UMAHI’S, 2 YEARS OF IMPACTFUL GOVERNANCE
By Philip Nweze
Everyone must leave something behind when he dies… Something your 
hand touched some way so your soul has somewhere to go when you die…It doesn’t matter what you do, so long as you change something from the way it was before you touched it into something that’s different after you take your hands away. – Ray Bradbury.
The above quote summarises the concept of governance. Providing good governance that will outlive this generation ought to be the heart and soul of any right thinking leader. It is perhaps the only way to keep a date with history in future when your name would be recited like a favourite song by posterity when our generation must have faded away. This is a fact well understood by our governor, Engr David Umahi.
Governor David Umahi is a man who doesn’t need any form of introduction as far as Nigerian politics is concerned. My comments are prompted by the Governor’s tall legacies in his mere two years of service. Umahi understands that if his government will be remembered for good, he must begin to think of a post-Umahi era, when he would be venerated like Kwame Nkruma of Ghana, Julius Nyere of Tanzania and Nelson Mandela of South Africa. This reasoning has remained his propelling force.
He inherited a crumbling state and built it from the scratch. Here in Ebonyi, David Umahi can readily be our own Mao Yes Tung; he can be our own John Fitzgerald Kennedy because he is full of developmental ideas. His widely acknowledged innovative approach to leadership has placed our dear state on the map of national relevance and brought back the Ebonyi pride.
The List speaks for itself. And it is an eloquent testimony to the high esteem and touching adoration the great people of Ebonyi State have for their Governor. The Ebonyi State Administration of Chief David Umahi has an impressive list of achievements in key fields of human endeavour but I will leave his accomplishments at just three: human, infrastructure and welfare strides. Suffice it to say that in time, his high standards of performance in office shall remain the benchmark for measuring service delivery in public office. It is obvious that Umahi is on a God-sent mission to ressurect the state from retrogression. He inherited an empty treasury and left developments rather than excuses for people.
After Mr Michael Okpara of blessed memory, the next great leaders of Ndigbo are/were in this order: Jim Nwobodo, Sam Mbakwe and David Umahi. Mr Jim Nwobodo and Sam Mbakwe learned from the master, Ogbuefi Nnamdi Azikiwe. They learned what public service is supposed to be and they both subordinated their individual goals, and family needs to public service. Since this piece is about Chief Umahi, l will drop Mr Sam Mbakwe and Nwobodo off from here. I brought them in because both were healthy rivals and colleagues whose footsteps Umahi has followed doggedly and tenaciously. The first two dwarf the third by a million miles for the last governs a small state with a radius of not more than 50 miles. But they all share similar passion and zeal for service. Umahi is perhaps the correction of the lower caliber leadership that has become the bane of the Igbo after Nwobodo and Mbakwe. He has designated himself as a caring Governor who ponders daily on the sufferings of his people.
By all comparism, Umahi is still topping the chat as the best Governor Ebonyi ever had. He assumed the mantle of leadership of the state on May 29, 2015, barely nineteen by the military in 1996. With the state virtually lacking infrastructure, Umahi settled down quickly to the task of governance, mobilising the people and available resources to facilitate development. In Abakaliki, the state capital, Umahi has completed the asphalting of all major roads in a very short period. He has extended the same measure to other roads in the rural areas. The governor is noted for his perfectionist approach to state matters as reflected in the quality of his projects which has virtually touched every part of the state. He has transformed the much neglected Abakaliki capital into an emerging city and a subject of national dialogue. He has made the voice of the Ebonyi man relevant in Nigeria’s dialogue.
The administration of Chief David Umahi must be remembered for reconnecting the state to Nigeria’s mainstream politics. Many must have forgotten that there was hardly any love lost between Ebonyi state government and the Federal Government before Umahi arrived at the gubernatorial scene. Through discipline, diligence and respect for superior authority, Governor Umahi has made Ebonyi state one of the most reliable and friendly allies of the federal government.
The government of Chief Umahi definitely stands as a trail blazer in the area of youth empowerment. There was a time when youths were given wheelbarrows and overused motorcycles as objects of empowerment. But Umahi came in and revolutionised the trend. He has been able to engage the teaming population of youths in the state productively, so that the issue of social insecurity, crimes and criminality would be reduced. He is empowering the youth by creating wealth and job opportunities, to the extent that many youths in their hundreds are either serving as political appointees as Senior Technical Assistants and Technical Assistants or are proud owners of business investments. This development has helped reduce youth restiveness as the youths that benefited from this act of benevolence are now enjoying useful existence on their own.
The exploits of Governor David Umahi’s administration in agriculture should not pass
without being mentioned. His rice Programme in the state is a good effort aimed at placing Ebonyi on a strong financial footing and independence as the food basket of the nation.
The lean finances of the state government vis-a-vis the number of projects being executed in various parts of the state defies every rational elucidation. The courage and boldness he has demonstrated in handling the task of developing our young state are quite uncommon. This piece is demonstrative of the joy and excitement an average Ebonyian feels.
The legacies of Umahi led administration are so many that no five pages of any newspaper can contain them exhaustively. It would, therefore, be unrealistic for any reader to expect to read in a single stretch, all the achievements of the Umahi’s government.
