| Obi: Promises delivered
By CAMSTRADE UGOJIOFOR
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
One thing we can say about him is that he is enterprising
and hardworking, which saw him become an international businessman.
Quite comfortable, it was surprising that he opted to swim
in the murky waters of politics.
Even at a time he appeared drowned, he did not lose hope.
When it appeared he would never recover his mandate on account
of political intrigues and what we may call Nigerian factor,
he did not despair. To cut the long, pathetic story short,
through heroic, forensic struggle, he became governor of Anambra
State.
I was one of the writers who said that his predecessor, Dr.
Chris Ngige had set a high jump for him, which needed tripled
efforts to surpass. We charge him, generally, to start doing
those things he continued to say that he would do. Even when
everybody appeared to be swayed by Ngige’s commendable
efforts at road construction, the man kept saying he would
surpass his records. In fact, he maintained that Ngige stole
his plans, thus he called him an impostor. He maintained that
being the master planner, that he would surely implement all
aspects of the plan and that we should not be carried away
by the antics of a man who stole merely a part of the plan.
On March 15, 2006, through court decision, Mr. Peter Obi,
the master planner, so to speak, was pronounced Governor and
was subsequently sworn in on the 17th of March. Because of
his image as a truthful and God-fearing politician/Nigerian
who will not cut deals, expectations were high, very high.
Even when the man was yet to receive his first allocation,
people were ahead inundating him with sundry requests, especially
to construct roads.
It is surprising that our people’s requests do not go
beyond construction of roads. Sometimes, you are left to wonder
if they do not recognize that their schools are in shambles,
their health care delivery is pathetic, their water schemes
dead, their cities dirty, etc.
It is not a rocket science neither do we even need experts
to tell us that for development worth appreciating, it must
be integral. But in Nigeria, isolated development to be is
impossible not to talk of integrated development. None of
the governments we have had in the past was bothered with
any form of development. In fairness to Dr. Chris Ngige, he
opened a new vitsa on development. Ngige aggressively constructed
roads to the admiration of the people. Even if Mr. Peter Obi
constructs all the roads in Anambra today, it cannot reduce
the fact that Ngige did his best on road construction and
his best hit pass mark.
Because of Ngige’s exploits, Ndi Anambra looked forward
to road construction as what governance is about, you do not
blame them. Have you seen a terribly hungry man before, the
type of hunger that made the biblical prodigal son to eat
swine food? Such a hungry man, if you mistakenly give him
some crumbs, you will instantly become his saviour because
he will certainly mistake the crumbs for full meals. Our people
mistook just building of road for development.
However, since Mr. Peter Obi also strongly promised to build
roads, in a manner of speaking, our people are right. I remember
I joined them in demanding that roads be constructed. In fact,
it took a lot of explanation for me to understand where Obi
is going. My understanding was strengthened when I read “Our
First 100 Days” documents, which offer the overview
of his government.
At different fora, in reaction to those clarmouring that roads
be built, he assured that he would surpass Ngige’s records.
He explained the delay on the fact of the rainy season. “My
dear Ndi Anambra, just wait for the rains to stop and you
will see massive construction of roads on a level you have
not seen before”. Come to think of it, the governor
appeared truthful, because you and I know that roads are not
constructed in Nigeria during rainy seasons.
As if to end all argument on this, on Tuesday, September 26,
the government of Anambra, as the rain is in its last moments,
awarded a total of two-inter town roads and twenty-four urban
roads. Inter town: Awka, Nibo, Nise, Enugwu-Ukwu, and Awkuzu,
Anambra State University of Technology, Igbariam – Village
2 Market, Igbariam Road with Spur to Local Government Headquarters,
Achalla. Onitsha urban roads: Modebe Ave, Menax road, Ogbo
Avenue, Sokoto Road, Creek Road, Uga Street, Niger Street,
Haruna Street, Oraifite Street, Nottidge Street, Awka Road,
Old Market Road, New Market Road Ugwunabamkpa Road, Living
Christ Mission Road, Old Enugu Road, Bent Lane, New Nkissi
Road, Egerton Road, Park Road, Niger Drive, Ogbutuluenyi Road
and New Cemetry Road.
Like he promised, this is the singular most far-reaching road
contract awards we have witnessed in Nigeria. If the contract
goes on as expected, that will be a major boost to Onitsha
city and Anambra State at large.
Over the years, Onitsha, housing the biggest market in West
Africa, has been losing patronage because of insecurity, the
menace of hoodlums and lack of good road net work. With the
restoration of security through the recent chasing away of
hoodlums and the beginning of massive construction of roads,
we are convinced that Obi knows where he is going.
One of the greatest threats to Onitsha, which often causes
damage to roads is its perennial flooding, caused by the poor
state of the town’s two major drainage – Sacamori
and Nwangene. It is gathered that the state government is
making frantic efforts to clear those drainages, which will
cost something in the region of four billion naira.
Like most of the things we doubted his ability to do, I am
also doubting the capacity of the government to clear the
drains, knowing the level of work it requires. But Obi who
has been surprising everybody may and has proved that he has
infinite capacity to pull surprises.
Obi, as demonstrated, is a fervent believer in integrated
development. If you have visited Onitsha lately, you will
observe that he is vigorously cleaning Onitsha of mountain
of refuse, on a scale that has never been done before. It
is almost the ninth wonder of the country that he has been
able to clear the refuse at creek road.
Onitsha is dirty, but he has promised to make it clean by
the end of the year. With the level of what has already been
done in Onitsha, we can confidently say that this is a clear
case of another promise fulfilled. What we ask is the sustenance
of all this; Onitsha is not a home for pigs, but for human
beings and must be treated as such.
With the efforts to get some of our hospitals accredited,
some of our schools equipped with laboratories, the mechanism
of our Internally Generated Revenue overhauled, our industries
resuscitated, etc, one can confidently shout from the roof
tops that it is a case of several promises delivered or on
the verge of being delivered.
•Ugojiofor writes from Ogidi, Anambra State.
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