DEMOCRACY DAY BROADCAST BY GOVERNOR IKPEAZU
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STATE BROADCAST BY OKEZIE VICTOR IKPEAZU, PH.D, GOVERNOR, ABIA STATE TO MARK THE 1ST ANNIVERSSARY OF HIS ASSUMPTION OF OFFICE AS GOVERNOR OF ABIA STATE
MY GOOD PEOPLE OF ABIA STATE,
Today makes it exactly one year since I took the oath of office to serve as the 4th democratically elected Governor of our beloved God’s Own State. It has been one year of God’s abiding favour, mercy and grace and looking back, I say without equivocation, that we have a lot to be thankful for.
Our administration came on board with a lot of hope and expectations. We were not under any illusion that we were going to have it easy because we understood vividly the enormity of the challenges that lay ahead of us. We were however confident that we had what it took to turn the fortunes of Abia State around and build on the foundations laid by our predecessors. One year down the line, we are as confident as we were the day we came on board.
After our swearing-in, we wasted no time in getting down to work and it has been one year of systematically implementing the robust blueprint we developed for Abia State in the full knowledge that governing a sophisticated state like Abia required detailed planning and methodical execution.
Upon assumption of office, we marshaled out 5 cardinal areas we wanted to focus on which alongside their enablers, we knew would pave the way for the rapid development of our State in line with our vision of making Abia State the premier destination for investors, tourists and visitors East of Nigeria. The 5 Pillars we identified were Agriculture, Oil and Gas, Commerce, Industry and Education.
Beloved Abians, I will now attempt to summarise the modest efforts we have recorded in the various Pillars and enablers since we came on board one year ago. It is important to note that ours is an administration with an eye for sustainable development. We are like a farmer who is not planting for immediate harvest but who is planting for future generations to continue to reap the fruits of what was planted. Permit me therefore to summarise some of the strides we have recorded in the various sectors of Abia State.
AGRICULTURE
In the South East Geopolitical Zone where Abia State is located, we do not have the kind of land they have in other geo-political regions of the country. Added to the challenge of insufficient land-mass is the fact that the available land is being shared between agricultural ventures, commerce and industry which are all important pillars of our state economy. The implication of this reality therefore is that the kind of agricultural practice we undertake in Abia State must be scientific and precise to enable us maximize the best yield from the land we are working with.
As we all know, a full development of the agricultural value-chain is capital-intensive. To make maximum impact, we require mechanized farming tools and equipments that guarantee higher yield for less labour. This is imperative if we must make agriculture attractive to the youths in our society. It is therefore on this premise that I wish to announce to you that we have made arrangements to have tractors delivered to Abia State to aid in mechanized farming.
We have also concluded arrangements with Micro-Finance Banks to roll out various financing incentives for Agricultural activities at reasonable interest rates. Similarly, we have taking steps to massively cultivate high-yield, disease-resistant species of the various crops in which we have comparative advantage. The Commissioner for Agriculture is ensuring that all the land acquired by previous governments for agricultural purposes are optimally utilized in addition to sanitizing the fertilizer distribution programme of government.
Let me however call on our farmers to join farming cooperative unions. No one farmer can get all the requisite equipments and funding required for comprehensive agricultural value-chain development. The intervention and support funds we are accessing can only be given to cooperatives and not individual farmers so I call on our farmers to endeavour to come together and form cooperatives.
EDUCATION
We understood upon assumption of office that in order to compete favourably in national and global affairs in the coming years, it was imperative that Abia State gained prominence among states with high quality education. I am happy to announce to you that in the last May/June Senior School Certificate Examination result released by the West African Examination Council, Abia State took the first position with the highest number of students with Distinction. In our tertiary institutions, Abia State University Law Graduates have consistently achieved First Class results at the Nigerian Law School.
This feat prompted us to ensure that we released outstanding subventions to all our tertiary institutions while providing other forms of motivation like official cars for Deans and Heads of Departments to ensure that they continue in the tradition of excellence and improve on their current standards.
Similarly, we launched the Friends of Abia School Adoption Initiative (FASAI) with the aim of upgrading infrastructure in our schools, restoring mentorship to young students and providing care for the schools that gave us our foundations. Through the FASAI Initiative, we are also creating capacity for local production of school chairs and tables by building Skills Acquisition Centres in the 3 Geo-Political Zones of Abia State. The vision for the Skill Acquisition Centres is that we will use them to build chairs and tables for our schools and the operators of the centres will in-turn, train our youths in furniture making for future productivity and job-creation. The centre for Abia South Senatorial Zone is ready and has started production.
