AS UGWUANYI MOVES TO LION BUILDING
On May 29, history would be made in the Coal City State as the Governor-Elect; Honorable Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Gburugburu) would be taking over the mantle of leadership as the fourth Executive Governor of Enugu State. Since the state was created out of the old Anambra State on August 27, 1991 by former military President, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, it has produced several military governors or administrators, but the first executive governor to rule the state is Dr Okwesilieze Nwodo. He ruled from 1992 to 1993 before late General Sani Abacha and his fellow khaki men seized power by force.
Subsequently, at the return of democracy to Nigeria in 1999, Dr Chimaroke Ogbonna Nnamani, became the second executive governor of the state. He ruled from May 29, 1999 to May 29, 2007. The third executive governor to rule the state is Barrister Sullivan Iheanacho Chime. He started his rein from May 29, 2007 and it will end on the 29th of this month. In lieu of the foregoing, the historical journey of the Governor-Elect, Honorable Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi as the fourth executive governor of Enugu State would start from May 29, 2015 and will end on May 29, 2023.
Besides being the fourth executive governor to occupy the Government House, popularly known as the Lion Building, he is going to be the first Federal Lawmaker to rule the state as Governor. Hence, Gburugburu would be bringing his rich Legislative experience to bear in the new task Ndi Enugu has given to him.
Similarly, another vacuum the Federal Lawmaker would be filling is the completion of the triangular equilibrium in the leadership structure of the state which began in 1999. Suffix it to say that Enugu East Senatorial District which produced Dr. Nnamani has ruled the state for eight years, followed by Enugu West Senatorial District which produced Barrister Chime would be completing two terms of eight years onMay 29 this year. Hence, the last leg of the triangular equilibrium is Enugu North Senatorial District which has just produced the Governor-Elect, Honorable Ugwuanyi which by the grace of God would also complete his eight years in 2023.
By and large, Ugwuanyi's name would be placed side by side with other great leaders like Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Dr. Michael Okpara, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu and others who have ruled the Coal City in various capacities, starting from 1956 when late Alhaji Umaru Altine was elected as the first Mayor of Enugu as well as Dim Odumegwu Ojukwu who was the first Military Governor of old Eastern Region till this moment that Honorable Ugwuanyi would be the first Federal Lawmaker that would rule the state as Governor, the state have always produced leaders who made human empowerment and infrastructural developments their main priorities.
At this juncture, I want to appeal to Ndi Enugu to prone down and as well rationalize their expectations from the incoming government. This is because the Governor-Elect would be assuming power at a time the nation's economy is in a very bad shape if not in shambles; the price of our mono product—the crude oil is relatively low at the international market, the menace of insurgency in the Northeast, the poor or zero participation of Nigeria in the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) which will end this year. Others are the non practical or paper diversification of the economy and the decision by foreign investors to offload their portfolios for fear of imagined post election crisis which Jonathan's symbolic phone call staved off. All these factors put together will definitely pose a great challenge to the incoming government both at the state and at the Federal level.
Accordingly, the state Ugwuanyi would be ruling is not like Lagos State that generates about N23 billion every month as Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) because of the huge presence of multinational companies and corporate organizations there, but, Enugu is a civil service state with relatively poor IGR. So, the major funds that would be used for the implementation of Ugwuanyi's Four Points Agenda would be coming from the statutory allocation from Abuja otherwise known as the Federal Allocation. This is not to mention some deductions that would be made from the said allocation. For example, the Irrevocable Standing Payment Order (ISPO), the servicing of foreign and domestic debts among others.
Also, because of the civil service nature of the state coupled with the fact that most of the state's residence work in other states where they pay their personal income taxes to the government of the said states, but stays in the coal city with their families making the state's liabilities to be greater than its assets as one of the visible reasons the recurrent expenditures of the state are more than the capital expenditure in its yearly budgetary provisions; government affairs would not be a tea party this time around! Therefore, the essence of this piece is to water down the expectations of Ndi Enugu in line with the current economic realities in the state and across the nation. It is because of the current economic conditions that the government of Kogi State is planning to introduce austerity measure by cutting workers salary by 40 percent. This is not in any way suggesting salary cut for the incoming government; I only cited it to enrich my analysis on the subject matter.
Finally, my last appeal goes to the political class. Like the Conflict Theorists would say, the only time there is peace in any society is when the opposing forces are planning for a renewed battle. This is to say that conflict is endemic in any human society, which requires maturity of the mind and political sagacity to handle! Based on this, conflict often emanates from the struggle for power and struggle for the control of the means of production and distribution of wealth. Therefore, if government patronage doesn't get to you now, please, don't rock the boat; just exercise patient because government is like a standing fan which blows in phases. Ceteris Paribus—all things being equal.
***Comrade Edwin Uhara is a Journalist and Public Affairs Commentator based in Abuja.
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