2023: Mbah’s Quest for New Enugu
BY JUDE OSSAI / ENUGU If the time table for 2023 general election released by the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmood Yakubu, is not altered, May 29, 2023 will witness another threshold of Nigeria”s political history as new set of political leaders will be on the saddle to manage the affairs of the country at different levels for the next four years.
In Enugu State which is the centre of this piece, politicians, especially political office seekers have since begun subterranean moves, consulting and strategising with a view to controlling the political structures of the state in 2023.
Investigation reveals that one of the top contenders for the exalted office of the governor in Enugu which the media had continued to bring to the front-burner is the flag-bearer of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Dr Peter Mbah.
Obviously, supporters of Mbah will be quick to say that the feat their leader exhibited in both private and public sectors attracted the prying eyes of the media as they (press) want to know if he will replicate those exploits in Enugu State if elected as governor.
Also, as an off-shoot of Ebeano political dynasty, endorsed by the incumbent and power brokers coupled with the sliding fortunes of the opposition in the state, bookmakers are already predicting Mbah as Governor Ugwuanyi’s successor.
However, Mbah seems not to take his rising profile for granted, as he had at every forum opened up on why he wants to govern Enugu State in 2023.
As at time of going to press, Mbah has toured almost all the 17 local government areas of the state with a message of hope, peace and desire to strengthen the economic base of the state.
Even critics of the PDP standard-bearer affirmed the striking feature of his message, saying it is devoid of derogatory words as he dwells on issues and not attack on personalities, a development that has moved him ahead of his rivals.
True to its bidding, last Monday, while interacting with Online Publishers at “The Base”, Independence Layout, Enugu, he reiterated his genuine desire to make Enugu economy one of the top three states in the country in terms of Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
His words: “We will grow Enugu’s GDP to 30 billion dollars from the current 4.4 billion dollars. We will do this by growing our economy in seven folds. It is neither a walk in the park nor a tea party. It would require an exponential growth, a quantum leap. We will not do this by doing things in a better way, we seek to do things differently. Doing things in a better way will only secure marginal or incremental growth but doing it differently through what we refer to as the disruptive innovation, as we did with my signature brand, Pinnacle Oil & Gas Limited, will amount to an exponential growth.
The PDP governorship hopeful explained that their strategic objectives are also anchored on the acronym of PDP, which stands for Peace, Development and Prosperity, stressing that they are integrated and mutually reinforced.
“We will sustain the current peace that we have and build on it. You cannot have sustainable development without peace, and cannot have peace without sustainable development.
“We will have a 3 pronged approach to the issue of peace and security. There will be 4 core values of our governing principles.
“Community Policing: We will be deploying technology in community policing schemes to enhance security.
“Oil, Gas and Coal: Enugu is a coastal state, not a land locked state. There is water in the state, there’s also a huge deposit of oil and gas. We have an Oil field jointly owned with Anambra and Kogi. OPL 905, 907and 914 can be accessed in Enugu state and we will explore these to get Enugu to become one of the oil producing states in the country.
“We have the very best deposit of coal and our state have already obtained mining rights from the federal government. We will mine the coal and generate funds for the state, he said.
Speaking on agriculture, he said, “We want to achieve a 0% rate in our poverty headcount index, adding that his administration would scale up agricultural production in the state as a part of means to achieve it.
“Small scale and Large scale agriculture will be encouraged so that we can achieve a Net exportation. Agriculture is our crude oil and we shall attract investors in that sector despite the challenges in the land tenure systems and make sure investors go to the rural areas. We have an ambitious programme for agriculture where the state would be earning up to 10 billion annually”, Mbah further said.
On Information Technology, Mbah stated, “We will seek advancing Information Technology so that Enugu will be the Data centre of the Southeast. We will do this by enabling a favourable business environment to attract investors and allow the private sector to invest. A business environment that’ll enable Google, Microsoft, Facebook, to locate offices in our state. Our government will be government enabled-private sector driven.
“We hope to Implement E-governance and offer quality, people focused governance to take the government to the people through their handheld devices.
On tourism, he said, “There will be an Afro Disney, a replica of what is obtainable in the US. We will seek the intervention and partnership of the Ministry of Aviation to resuscitate the International wing of the Akanu Ibiam International Airport which has been unused since construction”.
Indeed, with the plethora of promises by the cerebral oil magnate, there is no gainsaying that he has raised the stake in Enugu politics ahead of 2023 general election.
ENDS