I have also in the same vein mandated the Commissioner for Education to review the curriculum of Primary and Secondary Schools in Abia State to ensure that Information and Communication Technology skills are being thought in all our schools. This new approach also involves the training and re-training of our teachers to expose them to current models of knowledge impartation. We will ensure the use of tablets in our schools for knowledge impartation. To that end, a couple of days ago, I played host to a team from Australia who came to Abia State to train 7 teachers each from the 17 Local Government Areas of Abia state on classroom management and current tutelage best-practices.
The Ministry of Education has also renovated 15 schools in Abia State and installed bore-holes in 6 of them for enhanced social conditions. In the same vein, our Education for Employment (E4E) Programme is on course through which we are reviving technical and vocational educational training in Abia State.
My dear Abians, I made a promise sometime ago that we shall soon commence the feeding of all pupils in our schools at least 3 times in a week. I have not jettisoned that plan. In the course of attempting to implement the programme, we realized that conditions in our schools are quite deplorable so we took a conscious decision to first raise the standard of physical and social conditions in our schools before we commence the feeding programme so that our pupils will eat in a conducive environment. We are on course and we will soon commence the free school feeding programme promised by this administration.
INDUSTRY
Within the last one year, we took some artisans to Turkey to acquaint them with the types of equipments that are being used in modern day manufacturing activities/operations. We have arranged fair financing packages to enable the artisans acquire these equipments for enhanced quality in goods they produce.
Similarly, we have engaged in unprecedented publicity for Made-in-Abia products and I am happy to announce to you that Aba and Abia State is back on the consciousness of people locally and internationally as the premier destination for entrepreneurship and enterprise. I took up the role of the number one Made-in-Abia Ambassador and in the last one year, I have consistently worn only Made-in Abia clothings.
We are currently engaged in efforts at ensuring standardization of our products and in a short while, entrepreneurs in Aba will begin producing leather and garment by-products for our national establishments.
Still on Industries, we took a bold decision to work towards the revitalization of moribund industries in Abia State to generate employment for our people and increase the purchasing power of families. To that end, it gives me pleasure to announce to you that the International Glass Industry, Aba has bounced back to life after a long period of lying moribund. Supply of pharmaceutical bottles from the factory at Aba to Lagos and other markets has resumed and the new Management of the outfit is sourcing new markets for increased operation and profitability.
In the same vein, a new 48,000 bottles per-hour brewing line has been installed at the revived Golden Guinea Breweries Plc in Umuahia. Engineers from the equipment manufacturers in Germany were in Umuahia for 4 months for the installation and they have gone back. Master-brewers also from Germany are undertaking test-run and from the assurances of the new core-investors, any moment from now, the first bottles of Golden Guinea and Bergdorf Lager Beer, Eagle Stout and Bergdorf Malta will roll out of the brewing line for the first time since 2003.
COMMERCE
All over the world, what Abia State in synonymous with is the enterprising nature of our people. However, as things stand, our markets, which are the symbols of our commercial activities, are abysmally deplorable. In our bid to restore the pre-eminence of Abia State as the premier destination for commercial activities, we constituted the Abia State Markets Development Committee to seek ways of improving conditions in our existing markets and develop new markets.
Already, the committee has successfully relocated dealers in Telephone and Computer Accessories to the new Aba Mega Mall. The Committee equally unveiled a Masterplan for the redevelopment and expansion of the Ariaria International Market to bring it at par with current global realities.
I wish to at this juncture appeal with the stakeholders in our markets to cooperate with the Abia Markets Development Committee as it strives to deliver on its mandate. The Committee has the full backing of Government therefore any attempt to sabotage the work of the Committee alongside that of the Aba Urban Renewal Agency will constitute an outright affront on the authority of government and perpetrators will be summarily dealt with.
Let me hasten to reassure traders in the Ariaria International Market that Government is not seeking to demolish the market. I assure you that no legitimate shop-owner will lose his/her shop. What Government is seeking to do is to decongest the market and ensure the provision of basic amenities for the good of the traders and their clients. I call on traders in Aba and Abia State as a whole to cooperate with our administration because in the long run, the traders will be the greatest beneficiaries of our activities in the markets.
