By Jude Ndukwe
When Dr Okezie Victor Ikpeazu took office on May 29, 2015, as the 3rd Executive Governor of Abia State in the 4th Republic, the State was only barely recovering from the near irredeemable comatose state it was freely but avoidably thrown into between 1999 and 2007 before Senator Theodore A. Orji came on board to rescue what was left of the State and began to rebuild the foundation.
Afraid that the State might be dragged back to the days of banality and frivolities when empty promises and wishy-washy projects were the order of the day, Abians defied all odds, said never again, rallied round a man whose track records of humility, dedication and hard work as former Chairman of Obingwa Local Government, General Manager of the Abia State Passenger Integrated Manifest Scheme, ASPIMS, Chairman, Governing Council of Abia State College of Health Technology and the 1st Deputy Manager of Abia State Environmental Protection Agency, ASEPA, are well documented to further take the State on an upward trajectory from where Senator TA Orji left it.
With distant past political experiences that were greatly unpleasant, paucity of funds available to the State, kidnapping, armed robbery, and other violent crimes for which the State was fast becoming known, grossly inadequate social and physical infrastructure, unemployment etc, leading to despondency among the people, they looked eagerly out for a leader who would come in and restore their dignity and give them something to believe not only in themselves and the State but also in the future. Ikpeazu, they reckoned, fit the bill!
Consequently, the most urgent need of the people became the need to restore their dignity as NdiAbia by giving them hope for a very bright future, lifting them up from sociopolitical and economic doldrums to the Olympian height of prosperity.
Dr Okezie Victor Ikpeazu realized this fact and set to work immediately. It is on record that in the history of the State, Ikpeazu remains the only governor that has been dragged to court the most by his political opponents, even up to the Supreme Court, with the last one only settled as recently as 13th of April, 2018.
The psychological trauma which such multiple court cases could cause any man can only be imagined than experienced. But when God wants to lift a people, he gives them a leader with exceptional strength and character. It is therefore not surprising that despite the irritating distractions his opponents brought his way in what the Supreme Court in one of its judgements declared “frivolous and grossly lacking in merit”, implying that the lawsuits were merely an exercise in futility ab initio meant to further slow down the wheel of progress of the State, Ikpeazu has sauntered on relentlessly, working with the determination of a man on a divine mission, one who knows that he “…must work while it is day, for the night cometh when no man can work”(John 9:4).
His first mission was to turn Abia State from its opprobrious image of being a haven for criminals to a strong tower where the terrified even from other states run to and they are safe. Today, NdiAbia that used to get taunted for kidnapping, armed robbery and other violent crimes, are now a proud people after the Ikpeazu miracle turned the state around and earned it the recognition as “The Most Peaceful State in Nigeria”. In a statistic released for 2018 as at March this year, Abia alongside Gombe and Sokoto recorded the least number of violent deaths in their states with Abia credited with one in a report where some others had as high as 300.
Even at that, Dr Ikpeazu is not resting on his laurels. On his return from Rwanda where he attended the 2018 Transform Africa Summit earlier in May 2018, the governor immediately proceeded to hand over brand new operational vehicles to the police in Umuahia, the state capital. To further boost the morale of the police as he continues to assist them in their duties, the governor promised to assist them in completing the building of their Zone 9 headquarters in Umuahia.
In a similar situation of having achieved peace and security, other governors would have gone to sleep. But not so for Ikpeazu, a renowned scholar who is very much aware that getting to the top may be hard but maintaining your place at the top is even harder, he keeps working.
Today, the “Baby Factory” phenomenon is a thing of the past in the state thanks to Ikpeazu. That was one other sour point which exposed Abians to ridicule. But today, those “Baby Factories” have given way to gigantic, and in some places, a cluster of shoemaking and other leatherwork factories, garment making factories, metal and machinery fabricating factories and such other factories that have given our people the true meaning of dignity in labour.
The Golden Guines Breweries and such other firms in the state are being revived to further boost employment rate in the state as investors, both foreign and local, keep thronging the state to exploit the numerous investment opportunities in the new Abia.
Rather than chase our young men and women around to get them arrested for crimes, the military, police and other security agencies now chase our youths about for quality boots and uniforms for their use thanks to Dr Okezie Ikpeazu who has taken it upon himself to not only market the “Made in Aba” agenda but also to empower the local manufacturers by creating an enabling environment for them and even sending some of them to China on an all-expense paid trip to improve upon their manufacturing skills.
Today, as we are reading this piece, Aba, the State’s commercial capital, is wearing a new look. And why not? This is the city that has already started playing host to an ever increasing number of foreign investors and patrons. It deserves to be taken care of as it has the humongous capacity of delivering the large chunk of internally generated revenue needed to develop other sectors and parts of the state especially in this era of the ever dwindling federal allocations, if properly developed.
To keep up with the pace of the infrastructural needs of a state like Abia, Dr Ikpeazu embarked upon his now popular “Caterpillar Revolution” and in just 33 months, despite all the distractions earlier stated, has completed 56 quality roads with world class drainage systems and street lights installed in some of them while 79 other ones are ongoing throughout the state.
The Osisoma flyover which is the first in the history of Abia State is an incontrovertible pointer to the revolutionary mindset of the governor who has developed a knack for breaking records on all fronts. This flyover is a huge reassurance to the people of the state that there is hope of Abia catching up with the older and more developed cities even in Europe and America. This may sound too far-fetched but the reality of the Osisioma flyover also sounded same way just few years ago, and today, it is very well with us. With the way Ikpeazu is going, one can only say “Never” at his or her own risk!
As an erudite scholar himself, a man of extraordinary feats and uncommon achievements even right from his childhood, Dr Okezie Ikpeazu who gained admission into the University of Maiduguri at the budding age of 16 and bagged his doctorate degree, PhD in Biochemical Pharmacology from the University of Calabar at the relatively young age of 30, has put in place deliberate policies and enablers for the academic success of students schooling in Abia.
This has led to Abia coming first in WASCE for three consecutive times since Ikpeazu assumed office. The confidence the Ikpeazu administration’s policies on education has built into Abia students has led to them winning laurels in national competitions. Just recently, Abia State came tops at an essay competition of the Wole Soyinka International Cultural Exchange Project, WISCE.
The Aba General Hospital, Aba, which had gone moribund since 2010 was reopened and new ones with ultra modern facilities are being built while other older ones have constantly received the attention of the Okezie Ikpeazu administration to meet the health needs of NdiAbia.
Beyond this, Abia has gone a step ahead of others in the provision of health services to her people through the introduction of the “Dial-a-Doc” Tele-Health Initiative. This Initiative allows Abians to have access to world class medical advice in the comfort of their homes just by simply calling a dedicated line. It is that simple! Hope inspired it, hope achieved it!
Although it is a statement of fact that the future is about tomorrow, but with Okezie Ikpeazu, Abians know that the future is here with them already. Nothing else can give greater hope to Abians than all the many novel yet audacious policies and projects of the governor that are fast changing not only the landscape of Abia for good but also boosting the mindscape of the people so that with confidence, whether in Sokoto or Soweto, Calabar or Casablanca, Las Vegas or Lagos, the Abian can once again confidently announce himself as an Abian, all thanks to Governor Okezie Ikpeazu who knows that the best way to silence insults is to produce results. And that he has been doing.
NdiAbia, keep the faith, with Okezie Ikpeazu, there is hope!
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