Turning Words into Deeds: A Mid-Term Appraisal of the Elechi Administration

The story of Ebonyi State is much like a modern epic. It is the story of a people’s determination to conquer the circumstances that subjugate them and take their destiny in their own hands which is incidentally the defining character of democracy.

Like Nigeria’s 4th Republic, Ebonyi State has witnessed 10 years of uninterrupted civilian administration out of which Chief Martin Nwancho Elechi has been in the saddle for 2 years. As the torch-bearer of the 39-year struggle for the creation of Ebonyi State, Chief Elechi’s assumption of the reigns of governance of the state in May 2007 has come to be regarded as a symbolic marriage of fate and providence.

With a 2-pronged blueprint anchored on infrastructural development and attitudinal change, the past 2 years represents Governor Elechi’s attempt to keep faith with his electoral promises to Ebonyi people by turning his words into deeds. A few sectoral examples will suffice.

Convinced that education remains the catalyst for development, the administration resolved to sustain the free and compulsory primary and secondary education programme inherited from the previous government. It did not stop there. In its bid to deepen the quality of education available to Ebonyi children, the Elechi administration initiated the revolutionary and forward-looking scheme of return to boarding school system. At present, 27 secondary schools spread across boarding program having been provided with requisite boarding facilities such as dormitories, refectories, staff quarters and other utilities at the cost of over N800 million.

Furthermore in the past 2 years, the State Government has committed over N330 million into the payment of examination fees for Ebonyi candidates sitting for WAEC and NECO examinations. Within the same period, the state government released the sum of N1.2 billion for the clearance of the arrears of salaries and allowances to the staff of Ebonyi State University and its teaching hospital as well as the provision of essential requirements for the accreditation of the courses of the University. This amount is different from the sum of N100 million which the state government gives to Ebonyi State University as monthly subvention.

Recently, as part of the students-friendly initiatives of the Elechi administration, the state government donated a brand new bus to the students of Akanu Ibiam Federal Polytechnic Unwana to improve transportation in the institution. Similarly, the government donated 3 brand new luxury buses to Ebonyi State University students to cushion their transport difficulties arising from the multi-campus structure of the University. The same gesture was extended to the college of Education Ikwo which got a brand new luxury bus to improve student’s transportation. That was in addition to the provision of a 350 KVA generator, the sinking of boreholes and the construction of an ultra-modern administrative complex in the College of Education, to mention but a few.

The warm sentiments of Student Union leader in Ebonyi State University, Mr. Augustine Uzim, are echoed by students across the state.

In the agricultural sector, the Elechi administration has demonstrated uncommon commitment to the maximization of the abundant agricultural endowments of Ebonyi State for food security and wealth creation. In this regard, such incentives as agricultural loans scheme, bulk-purchase and distribution of improved seeds and other crops varieties along with fertilizer subsidization, have been introduced by the administration to boost agricultural operations. Also, in order to improve the productive capacity of Ebonyi farmers through agricultural mechanization, the State Government floated a tractor hiring service with the purchase of 22 brand new tractors to complement existing ones.

Similarly, the administration shouldered the sponsorship of a contingent of Ebonyi youths for practical training in modern agricultural techniques at the Songhai Center in Benin Republic. To facilitate the self-actualization of the young entrepreneurs through commercial farming, the State Government approved a credit package of N70 million for the first batch of 25 youths who successfully completed the training in Benin Republic.

In addition to these wide-range of programs to boost agricultural productivity, the Elechi administration embarked on intensive commercial rice-cultivation in consolidated state farms across the state this year. This is geared towards using agriculture to bridge its budget deficit as well as contribute to the goal of national food security.

In the health sector, the administration has demonstrated serious responsiveness towards the improvement of the healthcare delivery system. Aware that effective health care delivery is only attainable through public-private partnership, Governor Elechi in his inaugural address to Ebonyi people in May 2007 declared his readiness to financially support young doctors who desire to establish their own hospitals especially in the rural areas. This is because great majority of the people live in the rural areas thereby making primary healthcare the first charge in healthcare delivery.

