By Louis Amoke
Today, going by the impressive achievements of Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi’s administration despite the present harsh economic situation in the country, the people of the state, friends and well-wishers have every reason to agree with the fact that “Enugu State is in the hands of God”.
Governor Ugwuanyi during his inauguration on May 29, 2015, did commit his administration and the state at large to the protection and guidance of God.
The governor in his inaugural address put his faith in God’s miracle of five loaves and two fish, and sang a hymn which read thus: “Because He lives, I can face tomorrow. Because He lives, All fear is gone. Because I know He holds the future, And life is worth the living. Just because He lives.”
One year down the line, Enugu State under the leadership of Gov. Ugwuanyi has every cause to continue to adore and thank the God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob and the awesome God of David for His mercies and kindness.
The state has witnessed peace and unity among its political class. It has been receiving God’s favour and blessings in all its endeavours aimed at delivering the dividends of democracy to the people.
Whenever the state calls on God for intervention, He always accedes. This has been the fulcrum of the success story of Enugu state so far, under the pragmatic leadership of His Excellency, Rt. Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi.
In spite of the fact that Enugu State is 3rd from the bottom of the Federation allocation chart, which has even dwindled to an all-time low, the state has surprisingly, been paying the salaries of its workers on or before 25th of every month and sill embarked on capital projects, as witnessed today across the state.
Governor Ugwuanyi’s administration has completed six major road projects while over fifteen development projects are on-going. The governor through the ministry of works and infrastructure has also advertised the award of contract for 25 new roads including 3 bridges in the 17 Local Government Areas as part of his administration’s grassroots development initiatives. The exercise is currently at the stage of bidding.
It is worthy of note that apart from all these remarkable achievements in infrastructure, the state government has also recorded unprecedented feats in other sectors of development in the state in just one year in office. The sectors include healthcare delivery, education, agriculture, investment drive, sports, rural development, among others.
Gov. Ugwuanyi’s administration provided one hundred million naira (N100,000,000.00) grant to Enugu State Water Corporation to upgrade its facilities. It successful hosted the maiden edition of Enugu State Investment Summit –OGANIRU where the economic potentials of the state were showcased to the whole world. The administration equally renovated Queens School Enugu and another7-classroom blocks at New Haven Secondary School, Enugu, and approved of the sum of three billion naira (N3bn) for the renovation of classroom buildings and construction of toilets in all the public schools across the state through Enugu State Universal Education Board (ENSUBEB), among many other remarkable achievements.
It is therefore, a pleasant surprise to people of Enugu State and beyond that Gov. Ugwuanyi’s administration has despite the current situation remained focused and steadfast in delivering the dividends of democracy to the people of the state. The administration has kept faith with its pact with the people – to give them quality leadership and ameliorate their sufferings through the provision of essential services that would improve their living standards.
Recently, the maturity and wisdom in which Enugu state handled the provocative, senseless and condemnable attack on Nimbo community in Uzo-Uwani Local Government Area by deescalating the very tense situation that could have led to further bloodshed is also an indication that the state is in the safe hands of God.
The Enugu attack was the first to draw the attention of the President of the country and the entire world to rise and condemn the dastardly act and call for justice.
Today, some of the suspects of the heinous act have been arrested by the police while more efforts are made to unravel the circumstances surrounding the attack to put an end the sad incident in the state as promised by the governor. This equally emphasizes that the state is in the hands of God.
The governors of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), not minding their political differences with the Enugu Governor, were the first to pay a condolence visit to Enugu State to sympathize with the government and people of the state and commend Gov. Ugwuanyi for his show of maturity in handling the provocative incident by not allowing a reprisal attack. They did not only condemn the dastardly act, they also insisted that the killers should be fished out and treated like criminals.
Many groups and individuals have also expressed their heartfelt condolences and commendations to the governor for the maturity and peaceful approach he exhibited in handling the Nimbo attack.
These groups and individuals include, the South East Governors and other Leaders from the zone, the South East Council of Traditional Rulers, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), the Association of South East Town Unions, some Catholic and Anglican Bishops from the area, Enugu State Indigenes in the United Kingdom and Germany, the Nsukka General Assembly, the Nsukka Professional Group, the Fulani and Shuwa Arab communities in the state, among others.
Interestingly, the Fulani and Shuwa Arab herdsmen, Enugu communities and the state government have come to terms, (not through the barrel of the gun) on how to promote peace, national unity and integration in the state and to put an end to any further attack from the herdsmen. Consequently, they unanimously constituted a peace committee and agreed to ban night grazing and rearing of cattle, carrying of arms by the cattle rearers, night movement of cattle from one location to another in the state.
All these peace initiatives and surprising landmark achievements of Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi were made possible because of the governor’s constant faith in God as the alpha and omega of all creation.
From the foregoing, it is obvious that the assessment of Gov. Ugwuanyi’s one year in office is positive and encouraging. It is therefore, the responsibility of the public to continue to support the administration to do more in the coming years- for one can certainly see and believe that Enugu State is working and truly in the hands of God!
