~ Onyebuchi Ememanka
Interesting things are happening in Abia State, with respect to the narratives of the lack luster opposition we have here.
Before now, the opposition’s major song was the lack of infrastructure in the state. During the campaigns for the 2015 elections, they sang it with relish and the people danced.
Where went all the money? They asked.
How come with all the money we have earned as a state, we don’t have any roads here.
And in all sincerity, things were bad then. In the entire Aba town, there was no single good road. None!
Not just in Aba, across the entire state, there was a near total breakdown of infrastructure. School buildings were collapsing and becoming decrepit.
This ugly situation was the major reason for the inroads made by a party like APGA in the 2015 elections. Nothing more.
When Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu came on board as Governor on May 29, 2015, a lot of people didn’t give him a chance. Even his most trusted associates were a bit jittery about his ability to deliver, especially on roads, given the poor revenue inflow.
The opposition waited. They watched. They sharpened their media machinery in anticipation that Ikpeazu will superintend over an administration that has no answers to the challenges that we faced.
But he has shocked them. He has also shocked some of us who are his loyal followers. In the area of roads which is the major challenge we face here, Ikpeazu has been fantastic. Anyone who denies the fact that Ikpeazu has scored excellent marks in the area of roads upgrade is not just being petty but childishly political.
So having lost grip of their planned major campaign tool, the opposition is confused. They are now running “helter skelter” looking for things to say. With each new day, their shock and disappointment increases as new projects spring up.
So they change their strategy. The road angle isn’t working again.
Buoyed by their new online recruits like Dom Nik, their style now is to question the cost of the roads.
For a project like Faulks Road, they have not said that the work is substandard like we used to have. They agree that the work is solid but that it is too expensive. They adopt all manner of mathematical postulations to drive home their empty points.
For us, if the opposition has now shifted from talking about the lack of good roads in the state and are now asking about how much was spent on the new roads, that means we are making progress. That means that they have admitted that new things are happening but that it is expensive.
Last week, my friend, Ferdinand Ekeoma was on a radio station in Umuahia with Paddy Anyatonwu. They came to speak for APGA.
At a point, Ferdinand made one comment that made me laugh. No, two comments. First, he said that we make so much noise about the roads done by Ikpeazu as if he is doing the roads with his own money. Is that not what he was elected to do? He asked. I laughed and laughed. He admitted that Ikpeazu is doing what he was elected to do. Again, on the issue of whether he was doing the roads with his own money, I wonder if there is any elected leader in the world who does his job with his own funds. So, if Alex Oti was elected, would he have done roads in the state with his own money?
He also said that Aba is too small to be used as a standard to measure a working government. He said that Aba has an entire road network of some kilometers and that it is rather too small.
Really?
The same Aba roads that Alex Oti used to wax many songs in 2015 is now small abi? Because Ikpeazu is fixing them? The same Aba roads that Oti boasted how he will get some international banks to raise a facility of 100 Million Dollars to fix?
Did Oti not say that he will establish a Ministry of Aba Affairs?
So Aba has suddenly become small?
Ok. Alright. Odinma.
On the issue of the shoemakers that went to China on the sponsorship of the state government, they never said the idea was bad. Their grouse was that those who went to China were not shoemakers.
Dom Nik, their newest sign on striker came with another one today. He has been busy doing research. His latest focus is on the World Bank Projects in Abia State. He lifted some online publications which stated that Abia has “received” billions of Naira from the World Bank and made innuendoes to suggest that the money has disappeared.
First, Dom Nik never even appreciated the fact that getting the World Bank to get involved in projects in Abia State is, in itself a powerful statement by Ikpeazu. Unknown to him, the World Bank closed shop in Abia and left some years ago, on account of weak policies and poor regulatory framework. He is also ignorant of the fact that it took Ikpeazu series of economic diplomatic shuttles and strategic engagements to get the World Bank back to Abia State.
Ask anyone who is familiar with how the World Bank and indeed, all international development partners operate, they will tell you that they don’t just stroll into any state. Before they do that, they must satisfy themselves that standard procedures of governance have been firmly established and that both the political will of the leaders and a transparent system are no longer in doubt. Of course, the state must demonstrate clear commitment to their counterpart funding obligations.
From a total absence of local and international development agencies in the state when Ikpeazu came, today we have them here. The World Bank is actively supporting several areas of our development plans from infrastructure to Health to the strengthening of our internal financial management systems.
Yet, Dom Nik and his team didn’t even remember that the World Bank didn’t fall into Abia from the skies. Someone brought them here. Someone made them see the need to come here to spend their money.
They are more interested in how their money has gone. They ignorantly think the World Bank is one thrift agency that hands money to people. They are unaware that the World Bank doesn’t give physical cash to states. They have their standard procedures on project identification, monitoring and evaluation. They have international consultants who handle their interfaces with state governments. In their little minds, when they hear that the World Bank is spending 200 Million Dollars in Abia State, they think the money is packed in one big Ghana Must Go Bag and handed to Ikpeazu. They are unaware that these funds cover the total cost of their interventions from start to finish and that these funds are mostly channeled through institutional support, payment to consultants, payment to contractors and other allied workers on their project, cost of project vehicles which they buy under stringent procurement rules, cost of renting offices and hotel accommodation for their workers and hired hands, logistic and personnel costs, etc. They don’t know that the World Bank doesn’t give money to states directly.
In Abia today, there is a World Bank assisted healthcare program called the SAVE ONE MILLION LIVES SCHEME. In Nigeria, the bank is committing 500 Million Dollars into the scheme. I am sure these guys will think that the Bank will count the money and give us. That’s not how it works. They will bring in experts and pay them, purchase drugs, store them and hire field workers to manage the process. They will buy project vehicles and set up offices. They will have back up staff and consultants. The total cost of all these is what is summed in that amount. But these guys don’t know.
They don’t also know that under the NEWMAP and RAMP Projects, which are World Bank Assisted Projects, states are required to pay huge counterpart funds before they can activate funding from the World Bank and that when the funds are approved, they are not handed in cash to the states but managed under clear and transparent procurement policies.
We like what APGA is doing these days. By asking these questions, they are admitting that we are working.
Honestly, we understand the frustrations of the opposition in Abia State, especially APGA. To be frank, being an opposition party in Abia today is no child’s play.
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