Governor Elechi’s position was endorsed by the medical community when in a meeting with the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) lamented that the bane of effective health care delivery is the neglect of primary and secondary level healthcare. Led by the then State President of NMA and currently the National Secretary of Nigerian Medical Association Dr. Kenneth Okoro-Johnson, the NMA urged Governor Elechi to accord utmost priority to primary and secondary healthcare services.

It is instructive to note that arising from his personal convictions as well as the outcome of his consultation with the NMA, Governor Elechi has taken practical steps to improve the healthcare system at the grassroots. To this end, the State government has instituted a policy of extending financial grants to grassroots-based mission hospitals to boost their operational capacity. Already, the State Government has given a total of N300 million to 6 mission hospitals in the state in 3 tranches. These are: Mater Mesericordiae Hospital Afikpo, Presbyterian Joint Hospital Uburu, Mile 4 Hospital Abakaliki, Sudan United Mission Hospital Izzi, St. Vincent Hospital, Ndubia, and Rural Improvement Mission Hospital Ikwo.

Remarkably, such financial stimulus package is already yielding the desired fruits as their capacity improvement has led to a corresponding improvement in their services to the rural dwellers. The wisdom in this exercise is that when the chips are down, a sick person is chiefly concerned about getting a cure at affordable cost and not whether the hospital signpost bears a government or private emblem.

As part of the diverse contributions of the wife of the Governor Mrs. Josephine Elechi to the overall success of the present administration, the conception and implementation of the award-winning Mother and Child Care initiative (MCCI) have greatly boosted healthcare delivery in the State, these past 2 years. Supported by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the United Nations Children Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and recently, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) the MCCI has given a new impetus to the cause of safe-motherhood, girl-child education, youth empowerment, care for widows and the less privileged and support to people living with HIV/AIDS.

To give teeth to the war against the scourge of vesico-vaginal fistula (VVF), the Governor’s wife spearheaded the establishment of a specialized zonal VVF repair center in Ebonyi State University Teaching Hospital Abakaliki, the first of its kind in South Eastern Nigeria. The center was commissioned with fanfare on Friday 5th December, 2008 by the First Lady of Nigeria Hajia Turai Yar’Adua, during which she paid glowing tribute to Mrs. Josephine Elechi for her vision and sensitivity to the plight of the less privileged.

Since the completion and commissioning of the center, hundreds of VVF patients from Ebonyi and neighboring states have already been repaired thereby giving them a new lease on life.

Furthermore, in her drive to increase the access of rural dwellers to medicine, the wife of the Governor has remained a partner and facilitator of the resuscitated Grassroots Mobile Health Clinic which traverse the rural areas to dispense healthcare services to the people. There is no doubt that with the sustenance of these programs and the planned rehabilitation of the General Hospitals across the state, the healthcare delivery system will remain on the upswing.

The Water and Electricity sub-sector is another area that has received the priority attention of the state government in the past two years. To solve the perennial water problem in the state, the administration adopted a holistic approach to the problem by embarking on ambitious and capital intensive water delivery projects. In this regard, apart from awarding the contract for the comprehensive rehabilitation of Ezillo water scheme and the Abakaliki water works at the cost of over N900 million, the state government also initiated 2 brand new mega water schemes. These are the Ukawu water scheme awarded to an Israeli Water Engineering firm at a cost of N3.9 billion and the Oferekpe water scheme awarded to another Israeli firm at the cost of N4.3billion. Work is in progress on the schemes, each of which is designed to produce 100 million cubic liters of water per day and will be integrated to supply water to all parts of Ebonyi State and put an end to the embarrassment of water scarcity for Ebonyi people.

The story is the same in the area of electricity supply. Apart from the provision of traffic and street lights in the capital city of Abakaliki, the state government is aggressively pursuing its rural electrification drive. The government is partnering with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) in a project to convert the abundant rice husk in the state into electrical energy. Also, the stalled program of electrifying 170 communities which was inherited form the previous administration has been reactivated. As of February this year, a total of 36 of such projects had been completed and commissioned by the state Governor along with other stakeholders of Ebonyi State.

