The high rating of Gov Ikpeazu's administration

A national daily re­cently rated Nigerian governors in their one year in office. The paper had noted that Gov. Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto state was the highest-performing governor in Nigeria. The paper had written that ‘on assumption of office, Gov. Aminu Tambuwal declared a state emergency in educa­tion. Over 500 new teachers were in enrolled… Tam­buwal (had) requested that more corps members who studied mathematics and English language be posted to the state’ from the Direc­tor-General of the NYSC during the latter’s visit to the state …. ‘More than 2.6 billion gratuities owed re­tired civil servants between 2011 and August 2015 were paid….’

Lagos and Rivers gover­nors were next in ranking to the Sokoto state governor, while Gov Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna state was rated the most controversial of all the governors in Nigeria, con­sidering his deals ‘on issues ranging from the clash be­tween Shiite Muslims and the Army to curtailing street begging and hawking. The governor had also moved to regulate religions preaching that affects both Christians and Muslims alike that had not gone down well with the people.’

The paper rated the five governors in the South-East zone equally, where my in­terest lies so much. In the zone, two of the five gover­nors were rated highly by the assessors. These gover­nors were Dr Okezie Ikpea­zu of Abia state and Chief Dave Umahi of Ebonyi. The two governors were singled out to be the most-perform­ing and best of them all! That made me very happy, really. The paper had noted that while Chief Umahi was rated on his construction of a fly-over at Presco Rounda­bout (a popular place in Abakiliki), he was also rated for his concerns about edu­cational development of his state.

On his own part, Gov Ik­peazu had been rated on his ‘crackling with infrastruc­ture development’ as he ‘is gradually restructuring the Aba market that used to be in a shambles. He has moved the abattoir to a better place where people’s health would not be endangered…. More important are his road and drainage works in Abiriba and on Aba-Owerri Road.’ What can be better than this!

As an individual, I am not surprised at the high rating of Abia state governor, Dr Okezie Ikpeazu. Yes; I am least surprised for some rea­sons.

First, the person of Dr Ikpeazu. As a civil servant then who had come closer to him, I had noted how in­telligent, hard-working and domesticated the man was then; he had come from a home of educated, civilised and disciplined parents – a teacher and a nurse - who had raised their children (including the governor) in most Godly ways! Today, Gov Ikpeazu is good in al­most every aspect of life.

In formal educational at­tainments, he ranks with Dr Ogbonnya Onu (the first civilian governor of Abia state) as the highest-educated person to preside over the affairs of Abia state (as a Doctor of Philosophy degree holder-lecturer). Re­ally, Dr Ikpeazu had done well in Abia state as the gov­ernor, and will do more with time. Abians expect the best from him, in fact.

Before he became the governor, the road now called Mbaise Road (inside the town of Umuahia) was loathed by okada and keke riders because of numerous pot-holes. Today, this has become a part of history: the road has been patched thoroughly. In spending the bail-out funds the federal government had given to the states, Dr Ikpeazu’s govern­ments was adjudged the best in the country (alongside a few other states) in spend­ing the money judiciously; and on marking his first year in office, the governor had awarded a contract to the Arab Contractors for the re­construction of the ever-bad Railway Roundabout-Aba Road, Umuahia. The deplor­able state of this road leading to Umuahia from Ubakala was one of the reasons why Abians had rated low the last regime in the state.

Really, the high rating of Gov Ikpeazu in performance is a thing of joy for all Abi­ans. What we need to do is to rally around the governor and help him achieve more for the state. So far, so good; he has already proved to be a real leader but, as usual with all aspects of human endeavours, there are still areas that need improve­ment. One of them bothers on salaries, gratuities and pensions’ payments. His gov­ernment should go ahead to pay pensions, gratuities and salaries regularly. Since this year, many pensioners are yet to receive even one kobo in payment, including the writer!