ROAD CONSTRUCTION
My dear Abians, in the road sector, today will make it one year of what can only be described as a caterpillar revolution in Abia state. We were sworn-in on May 29, 2015 which was a Friday. By the next working day, Monday, June 1, 2015, we flagged off seven roads within the Aba metropolis. By the next day, Tuesday, June 2, 2015, we moved to Umuahia where we flagged off 3 roads and since then, we have never looked back.
Today, we have since flagged off over 60 roads in the three Senatorial Zones of Abia State. I am proud to announce to you that we have completed 30 of those roads which have all been commissioned and opened for use.
What that means is that as of today, we are completing an average of 2 roads per month in Abia State which is an unprecedented feat in the annals of the State. We have also kept faith with the rigid pavement cement technology which we pioneered in Nigeria. The implication of this is that most of the roads we have built will last for a minimum of 30 years before they require rehabilitation.
Note that within the period under review, 3 bridges have also been completed which have ensured access to hitherto locked-in communities and created a new lease of life for those living in the corridor where the roads and bridges are located.
Completed roads
The Road projects we have successfully completed include: Kamalu Street, Ukaegbu Road, Umuola Road, Ehere Road, Umuocham Road, MCC/Umuojima Road, Oomne Drive, Owerri Road, Echefu Street, ENUC Road, Hospital Road, Jubilee Road, St. Michaels Road, Azikiwe Road, East Road, Park Road, School Road, Pond Road, Okwunka Road, Cameroun Road, Queens Road Owerrinta Road, Kaduna Street, Abam Road, Awolowo Street, Umuwaya Road, Road II, Federal Low-Cost Housing Estate, Niger Road, Uwalaka Street, Spur to Factory Road, Reconstruction of Okon-Aku Main Bridge in Ohafia, Reconstruction of Imo-NdiNkpa Bridge, Umunneochi LGA.
On-going Roads
On-going road projects in Abia State include the Expansion, Rehabilitation & Reconstruction of Ururuka Road from Obikabia Junction, Old Express Road, Mbawsi-Nsulu Road, Ahia Nkwo Ahiaba Umueze-Udeagbala-PH Expressway Road with Spur to Umuimo Junction, Ebenma/Egege Road, Aba-Owerri Road, Umuaro-Umuokoro-Mgbokoanya-Umuokegwu-Omoba-Umuerie-Umuikaa Road, Umuagu Ossa-Ukwu-Owo-Obikabia-Uhuru Ring Road, Bata Railway-Brass-Eziukwu Road, Omuma by Osusu Road, Uratta-Umuezeke-Umuekechi-Obekwe-Ogwe Road, Umuobiakwa-Itukpa Crescent, Umuojima-Owerrinta Road, Umuobiakwa-Owo-Onicha-Ngwa Road, Reconstruction of 3 Roads within Federal Low-Cost Housing Estate, Agbama Housing Estate Ring Road, Umuovom-Okwueze-House of Assembly Road, Ariam-Usaka Ring Road, Umueze-Agbo-Ubani Ibeku Modern Market Road, Expansion of Obikabia-Enugu-PH Expressway, Eke Eziama-Obuzo-Ngodo Road, Umunneochi, Reconstruction of Abiriba Ring Road with spur to Amaukwu-Nkwaumuagbogho, Ohafia, Construction of Eluama-Amibo-Acha and Amibo-Otamkpa Road Isuikwuato, Construction of Bende-Idima-Abam Road, Bende-Arochukwu, Construction of Abiriba-Nkporo Road, Ohafia, Construction of Lohum-Nkpa to Enugu PH Expressway Road.
STREET LIGHTING PROJECT
At inception of this administration, we resolved that every new street we are building in Abia State will come with street lights. We soon extended the resolve to rehabilitation and replacement of street lights in already existing roads in Abia State. As of today, we have installed over 1000 street lights across the State and for the first time in history, streets in the city of Aba now have street lights.
The streets in Abia State where streetlights have been installed include: Dozie Way, Ahia Eke Road, Niger Road, Road 2, Low Cost Housing Estate, Abam Street, Awolowo Street, Kaduna Street, Uwalaka/Umuwaya Road to Railway Crossing, Old Umuahia, Ibiam Road/Bank Road to Abia Tower, Bank Road through Government House to Okpara Avenue, Park Road (from East to Asa Road), Georges Street (from Old UBA Building to Ngwa Road, Ahia Ohuru), Constitution Crescent (from Aba Town Hall to Georges Street/Fire Service), Oomne Drive, Umuocham Road, Azikiwe Road and Ahia Ukwu Market to Umuajata Olokoro.
