But I must tell you that the downturn has not deterred Governor Okezie Ikpeazu. Rather, in the face of the continuous slide in the federal allocation that is affecting all the states in the federation, he has given assurances that the state would soon become economically prosperous such that the dwindling federal allocation would not have adverse impact on its operations. The state has worked seriously in the last one year to develop the key enablers that would form the mainstay while the federal allocation would come as an additional support. The governor has emphasised on the areas where the state has comparative advantage such as agriculture, commerce and trade, craftsmanship and human capital development.
He has deployed prudence and judicious management skills to achieve so much in the first one year, particularly in the area of infrastructural development. This has taken a greater share of the governor’s attention in the last one year and this is happening at a time when our federal allocation has come down from about N4billion to N1.8 billion, while our wage bill is about N3billion.
What strategy has helped the state to weather the storms?
The strategy has been to create the enabling environment and then develop the sectors that would boost and sustain the Abia economy such that very soon Abia would no more be completely dependent on the cheque from Abuja. The government has embarked on some strategic development programmes with its eyes set in the distant future. These include the Obiaku City Port in Ukwa East, which was initiated to link Aba to the sea and provide a great boost to Aba as the commercial hub of the southeast, as well as the market development programme aimed at revamping the markets as strong Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) base for the state.
One strategy was to separate the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. Now, we have the Ministry of Commerce as well as Ministry of Trade and Investment, with the latter focusing on market development and Small and Medium Scale Enterprises.
What is the administration doing about the roads in the state?
The state government has actively constructed 66 roads across the three geopolitical zones of the state with 27 fully commissioned. Governor Ikpeazu had to deploy the high cost-intensive cement/rigid technology on five roads in Aba to sustain their load bearing capacity and maintain quality. Some of the roads were commissioned in Aba by former President Olusegun Obasanjo. There are plans between Abia State and its neighbour, Akwa Ibom to jointly rehabilitate the shared federal roads.
The state is known for its artisanal excellence. Aba, in particular, is known for that; what has happened in the last one year in this regard? We would also like to know the effort being made to revive moribund industries in the state?
The government has led a campaign for the development of the artisanship ingenuity in Aba and the standardisation of made-in-Aba products, which climaxed with a business summit in Aba and the “Made-in-Aba Trade Fair” in Abuja. We take the Made-in-Aba concept seriously. The artisans were sponsored to Turkey to understudy the processes that would make them manufacture good quality products that are enduring. Shoes made in Aba can be sold in shops in the United Kingdom, the United States and other western countries where Nigerians were fond of acquiring such products.
The government has also devoted attention to the revitalisation of two moribund industries – Golden Guinea Breweries in Umuahia and the International Glass Industry in Aba. While the Aba Company has commenced production of bottles for pharmaceutical companies, the Umuahia beer company would start operation soon.
Before the election, the governor had a blueprint on how to revolutionise agriculture in the state. What is new now?
Like I mentioned earlier, Agriculture is one area where the state has comparative advantage right from the time of the regional government when the Dr. Michael Okpara administration established several farm settlements in the areas now known as Abia State.
The state launched the ‘Return to Farming and ‘Women in Fish Farming’ initiative with the objective of empowering the youth and women by setting up farming cooperatives which will help drive key government policy as regards agriculture. The government, through the initiative, will make land, finance and training accessible to farmers. The vision is to explore the agric-economy as a support base for the state economy. To show that the government is committed to agricultural revolution, government had mandated every state government official to own and operate farm land. I want to assure you that Abians will no longer have need for imported food in the near future. The governor himself no longer eat imported rice, he now eats locally produced rice; the typical Abakaliki rice.
The state government was also sourcing N1billion loan for agricultural revolution from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), which would be disbursed purely to genuine farmers and not for political patronage. The project is connected to the state integrated infrastructural development project aimed at bringing donor agencies and development partners to assist in the development of the state.
Education is a critical sector; may we know what the Ikpeazu administration has done in that area?
Yes, the state government has embarked on a large-scale programme of renovation of dilapidated primary school buildings in the state. This is being executed with the funds accessed from Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), as well as the Friends of Abia School Adoption Initiative (FASAI) through which the government was attending to the infrastructural challenges of both secondary and primary schools in the state. Government also resuscitated three moribund technical schools in the state to run skills acquisition programme. Under its Universal Basic Education Provisions, the state government has also launched a pilot arrangement to feed 30,000 primary school pupils three times in a week in 10 local council areas. Pupils are being fed on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
Some years ago, the security situation of Abia was pathetic. Kidnapping was the order of the day and there were also other sundry crimes in the state. What is the situation now?
I must tell you right away that the state government has worked effectively with the security agencies to maintain law and order. As we speak now, the state enjoys relative peace s compared to what obtains in some other areas of the country. You know some of these things are direct consequence of youth unemployment. So, Governor Okezie Ikpeazu administration has set up a programme to aid youth empowerment. Government has established two agencies where over 300 Abia youths have been gainfully employed. These are the Traffic Management Agency and the Public Infrastructure Management Agency.
Government has also established the Abia State Rural Infrastructure Development Initiative (ASTRIDE) to provide at least one project in each of the 184 wards of the state. The idea is to close the gap of infrastructural development in the rural areas. The infrastructural development programme include the revitalisation of 52 water schemes and installation of streetlights along the roads in Umuahia, Aba and Ohafia and the powering of the new Government House and new workers’ secretariat premises with solar energy and zero tolerance for pothole on the state’s roads.
ZEBULON AGOMUO
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