Ochendo’s Award by Independent Newspapers
As blessed as the Nigerian state has been, not a few have continued
to wonder why there should be a very high preponderance of abject penury
amongst her citizens. In a situation where there is abundance of
natural and material resources yet the people suffer the worst form of
material poverty, it becomes inevitably conclusive that the leadership
of such a polity either lacks required competence or is polluted by
steam of corruption.
There is no gain saying the obvious that Nigeria is one of the most
blessed countries of the world. Almost all the mineral resources that
could turn a country rich are deposited in very large quantities in our
dear country. Our soil is one of the most fertile on this planet Earth.
The country has one of the most clement weather, very capable of driving
and sustaining agricultural advancement that could guarantee the
citizens’ self-sustenance. Nigerian intellectuals have consistently
proved their mettle beyond the boundaries of their father-land. Yet at
home, Nigerians continue to bemoan their misery. This development, that
is hunger in the midst of plenty, has invariably made Nigerians cynics
and pessimists. They have, for many years, if not decades, lost
confidence in their leaders. So, anytime they hear that a leader has
been given an award, they spontaneously infer that the award is an
aftermath of a cash and carry negotiation. Of course, in very many
cases, they are right. But as would be expected, nature cannot be so
unfair to humanity to the extent that in a country of more than one
hundred and forty million people, no one would be singled out as being
altruistic and genuine. When such a person is identified and honoured,
it becomes imperative that time-held pessimism should give way to
optimism.
The recent award of ‘Man of the Year 2012’ on Governor Theodore
Ahamefula Orji of Abia State by Independent Newspapers, is a development
that surely guarantees optimism. It is an award that commands
justification in all its ramifications. To begin with, the choice by the
Newspaper Organization of the trio of Governor Theodore Ahamefula Orji,
Alhaji Aliko Dangote; G.C.O.N, and Mrs. Ifueko Omoigui Okauru; M.F.R,
cannot but be commended as choice diligently and impeccably arrived at.
Their credentials tower above doubt. In Abia State where Chief T. A.
Orji presides as the democratic head, it has to be recalled that before
his emergence in 2007, the State was at sixes and sevens. The former
governor had imposed a family hegemony on the state, with the result
that majority of the stakeholders had fallen apart with him and his
mother. Since the former governor was hell-bent on converting the wealth
of the state to his personal cum family enterprise, it became
inevitable that the stakeholders would fight in resistance to the
ex-governor’s avarice. Hence, the state was torn apart in turmoil. The
state, therefore, was at war with itself.
As would be expected, the people of the State became the casualties.
This was the situation when Governor Orji arrived the scene. Being a
quintessential administrator and technocrat, he quickly told himself
that a kingdom divided against itself never prospers. The first thing
the Governor did was to embark on a very honest programme of
reconciliation and harmonization. Today, stakeholders in the state speak
with one voice. Hence there is harmony and peace in Abia State.
The impunity with which the people of the state were
mal-administered, exploited and overtly segregated and discriminated
against had given rise to disappointment, discontent and disillusionment
amongst the youths of the state, especially those of them from the old
Aba Division who were the main target of the previous administration’s
exploitative and discriminatory policies.
Before Chief T. A. Orji could mount the saddle, the foundation for
lawlessness and criminality of a brutal order had been laid. Armed
robbery and kidnapping menacingly confronted him for a long period of
his first tenure. The fact that the former governor, whose record of
inexplicable antagonism and confrontation against the federal government
was an open secret, insisted on tele-guiding the affairs of the state
during Governor T. A. Orji’s first tenure, did not, in any way, help
matters. However, Chief Orji adopted diplomacy and sagacity to pull the
state out of the wood. As a first step, he had to reintegrate the state
into Nigeria’s main stream politics by rejoining the nationally ruling
People’s Democratic Party. By this singular act, Abia was no more a
pariah state. Being in the main stream of Nigeria’s politics, Ochendo,
as he is fondly called, became well emboldened to fight the menace of
kidnapping and other vices in the state. Today, kidnapping and armed
robbery have been confined to the dust bin of Abia history. The state
now ranks as one of the most secured in the Nigerian federation.
Before the ascension of Chief Orji as Governor of God’s own state,
state-induced criminality had taken a toll on the pipeline of Pipeline
Products’ Marketing Company that channels petroleum products from
Alesa-Eleme in Rivers State to the Nigerian National Petroleum
Corporation’s depot at Aba. The consequence of that act of criminality
was the unfortunate dysfunctionality of that depot. Thousands of people
who earned their living from the depot were hopelessly thrown into the
world of unemployment. The collapse of the depot aggravated the security
situation of the state. Again, to the Glory of God, Ochendo rose up to
the challenge and worked tirelessly in effectively co-ordinated synergy
with the Presidency to resuscitate the depot. He has also been
unrelenting in his fight against pipeline vandalization and illegal oil
bunkering. As at present, that depot has given succour to more than ten
thousand persons who, directly or indirectly, earn their living from it.
No government that is a true product of democracy would ever joke
with the health and welfare of her citizens. In this regard, it is
interesting to know that the administration of Chief Orji has excelled
in the area of health. Every person in Abia State has uninhibited access
to medicare, that is equally affordable.
True to his electioneering promise, Ochendo has been running a
tuition-free primary and secondary education policy in the state. His
government has, so far, sustained four tertiary institutions in the
state; Abia State University, Uturu, Abia State Polytechnic, Aba, Abia
State College of Education Technical, Arochukwu and College of Health,
Aba.
