By Nwobodo Chidiebere
“The real tragedy of the poor is the poverty of their aspirations”– Adam Smith
The sudden fall of oil price has exposed Nigeria’s economic foundation as a mono-economy and heterogeneous one with so many financial faulty lines. The unsustainability of the current ‘feeding bottle federalism’ as propagated by the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, is being brought to the fore again at this auspicious time. Gone are the days when state governors run their states like medieval emperors with inexhaustible funds and resources. The current financial crisis bedevilling the nation has reached alarming levels, with 70% of state governments unable to pay salaries, let alone fund developmental capital projects.
With over N800 billion Federal Government bailout money received by state governors at the dawn of this administration, many states are almost at the sorry state of bankruptcy and financial insolvency. But like the proverbial necessity that fuels invention and creativity, the on-going meltdown-cum-paucity of funds, has revealed the financial proficiency of some state governors in making their states financially self-sufficient by looking inwards to reawaken the economic giants embodied in the potentials of the states.
In every economic crowd, there is always a silver lining of financial prosperity. One governors who has decided not to join his colleagues in lamenting over the acute paucity of funds in the system, is Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State. After his emergence as governor, he made up his mind to marshal out an implementable economic blueprint on how to revive and resuscitate the economic potentials of the Coal City State.
As a true believer and faith-driven Christian, Gov. Ugwuanyi vowed not only to key into multiplying power of the parable of two loaves of bread and three fishes as epitomized by Jesus Christ in the holy book, but to transform every stone of economic stagnation and mountain of poverty in the state into an ocean of financial prosperity.
He ignited the economic revolution in the state via prudent management of the slim resources at his disposal. He told anyone who cared to listen that Enugu State has to be re-invented, and that all hands must be on deck not only to diversify the economy of the state but to chart a new course of economic renaissance. And presently it is no longer business as usual where every Dick or Harry looks up to Abuja for monthly allocation to be shared at the end of each month. The clear message-cum-vision of his government is: if we must spend it, we have to create it.
One of the masterstrokes of Gov. Ugwuanyi’s government, which is propelling the Eastern hub on the path of economic renaissance, is his blockage of all revenue leakages in the state. The hitherto cabal behind the nightmare and economic sabotage called ghost workers, are being unmasked and decimated. He has succeeded in improving efficiency by weeding out wastage in the day-to-day running of government bureaucracy of the state. Even politicians, who depended on government hand-outs to survive, can now testify that the present government in the state is out to discard liabilities and encourage assets as epitomized in diligence and creativity to boost the productivity of Enugu people and create long-lasting wealth for the masses.
In moment of financial crisis like this, wealth does not necessarily grow wind and fly away, but like the indisputable law of conversion of energy—which states that energy cannot be created or destroyed but can be transformed from one medium to other. Gov. Ugwuanyi is borrowing a leaf from this: that wealth can be created by transforming human and mineral resources of Enugu State into prosperity, not only to arrest revenue shortfall arising from dwindling oil prices, but to ensure the economy of the state is human resource-driven.
After obviously x-raying the economic potentials of the state, the governor has exercised the political will to boost the Internally Generated Revenue, IGR, of the state by overhauling the state’s tax payment systems. Instead of imposing more tax burden on the already impoverished people of the state, government has chosen to expand the tax net to accommodate more tax payers. Enhancement of agricultural activities in the state, which is being given a new life via reconstruction of rural roads to provide access to fertile farmlands, is equally robbing off on the IGR of the state.
There is no doubt that Enugu State is speeding on the dual carriage highway of economic rejuvenation. The governor’s efforts in this regard has placed the state amongst the few states considered as possessing the potentials to survive the prevailing economic recession. That he has been paying workers salary uninterruptedly since coming to office, in the face of the economic crunch, is indeed commendable. Imagine how unstable Enugu, a civil service state, would have been if the governor had defaulted on his constitutional responsibility to pay workers. The rate of crime may possibly have skyrocketed in the state.
The governor’s expressed desire and ability to create enabling business environment in the state, within one year in office and current efforts at reviving moribund industries, may have earned him a vote of confidence going by the recent statistical pronouncements of two revered economic institutions: the Central Bank of Nigeria and the World Bank. According to 2015 statistics which emanated from the apex bank, the CBN rated Enugu as one of the few states with a strong IGR and financial backbone to withstand the turbulent economic storm, trailing only Lagos, Rivers and Delta.
The World Bank also described the state as the most viable in terms of Ease of Doing Business in Nigeria.
Let’s come to think of it, if Enugu, a state that was never political or economic capital of Nigeria and has no crude oil deposits, Headquarters of multinational companies, Embassies, International Markets, world routed International Airports or access to Sea Ports, could be given financial clean bill of health by refutable financial organizations at this juncture, it must be miracle of magic wand called leadership. Everything rises and falls on leadership, apology to John Maxwell. Importation of western-style of diplomatic governance in administering the state has helped in creating comparative peaceful and conducive environment for strategic economic and political developments in the state.
It has become crystal clear that Enugu State is on the path of economic transformation. Great economies of nations are built during economic depression like what we are experiencing now in the country. It is a new dawn of economic renaissance in Coal City State. All hands must be on deck to sustain this well-thought-out vision of emancipating the state economically.
Nwobodo Chidiebere , a national affairs commentator , wrote from Abuja.