HEALTH
Upon assumption of office, we released funds for the total rehabilitation, reconstruction and upgrading of our Schools of Nursing in Abia State. Consequently, the School of Midwifery Abiriba and the Schools of Nursing at Aba, Umuahia and Amachara were upgraded leading to their reaccreditation by the Midwifery and Nursing Council of Nigeria. Admission into these institutions have since resumed.
Our administration has gone into partnership with the MTN Foundation to fund the reduction of maternal and infant mortality and morbidity in the state. Under this arrangement, the maternal wards of 4 General Hospitals in Abia State are being equipped and upgraded. The Hospitals are Abia State Specialist and Diagnostic Centre, Umuahia, Abia State University Teaching Hospital, Aba, General Hospital Okpuala Ngwa and Cottage Hospital, Owaza.
We are equally upgrading infrastructure at the Abia State University Teaching Hospital, Aba while the reconstruction of the Maternal and Child Health Complex at the Hospital has been completed.
JOB CREATION
We have been able to create over 7,000 new jobs through the various initiatives we have introduced. The Transport and Indiscipline Management Agency of Abia State (TIMAAS) recruited massively. We equally created jobs with the Utility Maintenance Agency, other Agencies & Committees created, our agricultural endeavours, our deliberate efforts at resuscitating moribund industries in Abia State as well as the new community policing strategies we have adopted.
SECURITY
We have been working with Security agencies in the state to ensure a peaceful Abia State. So far, we have procured over 30 vehicles of different configurations and have distributed same to the various Security Agencies in the State. We have also set up a Security Trust Fund which is helping us source private sector funds for purchase of equipments for a safer Abia. I am not unaware of the security challenges we are facing but I assure you that compared to our contiguous states, Abia is the safest state in the region at the moment.
Security Agencies in the state have substantially reduced the capabilities of criminal elements to operate in the state via constant arrests and demolition of their properties. We are on the verge of re-introducing Special Squads while renovating existing Police Stations to equip them for the current challenges.
We also recently announced plans to recruit 10 youths from every Community in Abia State to form part of a security network to ensure robust community policing and all-round security in our state. Let me therefore assure you that irrespective of what you hear about attacks on other states, under our watch, no harm will befall any Abian by external forces under any guise. We have taken necessary steps and I assure you of your safety.
My beloved people of Abia State, this summary of activities in the last one year is by no means exhaustive. I have attempted to capture only the basic highlights of what we have done. My media team has released a more comprehensive breakdown of activities in the last one year and it is available for those who require more details.
As a leader in touch with his people, I am not unaware of the hardship being faced by some of you. From the new policies of the Federal Government to some of our own policies here in Abia State, I acknowledge that we are going through difficult times. I share your pain and I assure you that my team and I are doing all we can to ease your discomfort and make things better for you, your families and your businesses.
In the midst of our challenges, we remain upbeat. We will not complain because of the drastic fall in our monthly allocations, rather, we will pray and ask God to open our eyes to see opportunities that will enable us surmount them.
In the midst of every challenge lies an opportunity. This is our approach to the fall in our revenue and by the grace of God, we shall overcome and together, we shall all arrive at our Canaan land.
Governance is a partnership between the government and the governed. I therefore call on you to play your own part to enable us succeed. This you can do by ensuring prompt payment of your taxes via approved channels and assisting us to safeguard government infrastructure.
Let me at this juncture pay special tribute to the founding fathers of Abia State who lit the torch we are holding aloft today. We are here because of your sacrifices and on behalf of a grateful State, I say that your labours shall never be in vain. I wish to also appreciate the Members of the National Assembly from Abia State who have been striving to bring Federal developments to Abia State. The Speaker and Members of the Abia State House of Assembly have been commendable bipartisan partners in progress in our journey so far. Traditional Rulers in Abia State have also been dependable partners in the quest for peace and development in our rural areas and I pay special tribute to them.
The clergy in Abia State have always upheld us in their prayers and I say may God continue to bless them. The Security Agencies, Our women, the youths, students, market leaders, artisans, our Chambers of Commerce, Professional Associations, the Press and indeed, all people of Abia have been sources of great strength and support. I salute you all.
My good people of Abia State, Whatever development you are seeing today is a foretaste of what we have in stock for you. Let us continue to support this government and I pledge here that my team and I shall not disappoint you all.
I thank you all for listening and may God continue to bless Abia State.
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