The state capital, Umuahia, was like a glorified local government
headquarters before the emergence of Governor Orji. But as I write,
Umuahia has been transformed into a befitting status of a state capital.
A four-storey civil service secretariat has been built by the
administration of Chief Orji. An international conference centre has
almost been completed. For the twenty-two years existence of Abia State,
the Government House has been in the negotiated private residence of
the Late Air Commodore Emeka Omeruah. But Ochendo, being a progressive,
has thought it otherwise. Solid architectural structures are severally
springing up in the Ogurube layout to house the government of Abia
State.
Agriculture that did not receive any quantifiable attention from
previous administrations in the state, has now become an irresistible
point of attraction in the state. The state government has successfully
motivated Abians to go back to the land.
It is known the world over that governments are not the highest
employers of labour. What a government does is to create enabling
environment for people to make their living legitimately. In Abia State,
Governor T. A. Orji has created the much-needed environment through
roads and public utility. Besides what his administration has done in
the above areas, he has outstandingly empowered Abia youths with
vehicles, skill acquisition and various forms of pecuniary support.
Previously, Abia State Executive Councils were characterized by
suspicion and instability. Commissioners were appointed and fired within
a period not exceeding nine months and, ofcourse, with impunity. It was
not only that commissioners were thrown out intermittently, but any
time the Executive Council was dissolved, members who served in the
council would be given a blanket condemnation, either as being
fraudulent or incompetent. Hardly did any person who had served as a
commissioner in the previous administration leave with his or her
dignity and honour intact. During the same period, the relationship
between the Governor and his deputy was always like that between a cat
and a dog. There was never love lost. But in the case of Ochendo, the
relationship between his deputy and he has remained unprecedentedly
cordial and mutual. The commissioners he appointed worked in an
atmosphere of peace, equanimity and freedom of conscience. When he
considered it necessary to dissolve his cabinet on 15th May,
2013, he invited members of the council and, like a compassionate father
that he is, took time to explain to them why he had to dissolve the
executive council. Ochendo spoke as if he was under obligation to
explain his decision to persons who ordinarily should be regarded as
mere appointees or even labourers. At that valedictory cabinet session,
every member of the cabinet had a sense of belonging arising from the
humility and sincerity of their boss.
Ochendo has a burning passion to turn the fortunes of Abia State
around. He has constantly depicted discipline, vision, equity, justice
and transparency in all his enterprise. Not minding the financial
predicaments of the State, Ochendo has consistently resisted the
temptation of going to the Bond market to borrow. Ochendo does not
concern himself only to what happens to Abia State that he now governs,
but extensively believes in the welfare of the state, even when he would
have constitutionally ceased to be her governor.
Mention should also be made that Ochendo is an outstanding adherent
of constitutional democracy. This accounts for the total absence of
conflict between the three constitutional arms of government in Abia
State. As a gentle man born and bred in a family which head was a
first-class warrant chief of the colonial epoch; a man that built the
first storey building in the present Umuahia urban, Governor T. A. Orji
has natural respect for the culture and custodians of his people’s
culture and tradition. This is why traditional rulers in the state are
treated with unqualified respect both by government and people of the
State. Ochendo’s administration has dignified many traditional rulers
with befitting cars, just to enhance their status as traditional rulers.
Acting differently from the insensitivity of the previous
administration in the State, Governor T. A. Orji established Abia State
Oil-Producing Development Commission, devoting thirty percent of the
thirteen percent of oil derivation fund from the federation account to
carter for development needs of oil-producing areas of the state. His
administration has also bought Jeeps to all traditional rulers in
Ukwa-West, which is the oil-producing local government area of the
state. In addition, Ochendo has brought Shell Petroleum Development
Company, S.P.D.C; closer to oil-producing communities of the State. To
this effect, S.P.D.C. has signed a Global Memorandum of Understanding,
G.M.o.U, with oil-producing clusters in the state. The company recently
held a business round table with stakeholders in the state and
arrangements are in top gear for her to partner with the office of Her
Excellency, the wife of the Governor, to run a training and empowerment
programme for the physically challenged in the State.
The passion and dreams of His Excellency, the Governor, are, no
doubt, shared by his debonair and decorous wife, Lady Mercy Odochi Orji,
admirably called Osinulomaranma. ‘Osinulo’ has been
exceptionally wonderful in her show of magnanimity in the training and
empowerment of Abia young men and women. She has continuously used her
Non-Governmental Organization, Hannah-May Foundation, to build houses
for widows and the less privileged in the three senatorial zones of the
State. Ochendo has a peaceful and stable family. Hence every person in
his family, including his first son; Engr. Chinedu Orji; Ikuku, is
evidently committed to the project; Abia.
Abia State is God’s-Own State. When it was almost turned
into goon’s-own State, the people wept, lamented and
called on God to bring to them a liberator. God mercifully heard their
prayers and sent them Chief T. A. Orji. Under his administration, Abia
State has reclaimed its appellation and status of God’s-Own State.
Ochendo has rededicated the State to God. Instead of going to juju
shrines in Okija, as was the case previously, the government and people
of Abia State now frequent and patronize the temples of God in the
various churches in the State.
In realization of the immense contributions made by the people of
Abia State for the State Government to achieve what it has, so far,
achieved, Governor T. A. Orji humbly dedicated the award by the
Independent Newspapers to the people of Abia State. This is an award
well deserved and the people are happy for it. They are appreciative of
the selective mechanism of the Independent Newspapers. To God be the
glory!
