By Mark J. Ngene
The truth remains that Enugu State under the watch of Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi has witnessed peace and good governance in spite of the economic and public health challenges facing the country.
The people of the state, most especially the leaders of the political, religious and traditional institutions, such as the President-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Nnia Nwodo, have attested to this fact and have continued to express their delight at the unprecedented performance of Gov. Ugwuanyi’s administration in navigating the state through the nation’s economic meltdown to make the top as one of the six economically viable states in Nigeria that can survive without federal allocations, according to the 2019 Annual States Viability Index, that was recently released on July 26, 2020, by Economic Confidential.
Prior to the above rating, Enugu State has been rated as the second most advanced state in Nigeria on the Ease of Doing Business and third on the Ease of Starting Business, by the World Bank Group. Enugu, according to verdict released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), on May 22, 2020, is the 9th best performing state in terms of states’ rank in Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) for the year 2019. The State (Enugu) was listed by BudgIT alongside Lagos and Rivers as the only three states out of the 36 states of the federation that have fulfilled obligations to their workers.
Enugu was earlier listed by Economic Confidential among the seven states that are solvent with impressive over 30 percent Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) to fund additional economic activities. It is equally on record that Enugu is the fifth most competitive state in Nigeria, according to the National Competitiveness Council of Nigeria and the third most debt sustainable state in Nigeria. Enugu was also rated as the first state in Nigeria to publish its Audited State Final Account for three consecutive years; first in the South East geo-political zone and ninth in the country based on IGR as against Federal Allocation.
Despite all these remarkable landmark feats, a handful of ungrateful and selfish politicians, have deliberately refused to acknowledge them and other salient achievements of the present administration of Gov. Ugwuanyi who in truthfulness to God and fairness to the good people of Enugu State has entrusted Enugu State to the hands of God and delivered democracy dividends to them.
It is hardly contestable that this is the first time in the history of Enugu State, an administration has taken the wellbeing of the ordinary masses, who have hitherto been denied the dividends of democracy, into a high favourable consideration, through its rural development policy and empowerment programmes that have succeeded in improving their living standard and opening up the rural areas for socio-economic growth.
This is evident in the concentration of more massive infrastructural development , mostly road projects across the state covering over 600km, in the rural areas and long-neglected communities by Ugwuanyi‘s administration. This feat was also achieved through simultaneous execution of huge grassroots development projects across the 17 LGAs and the novel N10 million “one community, one project” scheme earmarked for each of the 471 autonomous communities in the state, among others.
On welfare of the ordinary masses, Enugu State under Ugwuanyi’s administration has empowered 3,600 traders with N50,000 each to grow their various businesses under the Enugu State Traders Empowerment Scheme. It also empowered 750 youths in skills acquisition under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) programme; offered scholarship to 680 indigent engineering students of Enugu State Polytechnic, Iwollo, Ezeagu L.G.A. and the Institute of Management and Technology (IMT), Enugu; awarded scholarship to 22 post-secondary school indigent students presently studying at Mewar University, India; engaged 1000 youths to clean up the state, under Enugu Clean Team Project, with additional 1000 workers underway. The state government recently granted Bursary allowance to 246 students of the state at the Nigeria Law School.
I am aware that the Ugwuanyi administration in keeping faith with its tax-friendly regime, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, equally granted tax relief and incentives to taxpayers in the state including the ordinary people. This decision, I learnt, was in furtherance of the state government’s efforts in cushioning the effect of the pandemic on residents of the state, especially the ordinary citizens.
Prior to this, it is on record that the Ugwuanyi administration since its inception, in May 2015, waived the payment of Personal Income Tax as well as Market Tax, for all traders in the major markets of the state and has reiterated its resolve to sustain the pro-poor policies till the end of its tenure.
The Enugu State government’s COVID-19 tax relief and incentives approved by Gov. Ugwuanyi’s administration, as was announced by the Enugu State Internal Revenue Service (ESIR) also include the extension of the deadline for the submission of Form A for employee
The Gov Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi should be commended for his people oriented projects and spread of projects in all the local governments of the state.
Congratulations.