For five years plus now, Abia State Governor, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu has proven to be different and unique in the way and manner he administers and runs the State. The Governor has shown capacity in various ways as one who has made being ‘one step ahead’ a habit. Such actions have over the years paved ways for him and distinguished him as an action packed and innovation driven Governor.
There are many sectors and sub sectors of the economy where Governor Ikpeazu has demonstrated his uniqueness in taking ‘one step ahead’ others to better governance in the State. One of the ways is in what he called E4E.
Education for Employment (E4E) is one of the ‘one step ahead’ programs initiated by Governor Okezie Ikpeazu. The establishment and launch of Education for Employment (E4E) Scheme in September, 2015 was a sign of doing things differently by the Governor. The E4E as a scheme aims at training youths on several skill acquisitions. The program has already graduated hundreds of youths who received certificates from the National Board for Technical Education. In E4E, students, especially young people are taught modern capentering/cabinet making, garment making, bricklaying and other related skills. Centres for these are located among the senatorial zones. Worthy to note is that, Governor Ikpeazu’s ingenuity in E4E made Abia State to become the host State for South East Entrepreneur Development Centre which trained people in Micro, Small & Medium Scale Enterprises for the entire South-East. This made Abia one step ahead among others as the participants are now fully engaged in various handworks and can compete favorably with their counterparts across the nation.
A look at aggressive campaigns and promotion of ‘Made In Aba’ products tells one of the calibre of person Governor Okezie Ikpeazu is. It shows that he could be said to be one of those leaders that ‘sees tomorrow’ while focusing on today. Yes, he knows that with craftsmanship an economy could be grown. Having identified what the ‘can-do spirit’ of the Aba, and of course the Igbo man can do, the Governor at the inception of his administration made Small & Medium Enterprise (SME), one of the five pillars of development of his administration. For him, the administration views job creation and skills development as necessary ingredients for integrated economic development agenda. Ever since, he has not relented in promoting the ‘can-do spirit’ and entrepreneurial instinct of Abia people, especially the youths, through aggressive campaigns. The Governor’s establishment of Automated Shoe Factory in Aba, which would soon take off fully was to support the local production of goods. His decision to establish the factory was necessitated by the brilliance performance of the first 30 Abia youths the Governor sent to China to learn automated shoemaking in his first term. So, it would help them put in practice what they learnt in China and bring about tremendous increase in shoe production. As the chief marketer of the ‘Made-in-Aba’ and Abia brand, Governor Okezie Ikpeazu has ensured that the products have been showcased in many trade fairs even in New York of the United States of America. This of course has given great hope to the youths and has made the federal government to recognize Abia as the SME Capital of Nigeria. These are nothing but foresight and keeping ‘one step ahead’ of others in thoughts and actions.
Another innovations of the Governor Okezie Ikpeazu-led administration is Abia Tele-Health Initiative, an initiative the Governor approved for a Health Consultancy outfit known as “Dial-A-Doctor Direct”.
When the emergence of COVID-19, Abia State was ‘a step ahead’ because it already had the backbone of a platform that could enable people respond ask and respond questions that came with the pandemic challenges. It was as if the Governor knew that COVID-19 was on the way when he introduced this innovation of reaching out to the people with through digital healthcare delivery without any form of physical contact with the Doctor. This initiative also has strengthened primary healthcare in the State as the Tele-Health services are carried in collaboration with primary healthcare centres.
The latest of Governor Ikpeazu’s ingenuity in making difference in governance and taking ‘a step ahead’ of others is the introduction of the novel Abia State Crime Prevention and Management System (CPAMS). Governor Ikpeazu formally launched the novel crime fighting system code named CPAMS, which deploys modern technology in intelligence, crime prevention and detection. The benefits associated with CPAMS are much. The initiative helps to ensure safe ambience that would encourage free enterprise, sustain the pillars of development of the government and ensure the continued safety and security of lives and property in Abia State. Also, to ensure the effectiveness of the whole exercise, the Abia State government through the Ministry of Homeland Security would be providing solar power and computers to all the police stations in the State. With CPAMS, security agents in the State will now be ahead of criminals and criminal activities.
Speaking at inauguration of CPAMS recently, the Governor expressed hope that the system will be capable of providing solutions to policing not only in Abia State, but Nigeria as a whole. According to the Governor, proactive policing requires that a crime officer must be ahead of criminals and insisted that except through digitalisation, time will come when police officers will find it difficult to cope with new waves of criminal activities. Also, with diligent implementation of CPAMS in Abia State, it will be difficult for a criminal to commit his dastardly acts go free without a trace. This is really thinking ahead of times and taking proactive measures to tackle raging issues in the pursuit of peace, tranquility and development in the State.
If other Governors and of course federal government would toe the lines of Governor Ikpeazu in being proactive and taking a step ahead, the States and entire nation would get to a higher level in terms of creating ambience for businesses to thrive, man power development, adequate healthcare management and the latest being crime management. Even the #EndSARS protest would not have been in place if the country had a technology driven crime fighting system such as CPAMS capable of identifying police brutality and arresting the menace headlong. One can therefore posit that, with its emphasis on crime prevention, control and management CPAMS can be said to proffer solutions for the #EndSARS agitation which has dominated the chats in recent times across the entire nation.
Hence, it is imperative to celebrate this proactiveness of Governor Okezie Ikpeazu and recommend that these approaches to governance deployed by Governor Ikpeazu be adopted by political leaders at all levels. After all, good innovations and virtues are worth emulating.
Ubani Newman Ubani
Senior Aide to the Governor
(NEW MEDIA AND PUBLICITY)
21/11/2020