When Ikpeazu, during the electioneering towards the March/April general elections promised that he would hit the ground running if given the mandate to be governor, not a few people thought that it was the common refrain of politicians seeking votes. But with what the people of Abia State have witnessed in the last six days, nobody was put in doubt that the governor is walking the talk.
Ikpeazu, from the first day in office has exhibited rare commitment in governance, the attitude that sends out clear signal that he is around for a serious business of governance. However, to some people who are familiar with Ikpeazu, they would have been disappointed if he has put up less performance with his 14 years cognate experience in office.
The first indication that showed that Ikpeazu would not tolerate the common refrain, ‘business as usual’ manifested when he set a very uncomfortable example by cutting his salary by half, a move that convinced the people the more that he is set to run a very prudent government that gives no room for wastage and political frivolities. In furtherance to that, during a few trips he has embarked as demanded by his new role as chief Executive of the state, the governor exhibited a high sense of discipline by travelling with just three aides. He also cuts significantly, the cost of foreign trips by government officials, including himself.
Along that line, Ikpeazu has set up a body, Integrated Payroll Ver­ification System (IPVS) for staff auditing with a view to knowing the actual strength of the state workers as well as weeding out ghost workers from the system. And more interestingly, the gov­ernor has also promised to ensure the payment of salaries every 24th day of each month.
More heartwarming is the commencement of cleaning up of the silted Aba drainage. And since it is obvious that Ikpeazu’s government is determined in this task, he will need the support, understanding and cooperation of his people in Aba to succeed. It is no gainsaying that once government is able to get Aba right, then, Abia state as a whole would be right and on course.
His efforts at raising the state’s Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), is a pointer to his commitment to make a statement with his new role in the state. That must have informed the reason he instituted an Abia State Economic Advancement Team (ASEAT), which is directly under him as the chairman, to drive the state’s economic growth. The team’s mandate is to drive the IGR of the state from an average of N350 million to N1.5billion within his first year in office.
Within 60 days in office, Ik­peazu has established the Office of Aba Urban Renewal which idea is to develop the entire state by making Aba the launch pad, and his vision is to ensure that Aba becomes the SME Capital of Nigeria. In addition to that, he has also started awarding contracts for the construction of seven roads in Aba – the com­mercial nerve centre – that would come with the full compliments of standard roads across the world with streetlights. He plans to commission them in the next six weeks to mark his first 100 days in office.
He has also instructed that the relevant tax collection agencies should stop the collection of taxes and levies so that the system can be automated and harmonized by the Economic Advancement Team.
Ikpeazu’s vision to transform the state into a centre of commerce, where business is conducted seamlessly, and in a secure and clean environment, has sufficiently taken off and soon, Abia is billed to be one of the cleanest states in Nigeria, and among the biggest contributors to the nation’s treasury by virtue of its increased IGR.
In his effort to meet the new IGR benchmark of N1.5billion, there are existing structures the new government intends to build upon which include the new Umuahia City, designed to include modern malls, recreational parks, housing estates, and an International Conference Centre capable of boosting the states revenue through tourism is amplified with the rapid rebuilding of Aba, the state is sure to wear a new look.
With a capacity of about 9,000 persons that includes a main hall, four conference halls and a banquet hall, the centre is complete with a VIP lounge, gallery, offices and a huge parking lot. Staggering revenue is expected to be generated by the Ikpeazu government from the building that would soon be hosting some of the biggest events in the country.
Before this centre in Umuahia, there were no good places to hold conferences of world class standard in the entire South-east region. The ICC, when fully functional will therefore fill the gap and be what the Calabar International Convention Centre is to Cross River.
Of course, there are yet to be tapped IGR from Aba, but as the commercial and industrial nerve centre of the state, Aba, with its plethora of small and medium scale industries, is about the only city in Nigeria with the largest concentration of cottage industries, an area he plans to explore.
This new dawn in Abia State has been acknowledged severally by local financial organisations, and international organisations such as the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
It is on record that the African Development Bank (AfDB) granted approval of a $200 million facility for the state to be used in tackling the challenges of water, sanitation and road construction.
With this fund, which Ikpeazu has assured the people would be applied on the Port Harcourt road, Aba, and other roads, the challenges of refuse dumps and deplorable roads within the city are being tackled head on. The Office of Aba Urban Renewal has earnestly commenced work on the drainage system in Aba.
On the critical issue of security, Ikpeazu is not taking chances by resting on his oars that his predecessor has subdued crimes before his assumption of office.
This, perhaps, explains why the government has immediately taken over the security of Enyimba Hotel which was reportedly bought some 20 years ago by the Aba Chambers of Commerce but later became the hiding place for criminals in the state. However, today, that has been the thing of the past.
All these administrative acumen of Ikpeazu has made investment opportunities to abound in Abia State for genuine and serious investors.
One can safely say that, by Ikpeazu’s activities, which amount to walking his talk, in a few years, Abia will start to tell a different story.
And to ensure that, Ikpeazu has done away with familiar distractions immediately he assumed office. In fact, there is a growing belief in Abia now that Ikpeazu’s election has the hand of God. He has indeed demystified governance to show that there is nothing esoteric about good and constructive governance.