If there is one sector in which the Elechi administration has made the greatest impact in the last two years, it may well be infrastructural development. Governor Elechi’s passion for the provision of physical and institutional infrastructure is informed by the conviction that any meaningful development of Ebonyi State must start with the opening up of the rural areas where the majority of the people live. Significantly, the severity of the infrastructural challenge facing the state is buttressed by the fact that since the Almighty God created Adam and Eve, there are many parts of Ebonyi State which had never seen a tarred road nor drank pipe-borne water not to talk of electrical energy prior to the inception of the Elechi administration.

In the face of such depressing situation, Chief Martin Elechi insists that without basic amenities and physical infrastructure especially in the rural areas, any talk about accelerated development will amount to mere slogans, and any effort to stem rural-urban migration will be underhanded hypocrisy while the drive for sustainable development will remain a cyclical motion without movement. He therefore vowed to change the situation and launch Ebonyi State on the path to true development.

And so it happened that on Thursday 6th February 2008, in a colorful ceremony at Agba in Ishielu Local Government Area, Governor Elechi flagged-off the construction of 19 mega bridges and 164 kilometer roads codenamed Ebonyi Unity bridges and access roads at the cost of N23.4billion. That initiative became the most ambitious and most cost-intensive infrastructural development initiative in the history of Ebonyi State. Incidentally, the number of bridges and roads were later increased from the initial 19 bridges to to 22 with a corresponding increment in the kilometrage of access roads.

One year after the flag-off of the projects, precisely from Thursday 19th to Saturday 21st February 2009, Governor Elechi and other stakeholders of Ebonyi State and media representatives undertook a state-wide inspection of the on-going projects. The inspection team saw to their delight that the ubiquitous Ebonyi River, from which the state took its name and which snakes through all parts of the state putting kit and kin asunder, is being bridged at different points.

Interestingly, the state government’s commitment to the infrastructural transformation of Ebonyi State goes beyond the usual demarcation of responsibilities in terms of federal or state roads. This is why the state government embarked on the cost intensive project of reconstructing the 42-kilometer Abakaliki-Oferekpe Federal Road with reinforced concrete bridges along that road linking Ebonyi with Cross River State. The story is the same at the Eketube-Enyigba Road spanning a distance of 10 kilometers with a 6-span concrete bridge across the Ebonyi River on that axis.

The 11.52 kilometer Omege-Noyo-Agalagu-Nwakpu-Alike Road is another project in which construction work is moving at high tempo as heavy duty machinery battle with raw earth to make a road for the passage of man. On that road is the high-tech 5-span Omege-Noyo Unity Bridge which is rapidly developing to replace the make-shift and dangerous wooden contraption that used to be the only means of crossing from one side of the river to the other. The Igboji-Udumowo-Agbenyim road with 7-span concrete bridge and 2 other bridges are also on-going theaters of construction. Other beehives of construction activities include the reconstruction of the Ezzamgbo-Effuim Road, the Onueke-Ebiaji Ezzamgbo Road, the Agba-Eguhuo-Ezzagu Road with 6-span concrete bridge, and the 6-span concrete bridge along the Agba-Isu Road with 2 kilometer road realignment.

One of the most gigantic of the unity bridges under construction is the 13-span concrete bridge across Isuma and Edda River with 7 kilometer access road. Like many others, this particular bridge is extremely strategic not only because of its size but also because many villagers had drowned there while trying to cross the river during periods of high tide and flood. Other on-going projects include the 10.25 kilometer Ezzama-Oshiri Road, the Okposi-Uburu-Nkerefi Road, the 8-span concrete bridge at Idembia, the 7-span concrete bridge at Ukaba, 3 concrete bridges across the Ezeiyiaku River in Akaeze with 12.3 kilometer access road, 2 concrete bridges at Ubeyi and Itara River with 2 kilometer road re-alignment along the Afikpo-Unwana Road, the Owutu-Ekoli-Nguzu-Ubeyi Road, the Amagu-Elunwovu Road and the Nkwagu-Enyigba-Ikwo Road, among many others. The network of internal roads in Onicha-Igboeze just like some township roads in Abakaliki metropolis have been completed and commissioned for the project communities and rural dwellers across Ebonyi State. These projects are not only life-changing, they are also potent sources of liberation from the natural and environmental forces which had held them hostages over the years.

