Governor ‘Peace’ Ugwuanyi

Governor ‘Peace’ Ugwuanyi

“When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace,” Jimi Hendrix.

In truth and reality, it is rather incontrovertible that the dilemma with Nigeria as a country is our love of power (or lust of it rather): its intoxication, the wrong and unwarranted dissipation of state’s power and its eventual abuse to achieve our selfish ends.

The above expression is the mother of all the security breaches, brutality, intimidation, annoyance, coercion and all other forms of rights abuses buffeting the country in virtually, every sphere of its development.

It is therefore, the foregoing that espouses the Do-or- Die approach we display in our pursuit or quest for political power. The aforementioned is the real basis behind those disappearances of human and material resources, before, during and after elections here.

While I will try as much as I can to avoid name-calling in this piece, the Rivers State legislative re- run of 2016 where a police DSP, Alkli Mohamed and his orderly were beheaded; with five other policemen declared missing; four personnel of the NSCDC killed; with their weapons carted away and NYSC members abducted offers a better explanation into the above crisis and lust for power-imbroglio in the country.

But in the midst of this putrid state of power, Enugu state offers hope as its helmsman, Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi Typifies peace and deploys same in the day-to-day running of his administration.

The impact of this singular injection in Enugu state is unquantifiable. The result, in virtually every nook and cranny of the state is unprecedented. The consequence of this deployment is unimaginable.

But why am I in shock over the magic wand of peace in a democracy when of course it was Albert Einstein who said “peace cannot be achieved by force; it can only be achieved by understanding?” What this simply means is that the Governor’s stratagem and administrative pattern is such a horizontal version: clearly understood by the people of Enugu who in extension are partners in his developmental ideas.

An example of such policy, which can be considered alien and totally un-Nigerian but has thrown the Governor Up for praise was his introduction, last October of a policy he tagged “choose your project”, where the 17 Local Government Areas in the state were mandated to identify their priority- projects worth not less than 100 million naira for government to Execute for them – as against the top- down approach of others of his ilk; who in most cases dump unwanted projects in communities that have no need for them.

This moribund system has led to the proliferation of dilapidated and abandoned infrastructure across the country and a major reason behind those littered incomplete projects here and there.

But Governor Ugwuanyi is indifferent and detests such analogue and antiquated approach to governmental administration; hence his horizontal approach which encourages a receiver to choose what should be given to him.

The result of phase one of the Governor’s policy was massive as 35 developmental projects across the 17 local government Areas were simultaneously executed; thereby giving the impression that democracy truly belongs to the people; rural dwellers inclusive.

While the policy above might send shock into the spines of this reader, the governor was not moved. He yet again, introduced an Un- Nigerian kind of policy when he came up with “visit Every community” (VET) initiative.

Under this platform, the over 40 communities in Enugu were mandated through their various autonomous heads, to identify a project worth 10 million naira and consider it executed. Following this development, the first tranche of 5 million naira has been released by the government to these various communities, for the projects to be executed half way, before the rest of the money would be credited to them for completion of these projects.

So what’s more? I will not bore you with his strides in other areas of his footprint as captured in his four points agenda in this piece, but I am glad to announce to you thousands of Enugu youths have left Enugu streets – as we have thousands of ebullient traffic wardens across Enugu, under the payment voucher of the government, solely to ensure orderliness and smooth vehicular movement across the cosmopolitan city.

The benefit of this employment creation is drastic reduction or total eradication of operations of students’ cultism, following the increasing number of tertiary institutions in Enugu state.

I will also not want to delve into discussing his small and medium enterprises’ feats in this piece as the caption overleaf talks more about peace, as identical to the helmsman. But that too is catalytical in the reduction of joblessness among youths.

The rationales adduced above are reasons behind the peace Enugu enjoys today. It is the sole raison d’être why former Governor Chimaroke Nnamani has returned to the party he left after things fell apart between him and his Godson, Barr. Sulivan Chime, former Governor of the state as well .

As the 2019 elections’ bells toll and the State’s opposition Party, APC still bickers over federal appointments and power sharing, Governor Ugwuanyi is busy harvesting results while deploying peace as a tool in achieving unprecedented height.

To this end, the major Christian leaders in the State, Rev. Father Ejike Mbaka of Enugu Catholic diocese and Arch. Bishop of Enugu Ecclesiastical province, most Rev. Chukwuma Emmanuel have in different occasions endorsed the governor for a second term in office for a sustainable peace.

Meanwhile, having assessed what a man could achieve under peaceful atmospheric condition, using ‘peace as a tool’, does any law now bars me from tinkering with the official name of my governor, Dr. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi when I addressed him as ‘Governor Peace Ugwuanyi’?

In my thinking, I don’t think I have committed any crime whatsoever. But where such coinage has offended the sensibilities of his Excellency, Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, I therefore, humbly plead to be pardoned.

My sincere apologies to Mr. Ebere Nwabara, Sun Newspapers columnist; who last wrote an article with the caption “Governor Integrity Emmanuel.”

Gwiyi Solomon hails from Akiyi Umulokpa Autonomous community in Uzo Uwani LGA of Enugu state

He Wrote from Enugu via gwiyisolo_info@ yahoo.com