Abia State Commissioner for Information, Bonnie Iwuoha, in this interview with Assistant Politics Editor, DANIEL KANU, speaks on some of the efforts being made by the Governor Okezie Ikpeazu administration to re-position the state in its development agenda.
How has it been in Abia State so far?
Certainly, so far so good. There is a great relief now in Aba as well as in some other parts of the state. Of course, you know that government is a continuum and government is focusing on very critical areas. If you go to Aba now, you will find out that the place has become a construction site. The roads are being given serious attention and solidly too. The type of materials that are being used for the roads are such that for a very long time, say in the next 10 years, those roads will still remain solid. You have the concrete base and the cement layer before the soil and asphalting. Again, drainage channels are being provided for on all the roads being done.
When all the things are put in place as the government plans them, Aba will wear a new look and the hue and cry of Aba residents concerning the deplorable condition of most roads will be thing of the past.
There is a revolution on development in Aba.
Again, in the area of education, the governor has introduced a scheme that is novel, and that is adopting special schools for improvement. That project has made it possible for four very indigent schools in each local government to be identified, and individuals have been encouraged to adopt those schools in terms of improving their standard, providing them with basic infrastructure, starting from the building to provision of desks, boards, books, fans including modern conveniences among other things.
In a very short period, there is going to be a total turn-around.
There is again free feeding programme that has been introduced in most of those very poor schools. Ten has been identified per local government and we have 17 local government areas. One thousand pupils drawn from each local government to be fed three times a week which means 3,000 mouths to be fed each week by the state government free of charge. When they have all these things freely available, they will be encouraged to come to school; then you see that their potentials will develop, and when they come up they become good citizens and the society will be better for it.
Even the civil servants are heaving a sigh of great relief because for some time, promotion exercises have not been carried out across the state. But now as we speak, promotion exercises are on for civil servants. All those who are qualified, who are due for promotion, are now undergoing the necessary promotion interviews to enable them get promoted.
Quite a number of things are going on in all sectors. Rural roads are being tackled. Just a few days back at the State Executive Council (SEC) meeting, approval was given for 10-kilometre earth roads to be graded between now and the end of December just to get set for Christmas. We are tackling the issue of water scheme. There are 52 of them identified. The executive council has given approval that work should commence on them, but they should be taken one after another. They have started with Uturu where we have our university.
Are there some projects that the government considers as priority?
Aba roads constitute the flagship in terms of infrastructural provision. The roads in Aba are priority projects together with education and some other sectors.
There are also roads in Umuahia which have been given facelift. There are roads in Ohafia, which is another area that has urban status that has also been worked on. The governor has great passion for the human development of the average Abian. Dr Ikpeazu is confronting the Abia challenge with finesse.
With what you have already articulated, where do you see the state in the next four years?
I see the state coming up stronger, the people getting more united. I see commerce and industry returning fully to Abia State, especially Aba. I see Aba regaining its status as the commercial nerve of Nigeria, the Japan of Africa. I see it happening because the governor has done quite a lot and he is still going to do more to encourage entrepreneurship in Aba. People don’t even understand that some of the dresses they buy in Dubai, some of the well-tailored suits they buy in London, are made in Aba. And people go over there from Nigeria to buy them at exorbitant rates. The governor wants to promote the ingenuity of the entrepreneurs in Aba. I believe that with the rehabilitation of roads in Aba, and the provision of power, once electricity becomes steady, other things will fall in line. The governor is passionate about power too. He has been talking with the distribution company to ensure that power is made steady here in Abia and environs, and if that is achieved, coupled with the infrastructure that is given facelift, business will flow again, investors will come in. The Commissioner for Industry and his team visited Aba Glass Factory, Golden Guinea Breweries and plans are on to have these industries back to life.
Now that the All Progressives Congress (APC) is controlling the centre and the PDP in opposition, is this in anyway affecting the progress of the state?
Not really, because the PDP federal government in the past did not do much for Abia State. Let’s face the fact because all the federal roads in Abia have been in deplorable condition for many years. The then PDP federal government did not do much for us here. As a matter of fact, the change in the centre has given the government a stronger impetus to render service to the people because once the people receive dividends of democracy, once they experience good governance, they won’t bother about what happens at the centre. The change at the centre will not really affect us adversely, except of course if the APC government in Abuja refuses to assist the government in Abia to access some facilities which other states are having access to.
What happened with the PDP at the centre is a kind of wake-up call to the PDP governors to ensure that they do their best to keep enjoying the support of the people to ensure that PDP comes back again. I am of the opinion that PDP, in the next few years, will bounce back because a lot of lessons have been learnt and the party is restructuring.
What effort is the government making to ensure security in the state?
So much is being done. After the change that took place, some bad boys went back to their trade. But the security agencies are up and doing. The governor has given directive to the security agencies to ensure that no criminal is allowed to operate within Abia. The governor is also empowering the security agencies to ensure that they do their jobs. The crime rate in Abia is low, and the security agencies are partnering with the state to ensure that the crime rate is brought very low to its barest minimum.
What is your comment on the move by the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) to approach the Supreme Court over the governorship election?
It is their right to go wherever they want to go. But the point is that the people of Abia spoke. And the tribunal judgment vindicated that. The people in Abia said they want to stick with the PDP. They appreciated what the PDP did to them. Because no other administration could have achieved what the government of Theodore Orji (Ochendo) did in terms of maintaining peace and tranquility in Abia. Orji laid the foundation and Dr. Ikpeazu is solidly building on it.
You worked with the previous administration and this one; is there any difference in terms of style?
Orji is a politician to the core. One must give it to him. He was also a civil servant. He knows how to go about certain things. The present governor is a technocrat. You could liken him with Fashola. Fashola told me when I was in Daily Times as Managing Editor, when he was campaigning eight years ago, that he was not a politician; that he was a technocrat. He said he was not ready to play politics; that what he wanted to do was to develop Lagos State and that he was leaving politics to Tinubu. Technocrats are not very patient with people who are not serious; they want to have things done very quick and smartly too. Ikpeazu is a technocrat and at the same time employing a measure of politics to ensure that there is measure of stability all over. The two of them share quite a lot in common. Both of them have passion for the well-being of Abia people.