It is remarkable that apart from the cost intensity of the roads and bridges, the Elechi Administration has not neglected to give appropriate attention to the development of other sectors of the State’s socio-political economy. In this regard, in pursuit of the program of professionalizing the civil service and deepening the operational capacity of the state’s workforce, the administration embarked on the construction of an ultra-modern staff development center in Abakaliki. This center which has already reached an advanced stage of completion will cater for the training needs of all cadres of the workforce in an environment that is both conducive and inspiring. The Head of Service, Mr. Francis Alu, insists that when completed, the center will be second to none throughout the federation.

Other high voltage institutional projects embarked upon by the present administration include the rapidly progressing new Deputy-Governor’s Lodge and the new Chief Judge’s quarters among others. Convinced that abandonment of any project started by his predecessor is a wanton waste of public fund, Governor Elechi has remained steadfast to his inaugural promise of completing the projects inherited from the previous administration. To this end, apart from the continuation of the inherited road projects, the administration has sustained the funding of such projects as the International Trade Center, the International Conference Center and the Ebonyi Five-Star Hotel, all of which are rapidly nearing completion.

In the fullness of time when the comprehensive history of Ebonyi State will be written, the recovery of 948.7 hectares of the former army land in Abakaliki by the Elechi administration will occupy a copious space in the annals of the state. With the tenacity of soldier and the tact of a diplomat, Chief Martin Elechi accomplished an unprecedented land exchange program with the Nigerian Army which has freed a new geographical space for a structure development of the capital city. Baptized Ocho Udo City, the new land space promises to be a sprawling wonderland in terms of modern facilities, planned development and environmental harmony.

On Thursday 30th March 2009, the Elechi administration took another giant step towards concretizing the vision of the model city when convocation of Ebonyi Stakeholders gathered to lay the foundation stone for the construction of an ultra-modern secretariat complex at the new city awarded to Marlum Nig. Ltd at the cost of N11billion. The grandeur of the project’s conception is only matched by Governor Elechi’s enthusiasm to realize it.

In pursuit of the goal of environmental sanity, the administration succeeded in enforcing the relocation of stone-crushers from Abakaliki metropolis following the provision of access roads, water, and electricity supply with 2 number 500 KVA generators, security post and other modern amenities at the new industrial estate in Ezza Umuoghara. The administration accomplished this in less than 2 years though previous administration could not achieve that feat in the previous 10 years.

While it must be acknowledged that it is extremely difficult to comprehensively itemize all the achievements already recorded by the Elechi administration in the past 2 years due to their scope and diversity, it should be pointed out that some of these achievement are intangible though not less important. In this regard, the crusade for attitudinal change has been elevated to a philosophy of governance. To underscore its importance, the State government organized a 2-day colloquium from 28th to 29th September 2008 to address various aspects of the crusade. Already, the concept of Ocho Udo time which is a metaphor for timeliness has deeply permeated the consciousness of Ebonyi people while the issues of integrity in service, positive work ethics, environmental cleanliness, cultural re-awakening for moral reconstruction and zero-tolerance for violence, are increasingly gaining ground as indices of social relations.

Furthermore, in spite of isolated cases of communal strife, the prevalence of relative peace and security is Ebonyi State remains a major achievement of the administration in the past 2 years. In this vein, the State Government has effectively supported the security agencies through operational funding and the provision of vehicles and equipment. The combined effect of such interventions is the drastic reduction in the spate of robberies and sundry crimes in the state. Another contributory factor for the prevalence of peace in the state, is Governor Elechi’s deliberate policy of inclusion and respect for other arms of government. This means that the judiciary, the House of Assembly, the workforce, the founding fathers, the Christian and Muslim communities, the ruling PDP and the opposition parties as well as other stakeholders are given their due and are also carried along in the process of governance.

From the quantum of achievements already recorded in the past 2 years of the Elechi administration, there is no doubt that Governor Martin Elechi has kept faith with his promises as his words have steadily turned to deeds. As Governor Elechi and Ebonyi people step into the 3rd year of the administration, all citizens are invited to note that tomorrow’s reward can only be the product of today’s hard work. In the final analysis, no matter how hungry he may be, no responsible farmer ever consumes his seed yams. He plants them and nurtures the farm in order to harvest hefty tubers tomorrow. Clearly, the Ebonyi project is on course and in solid hands. To God be the glory.