For any meaningful
development to take place
there must be visions which
can then translate into
drawing up a Blue print that
would guide the individual or government towards
actualizing such vision.
A flash back to the
electioneering campaign of
Governor Okezie Ikpeazu
during the concluded
governorship election, he
presented the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)
manifesto to the electorates
which promised a wide range
of infrastructural
development, security of lives
and property, welfare packages for the people of the
State Governor Ikpeazu having
been sworn-in as the fourth
democraticallye lected governor of the State has
swung into action in keeping
to his electioneering campaign
promises to the people July 10th, 2015 marked the
beginning of the
demonstration of Governor
Ikpeazu that his campaign
promises were achievable
with the cooperation of the over thirty professional
bodies and other interest
groups in the State at the
government house banquet
hall.
By the public presentation of
the blue print to critical
stakeholders in the State on
that day, Governor Ikpeazu
has blazed the trail amongst
his peer to present a comprehensive blue print that
would set the Socio-economic
development of the running.
In his brief remarks before
the public presentation of the
document to the invited
Stakeholders in the State
titled “Abia High Level
Economic Development Blueprint of Governor Okezie
Ikpeazu , the Secretary to the
State Government (SSG), Dr
Eme Okoro said the
presentation was to formally
present the document to the people of the State.
The SSG further disclosed that
apart from the public
presentation session, there
was an Interactive session
between Governor Ikpeazu
and Stakeholders on areas that need to be addressed by
his administration towards
achieving greater
development of the State.
One important significant
aspect of the document is that
it captures all spheres of both
human and infrastructural
development of the State
which would transform it into a Premier destination in
the Country on Investment,
Tourism and Commerce.
According to the document,
the Blueprint has five cardinal
areas of coverage that
includes Agriculture,
Commerce, Industry,
Education, oil and Gas. The Economic Facilitator which
would hinge on intensified
Security network across the
State through a working
synergy between Security
agencies and the people.
The construction and opening
of more roads within Aba, the
commercial nerve of the State
is another catalyst that would
drive the economic blueprint
as according to the document, no Commerce or Tourism
could strive in a dilapidated
road infrastructure and poor
sanitary
condition.
As a way of assessing the
performance of the document,
the administration of
Governor Ikpeazu would be
assessed at the end of every
One hundred days as to know the level at which projects
and programme of
government were achieved. However, the first 100 days
projects that has already
commenced include, twenty-
one ongoing road projects in
Aba and other parts of the
State; tackling the environmental challenges
within the urban cities of
Umuahia and Aba. Already draining of drainages
and carting away of refuse
has commenced in Aba.
Another area which the
document addressed is the
issue of the Civil service which has been characterized with
the activities of Ghost Worker
Syndicate in the State.
The major priority of
government according to the
document would be to
provide better working
environment and enhanced
welfare scheme for the Civil Servants, while the
government would expect
the civil servants to offer
better service delivery to the
members of the public to
However, the interactive
session between the governor
and the stakeholders further
opened more plans by
government towards the
development of the State with Governor Ikpeazu
responding to questions and
observations made by the
stakeholders. In their separate questions,
Comrade John Emejor,
Chairman of Nigeria Union of
Journalists, asked to know if
there were plans to make the
State media organ accessible to the opposition, while, the
State president of the National
Youth Council of Nigeria if
there were any
empowerment programmes
for the youths of the State.
Responding on the question of
giving the opposition access to
the State owned media organ,
Governor Ikpeazu said that it
was as a result of his belief in
the freedom of practice for media houses and
practitioners that necessitated
the setting up of a Technical
Committee into the operations
of the State Broadcasting
Corporation (BCA) with the objective of making it self
sustaining agency of
government.
According to Governor
Ikpeazu, the motive behind
the objective is to make the
State media outfit accessible
to all irrespective of Political
association or religion but with the understanding that
such information provided
must be factual, devoid of
blackmail associated with the
mind set of running down the
State.
On the issue of Youth
Empowerment as raised by
the State NYCN, Governor
Ikpeazu disclosed that what
youth in the State deserve is a
sustainable youth program, “rather than giving me fish,
teach me on how to catch
fish’, the governor suggested.
For both Comrade Eze
Okwuleghe, State Chairman,
of Cooperative Transport
Union , Comrade Eugene
Ezechukwu of the Abia State
Amalgamated Transport Union (ASATUOA) the interest
of their members centered on
multiple taxation and the
operation of illegal motor
parks
in Umuahia, Aba and in other parts of the State.
In responding to issues raised
by the various transport
unions, Governor Ikpeazu
disclosed that as a step to
check multiple taxation, the
State government has at various times advised
residents and those coming
into the State with the
motive of investing or
transact business with
government not to make payments to any agent rather
to make such payments
through the State
government’s accounts in
Banks.
On the activities of illegal
parks and touts within the
two cities of the State,
Governor Ikpeazu blamed the
trend on transport operators
who are the main architect of their own plight.
In his words, “It is only in the
Transport sector that is
bastardized and abused.
Before now, driving used to
be a highly vocational skill,
the way our cities are today are not the way they should
be, we are not going to take
that”, he assured.
Governor Ikpeazu while
responding to the issue raised
by the State Chairman of the
Nigeria Union Local
Government Employees,
(NULGE), Comrade Ijeoma Onyenaweheya on the
segmentation in the payment
of local government workers’
salaries in the seventeen
council areas of the State , the
governor attributed the situation to the on going
verification exercise of
workers to check ghost
worker syndrome.
In the words of Governor
Ikpeazu “the last wage bill for
workers in the local
government stood at
N1.8billion while what I saw
on paper was N1.6billion, leaving the government with
a deficit of N200m, where do
they expect me to get the
remaining balance” As a measure to check the
ghost worker cankerworm in
the State and Local
government service, for
every staff to receive his
salary for the last paid salary, such staff must have his/her
verification form duly signed
by three principal staff of the
State Ministry which include,
the Permanent Secretary, and
the Directors of Administration and Finance.
The gloomy mood on the
faces of the Stakeholders
before the commencement of
the meting and explanations
made on some lingered
matters by Governor Ikpeazu was suddenly replaced with
hope, assurance and
expectations as to what is to
come from the Fourth elected
governor of the State. In conclusion and to further
reassure the stakeholders of
Governor Ikpeazu resolve to
adhere and implement to the
letter contents in the Blue
print, the State Deputy Governor, Ude Oko Chukwu in
his vote of thanks, noted that
by honouring the State
governor’s invitation was
an express indication of their
desire to partner with the State government to ensure
the State moves to an
enviable level in socio-
economic activities and
residents proudly to be
identified as Abians.
. Ugochukwu Emezue is a
Senior Special Assistant to
Governor Okezie
Ikpeazu on Media
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