By Kennedy Onyenma
Recently, at Nkporo ,while commissioning the historic 8km Nkporo – Abiriba road, Governor Okezie Victor Ikpeazu had remarked that he is a Jinx breaker.
Hear the exact words of the Governor,”we broke the jinx with Okon Bridge,we also broke the jinx with Ifeaobara pond and Ama Ikonne along Faulks Road.” He continued, “beyond breaking jinxes, we’ll continue to provide dividends of democracy to our people.” He also justified his strides in infrastructure and human capital development.
As much as the cynics may wish to dispute those assertions, this writer will,however, attempt to buttress the Governor’s statement in the light of some of his landmark innovations.
By the way,who is a Jinx breaker? Simply, a Jinx breaker is a curse breaker. Whereas “curse” is synonymous with “jinx”
In the beginning:
1.Governor Ikpeazu discarded the resplendent toga of his “Excellency” and, instead, chose the modest garb of Mr Governor. He demistified Governance.
2. Mr Governor reduced the retinue of convoy, usually, associated with the office of the Executive Governor, in preference to a modest company. He also reduced ,to the barest minimum ,the blaring of siren and ensured that his convoy is sensitive to the feelings of the masses.
3. Ikpeazu rejected the usual preference to foreign, albeit alluring, products but sticks to the locally Aba made .
4. He broke the curse that has prevailed against a Governor of Ngwa extraction.
Away from his personality, Governor Ikpeazu has also broken some curses bedeviling Infrastructural development, human capital development as well as issues of peace and security.
1.For instance, the intractable Ifeobara debacle was unchained courtesy of the Ikpeazu ingenuity,diligence and grace. Many roads , especially in Aba, that were seemingly under the curse of abandonment or in perpetual neglect have been remembered.
2. He also broke the jinx of substandard infrastructure by ensuring that roads are constructed via the rigid pavement technology with drainages . Today we have durable roads that promises to stand the text of time.
3. Ikpeazu broke the jinx on internal party acrimony among political stakeholders. Today, we don’t have any dichotomy between the Abuja based politicians and the Abia based politicians.
4. The House of Assembly have been stable, rancour free, and devoid of needless change of Speakers and house leaders.We have seen a more focused and collaborative sync between the executive and legislative arm.
5. The insidious spate of removing past deputy Governor’s at the slightest provocation, was indeed a curse, but today we hear of them no more. Six years running Governor Ikpeazu has retained one deputy.
6. Ikpeazu broke the curse on continuous obscurity of Abia entrepreneurs particularly the SMEs. Today, Abia textile and garment value chain benefactors are better off. They are more confident , more prosperous and more dependable. They can hold sway, with their local brand of products, without jostling to claim one foreign brand or the other. Similarly, Abia rice has been consistent on the front banner . Osikapia Abia is today a household brand copiously competing with other local rice brands. Ikpeazu domesticated the SME.
7. The jinx of academic reterogression is broken! For the past 6 years students from Abia Secondary schools have come tops in various external examinations. Such feats are not accidental, they were deliberately articulated, systematically implemented and clinically midwifed.
8. Also on infrastructure, the old Aba-Umuahia road ,for once,in many years, have seen thorough attention.
9. The Golden Guinea brewery also was revived hence the perpetual dearth of Industrialisation broken.
10. Never in the history of Abia state has any flyover been concieved nonetheless constructed. But today, we have the so much talked about “Osisioma flyover.” It’s talked about because somebody dare venture into the project! Ikpeazu has ,by that ambitious stride,broken the spirit of mediocrity . Going forward, Abians will think big, far-reaching and deep.Like Osisioma interchange like the Enyimba Economic city.
11. Today heavy equipments have been mobilised against the deplorable routs of Ngwa,Ohanku and Obohia roads.
12. Today BCA operates almost on a 24 hours basis. Before now, sustaining a 12 hours ,non- break , broadcast was an unaffordable luxury.
13. Who saw the Imenyi bridge before now? Who imagined an Ozuitem water scheme of such magnitude?
14. I never heard of a Pro- poor cum- convenient medical outreach like Tele- health, where, with just a telephone dial from your comfort zone, a doctor attends to you.
15. The state of security in Abia State,at a time, looked so bleak, like a curse. But, today, we have known relative peace. Most interesting, is the engendered nexus between security and technology. Who ever heard of ” Homeland Security” before in Nigeria?
16. Now that the once reproachful Nkporo-Abiriba road has finally fallen to the Bulletin, construction company’s superior equipment, who will say it is not a Jinx roundly broken?
By God’s grace more jinx shall be broken. Amen.