By Mecha Udo
Legacy projects assumed various meanings and connotations under the last administration in Abia state. In some instances it meant projects that were imagined by the Governor that were subsequently transcribed by technical drawing experts and published in the media as real projects executed by that administration. Other times it referred to the practice of the distribution of state resources amongst members of the former Governor’s immediate family members under various guises; and yet at other times it meant the total absence of any meaningful form of governance whatsoever. That administration spent hundreds of millions if not billions of our money, attempting to launder a disgraceful and unenviable image it created for itself. The media smiled to the bank, the people were left downcast, desolate and hopeless while the state decayed, but no one was fooled by their propaganda. Even the propagandists knew they were only striving to earn a living no matter how ignoble. History has recorded Chief T.A Orji as the worst form of catastrophe that ever visited any state in our country. He is also recorded as the lowest performer amongst the last term of Governors, and curiously also most shameless.
In a desperate bid to cover this untidy records, he dared all, conjured all, and manipulated every structure and institution within his reach and powers in order to install a successor that would perfume the putrid odor oozing from his backside. To the chagrin of all well-meaning Abians, some institutions of high repute provided the cover under which this miscarriage of justice and unbridled electoral heist was foisted on Abians. Today Abia has a surrogate of T.A. Orji as successor Governor.
Given the abysmal level of T.A’s performance, Abians were still hopeful that no other man was capable of such ineptitude, profligacy and insensitivity as exhibited by T.A. Orji. We therefore imagined that things would be a notch better under Governor Okezie Ikpeazu. After watching and waiting for one full year, it seems that the only thing that has changed is the face of the Governor. All the warts and tendencies of T.A.Orji complete with his coterie of court jesters, cheer leaders and hangers on remain. The senseless profligacy has continued with the governor said to have spent over a billion Naira on armored cars for himself alone. The collection of about ten percent of the state revenue as security vote is said to have continued. The practice of paying protection fee to a few elders of the state has also been retained. These shameless elders are paid to look the other way while the state is being plundered and allowed to decay on all fronts. The activities of the state government are shrouded in secrecy as no one is told what comes in as revenue to the state nor does the government communicate its expenditure of the people’s resources to the people themselves. Teachers remain unpaid for several months, pensioners are left to die in penury from the denial of their pensions after serving the state meritoriously, the infrastructure continue to decay and no new ones are being built. Yet the government could afford the expenditure of almost a hundred and fifty million Naira on media publicity celebrating its one year in office without showcasing any meaningful project that it is embarking upon in the state.
When as the incoming Governor then, Dr. Okezie basically drove from his inauguration to commission the rehabilitation of roads in Aba, some of us knew instantly that that was a dangerous signal. It was glaring that there had been no competitive bidding exercises for the awards of the said contracts, the contractors were not known to the public, there was no state executive council in place at that time to consider the merit of such contracts. Necessary technical studies were not conducted and there were no engineering reports to work with. It was obvious that the whole process was a charade. Having been retained by the Supreme Court, those phantom contracts have since been abandoned, the unpaid contractors roam government offices cursing their luck for allowing themselves to be so used. Abia has remained the most backward state in Nigeria today contributing two of the four dirtiest cities in Nigeria. We do not have any other big cities other than Aba and Umuahia otherwise we may have contributed more.
The present economic recession, and the uncertain political climate in the country have compelled proactive governments to rethink the way that they run their businesses. New initiatives are being introduced to create some level of diversified streams of income in these states. A new dawn of innovation, pragmatism and financial discipline have all come into play in the affairs of these states. But not Abia, the state is carrying on with the same old methods that put it in the mess that it is at the moment, using the same characters that orchestrated the downfall of the state in the first place.
One year has lapsed and the Governor seems absent from his duty post, there are three more years, more than half of his tenor left; there are therefore opportunities for improved performance. And if this Governor wants to write his name on anything in Abia, he must come to himself, be his own man, rejig the processes of governance in the state, embrace transparency as governance is about the people and its actions cannot be kept away from the same people it exists to serve. Government must create room for technically competent persons and do away with the crop of leeches and thugs hanging around serious government offices. Government must introduce and insist on international best practices in all affairs and aspects of governance. Governance must be seen as serious business in the state as we can no longer afford any further slide into obscurity while other states are surging forward. Abia needs an urgent economic, structural and organizational surgical operation if it is to be revived. Nobody believed the lame propaganda of the past administration and nobody believes the current exercise; it is a waste of time and scarce resources. When there are landmark achievements, the media (newshound) will come knocking by themselves. We expect that going forward the people will have something to celebrate and the media would also have some real substance to report.
Abians themselves cannot afford to wait for Okezie to turn into a tyrant like T.A. Orji did. We must rise and demand good governance from him. We must start from those who represent us at the state House of Assembly; they owe us report/scorecards of their representation. By putting our elected members on their toes we save them from toeing the path of infamy that others before them have trod. We must make demands of them and be in a position to measure their service delivery quotients as well. We will do all of these as Abians; an Ngwa man waddles through the same puddle that the old Bende man waddles through in Aba. The effects of bad governance do not discriminate according to local governments of origin; they visit all of us equally. There should be no segregation amongst us as such internal divisions ridicule us in the eyes of others who see us as one.
For over a decade the people of Abia state have been denied the opportunity of electing their representatives at the third tier of government; the local government. Governance at that most crucial and critical level has therefore become totally non-existent and all the revenue accruing to that tier of government cannot be accounted for by those who have been collecting them. Local Government Chairmen and Councilors constitutionally are to be elected by the people and not appointed by the Governor. These appointees by whatever name called have no place in our constitution as it contravenes section 7 of the 1999 Constitution which recognizes only democratically elected persons to head the councils. The situation of the Governor usurping the people’s right has led to high level political sycophancy and alienated the people from a system that is closest to them and can be seen as belonging to them the most. It is our duty to demand for a return to constitutionality by insisting on the conduct of local government elections to elect our own local representatives. After all the President of the Federal Republic did not appoint the governors, they were elected. We should therefore henceforth reject the Governor’ appointees into these offices as such appointments are illegal. We must also begin to elect our representatives on the basis of past recorded performances, character, integrity, uprightness and a predisposition and willingness to serve the people and not expect to be served.
It is the height of embarrassment to say we cannot compare Abia, with Akwa Ibom or Rivers states as we are wont to say these days because from the beginning it was not so. The quality of leadership available to a state determines to a large extent how far the state can go, much more than revenue collectable or received can. We have been undone by extremely reckless, callous and unbelievably irresponsible leaders and we must begin to reverse that trend. Abia state still has the potential to be great. The people will contribute to that greatness by compelling those occupying elective positions to live up to the calling of their offices and expectations of the people; or otherwise face rejection at the polls. We must also work to have our choices at elections prevail over the imposed choices of a few godless godfathers, that way our interests are protected instead of the interest of the few that chose them, as the case is today. The time to recover Abia has to start now, and Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu should lead the lines; an attempt to continue with the ignominious legacies of T.A. Orji will only lead to cataclysms of indeterminable proportions to the state.